Mahlet Teklemariam, founder of Hub of Africa Fashion Week, will represent Ethiopia’s fashion industry at the BRICS+ Fashion Summit in Moscow, where business leaders, designers, manufacturers and investors from emerging markets are expected to gather from September 28 to 30.
The summit, which forms part of the wider BRICS agenda, is expected to bring together fashion professionals from Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Europe. Organisers describe the gathering as one of the industry’s leading international forums for countries whose fashion, textile and manufacturing sectors are expanding rapidly.
Since its launch, the BRICS+ Fashion Summit has hosted fashion-industry specialists from 109 countries in Moscow. This year’s programme will focus on the changing structure of global fashion, including shifts in supply chains, manufacturing locations, consumer behaviour, technology and the growing importance of regional markets.
Mahlet’s participation places Ethiopia among a group of African fashion leaders expected to use the forum to explore new trade links, partnerships and market opportunities. Ethiopia has long been viewed as a potential textile and garment manufacturing hub because of its cotton resources, industrial parks and young labour force, while local designers and fashion entrepreneurs are increasingly seeking routes to regional and international customers.
The BRICS+ Fashion Summit is expected to provide participants with an opportunity to meet manufacturers, retailers, investors, suppliers and fashion-industry associations from fast-growing economies. For Ethiopian businesses, the event could offer new entry points into export networks, ranging from large-scale textile and garment production to designer retail and creative-industry collaboration.
“The BRICS+ Fashion Summit goes beyond the runway by creating opportunities for dialogue, knowledge exchange, networking and cross-border collaboration,” Mahlet said. “This approach is particularly relevant today because the global fashion industry is changing. Emerging markets are becoming increasingly important, and there is a growing need to create direct connections between markets rather than relying only on the traditional fashion capitals and established industry networks.”
The summit comes as fashion businesses worldwide adapt to major changes in production and trade. Traditional logistics routes have been disrupted in recent years, while manufacturers and retailers have sought to diversify suppliers, shorten supply chains and respond to changing consumer preferences.
Regional manufacturing hubs are gaining prominence as countries seek to build domestic value chains, reduce dependence on a small number of established fashion-producing countries and capture a larger share of the value generated by clothing and textile industries.
For African countries, the transition presents both an opportunity and a challenge. The continent supplies raw materials and has expanding manufacturing capacity, but many fashion brands continue to face constraints in financing, export logistics, access to international buyers, branding and distribution.
The Moscow summit will seek to address some of these issues through discussions on creativity, manufacturing and logistics, marketing and sales, entrepreneurship and investment. More than 250 speakers are expected to take part in the business programme.
Key topics will include the restructuring of global supply chains, the use of cultural identity as a competitive advantage, artificial intelligence in fashion design and retail, consumer trends among younger generations, and strategies for international expansion.
The forum’s concentrated format is intended to allow fashion professionals to arrange several meetings and business discussions over a few days, rather than relying on multiple trips to different markets. Organisers say this could help participants identify new suppliers, buyers, distributors, investors and collaborators.
Mahlet will be joined by other African fashion-industry representatives, including Nana Addo Tamakloe, chief executive of Accra Fashion Week in Ghana; Brian James Kihindas, director of Nairobi Fashion Week in Kenya; and Mmantlha Sankoloba, chief executive of the Botswana Exporters and Manufacturers Association.
Their participation reflects the increasing visibility of African fashion platforms in global industry discussions. Fashion weeks and industry associations on the continent have become important venues for promoting designers, encouraging local production and connecting creative entrepreneurs with international markets.
Hub of Africa Fashion Week, founded by Mahlet, has played a role in supporting Ethiopian designers and showcasing local creative talent. Its founder’s participation in the BRICS+ Fashion Summit is expected to provide an opportunity to highlight Ethiopian fashion, textile production and design capabilities to industry actors from other emerging economies.
The summit will coincide with Moscow Fashion Week, scheduled to run from September 26 to October 1. The event is expected to feature more than 70 runway shows by designers from countries including Spain, Sri Lanka, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, Kazakhstan, China and Russia.
Moscow Fashion Week is positioned as a platform for emerging designers seeking to expand their international profile. For summit participants, the parallel programme is expected to offer an additional opportunity to observe new collections, meet fashion professionals and explore possible commercial partnerships.
