THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2018, KUALA LUMPUR: In an effort to highlight Malaysian fashion designers to potential buyers, distributors and partners in the United States (US), Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) and the Association of Bumiputera Women in Business and Profession Malaysia (PENIAGAWATI) jointly organised a business mission called Malaysia Fashion & Business Mission to New York.

The business mission started on 31 August 2018 and will end on 10 September 2018. The collaboration between MATRADE and PENIAGAWATI aims to capitalise the opportunities in the US fashion market, currently valued at US$ 326 billion (RM 1.30 trillion).

A total of 37 Malaysian companies are participating in this business mission and they offer various fashion products, such as textiles, apparels and footwear, among others. Among the activities arranged for this mission are business meetings with the American buyers, a roundtable meeting with the US Fashion Institute Association (USFIA), visit to the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) as well as to showrooms and boutiques of Malaysian designers based in New York.

Apart from coordinating the B2B activities, all MATRADE’s Trade Offices in the US have also invited the fashion business community in New York and other parts of the US such as fashion buyers, boutique owners, media & fashion bloggers, food importers and tour & travel agents to attend the networking session.

“Malaysia’s exports of fashion products have shown steady growth over the years and the US is one of our target markets for this segment. Plus the US is one of our major trading partners,” says Senior Director of the Export Promotion and Market Access Division, MATRADE, Mr Mohd Mustafa Abdul Aziz.

In 2017, Malaysia’s total exports of fashion rose 10.4 per cent to reach RM15.33 billion, as compared to 2016. For the first seven months this year, exports of fashion products were valued RM8.69 billion. The US remained Malaysia’s largest fashion export destination with total exports recorded at RM2.23 billion, followed by Japan (RM1.54 billion) and Turkey (RM1.29 billion).