The U.S. Connection

Fashion initiative promotes benefits of sourcing Canadian

October 4, 2006

Canadian apparel companies are getting a substantial public relations boost with the debut of Wear?Canada!, a marketing initiative aimed at promoting the best of Canadian fashion to the U.S. and abroad.

Created by the Canadian Apparel Federation—the national non-profit association that represents firms involved in every sector of apparel manufacturing and fashion in Canada—the initiative’s strategy is to target high-growth sectors like men’s and women’s tailored clothing, activewear, sportswear, outerwear and intimate apparel, and to execute marketing programs that would drive economic growth, primarily through exports.

Since its launch last year, Wear?Canada! programs have run in major markets throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Canadian designer Arthur Mendonça, who has been compared to Gucci's Tom Ford, is one of Canada's rising fashion stars.

Export-ready fashion firms are supported by Wear?Canada! publications, including four sector-specific brochures, outreach events for exhibitors and buyers, trade advertising, and by facilitating numerous exhibitor programs in the U.S. and overseas.

The Canadian Apparel Federation is getting positive feedback from trade officers, plenty of visits to Wear?Canada! kiosks and pavilions, website hits, media response and buyer enthusiasm. Recently, in fact, two Canadian companies found U.S. representatives for their products after attending a Wear?Canada! event.

“Canadian manufacturers and designers have tripled their successes in the Chicago marketplace through the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago’s Apparel Rep Locator, and we are partnering with the Canadian Apparel Federation through the Wear?Canada! program to further provide both visibility and increased service to our Canadian clients who want to enter the Chicago market,” says Ann Rosen, Trade Commissioner with the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago.

Government agencies, the fashion industry and the Canadian Apparel Federation, after seeing the need for such targeted marketing, championed the Wear?Canada! initiative.

“Canadian firms have an edge,” says Elliot Lifson, president of the Canadian Apparel Federation and vice-chairman of Peerless Clothing. “Our ability to successfully target niche markets, provide innovative quality products at superb value and our ability to service the customer are unparalleled. In our highly competitive environment, promoting the benefits of sourcing Canadian is vital,” maintains Lifson. “Branding an industry as diverse as ours is not an easy feat, but Wear?Canada! has managed to successfully convey the message of the merits of sourcing Canadian fashion.”

Initially, Wear?Canada! targeted key U.S. markets and shows like Stylemax Chicago, Lingerie Americas in New York and MAGIC in Las Vegas, but the Canadian Apparel Federation expanded it to other regions around the world, including Japan and Germany.

Canadian Apparel Federation marketing and communications consultant Eileen Melnick McCarthy oversees the Wear?Canada! programs and has worked with a number of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada officers in the U.S. and abroad to produce its market-specific programs.

“Wear?Canada!, together with Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, is planning a trade mission to Japan in January 2007,”says Melnik McCarthy. “Canadian designers and manufacturers know the Japanese market is important and the Canadian Apparel Federation recently completed a brochure promoting export-ready firms to the Japanese retail sector.” As a precursor to the trade mission, the federation is hosting a series of seminars in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver in November on best practices for entering the Japanese market.

For more information, contact:
Eileen Melnick McCarthy
Canadian Apparel Federation
Tel.: (613) 231-3220
Email: emelnick@apparel.ca
Website: www.wearcanada.ca