Maiden African Union Day Fashion Festival launched
The Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts (MoTCCA), Mrs Elizabeth Ofoso-Adjare, has launched the maiden edition of Africa Union (AU) Day Fashion Festival, with a call on stakeholders in the fashion industry to transform the sector into a job and wealth-creation one.
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According to Mrs Ofoso-Adjare, who made the call, the 2014 Oxford Economics Research, commissioned by the British Fashion Council, stated that the direct contribution of the fashion industry to the United Kingdom economy stood at 26 billion pounds.
“The report also estimated that over 797,000 people are employed in the UK fashion industry. It also revealed the sector is the largest employer of all creative industries,” she said.
Mrs Ofosu-Adjare also said the above statistics called for “a more critical and innovative look at the fashion industry in Ghana so that it can be properly used as a vehicle for job and wealth creation”.
AU Fashion festival
The event, scheduled to take place at the National Theatre from July 11 to 14, this year, is being organised by Links Model Agency in collaboration with MoTCCA.
The four-day event, which has the theme: “Our Continents, Our Fashion, Our concern”, is expected to draw fashion designers from the AU countries, including Nigeria, Togo, Mali and Ghana.
Ghanaian fabric companies
Mrs Ofosu-Adjare also said the contribution of textile companies such as GTP, Printex, Woodin and Vlisco to the fashion industry had improved it.
“I must commend all fashion houses and fashion designers, both locally and internationally, who are partaking in this fashion festival and also ensuring that our African prints become the world’s most sought-after,” she said.
Mrs Ofosu-Adjare observed that with Ghana having been named as the ninth most preferred tourist destination in Africa, the future of Ghana’s Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts Industry was bright and added that the introduction of the AU Festival would hugely add to Ghana’s feat.
She, however, urged the organisers to broaden the net of participants to cover all African countries in order to create a bigger platform for businesses.
African designers’ collaboration
The Deputy Executive Director of the National Theatre, Mrs Amy Appiah Frimpong, underscored the need for African designers to network in order to effectively compete in the global market.
She also said although individual designers were performing marvellously, more could be achieved if they worked as a team to build the capacity of the industry.
According to Mrs Frimpong, the events would offer the platform for renowned African designers and young people to share their experiences and learn from each other.