31st IAF Convention, October 13th to 15th in Istanbul – Making it Better

October 13th to 15th the 31st IAF Convention will once again take place. This year, the IAF (International Apparel Federation) has chosen Istanbul as the location for its Convention in collaboration with the Turkish Clothing Manufacturing Association (TCMA) with the support of IHKIB, the Turkish Organization of Fashion Exporters. TCMA will combine its successful Istanbul Fashion Conference with the IAF Convention and this will assure a full house of the elite of the fashion Turkish industry.

The Chief Brand Officer of Hugo Boss, Christoph Auhagen, The European Production Manager of H&M, the COO of Ahlers (Baldessarini, Pierre Cardin), McKinsey and WGSN are some of the names from an impressive list of speakers that have become the norm for IAF Conventions.  

The theme of the 31^st IAF Convention is Making it better. The IAF aims to build its Conventions around a positive vision on improvements made by the industry. Although on the one hand the fashion industry is coping with an image tarnished by continuous discounts and bad labor conditions, on the other hand we see a string of positive developments. Investments in sustainability, investments in innovative products and investments in a more efficient organization of the value chain that are strengthening the fashion industry today.

October 14th will be the conference day. The conference itself is subdivided into 17 sessions, including the introduction by the Turkish Minister of Trade, the keynote speech by Hugo Boss’s Mr. Auhagen, sessions on the supply chain and sourcing developments, CSR and sustainability, TTIP, trade policy, emerging brands and emerging markets. In the sustainability session IAF will again share excellent examples from the denim industry and the supply chain session will feature results from McKinsey’s by now famous CPO study on expectations of future sourcing trends.

Woven into the Conference is the Convention’s theme: Making it Better.  For the industry as a whole to really improve, new value must be added and old values must be implemented. Hugo Boss’s keynote speech will show how brand value can be maintained through a combination of very strong marketing and a passion for product quality and the courage to invest in the company’s own technical know-how.

The supply chain session is built around the slogan: not moving production, but improving production. Of course, the facing sourcing map is continuously changing and McKinsey’s CPO (Chief Procurement Officer) study will certainly show that new sourcing countries such as Myanmar and Ethiopia will continue to draw attention and investments. On the other hand, the delegates will hear about successful investments in software to make better connections between supply and demand. Delegates will also hear about successful forms of cooperation between brands and their manufacturing partners. How can manufacturers add value so that they can escape from the low price only trap and talk about net returns during negotiations with their clients? Do we actually see a growing attention to quality and the need for unique, local product knowledge? In addition, what does this mean for production in more expensive countries?

In the sustainability session, the panelists will debate the question how the total textile and fashion industrial chain can become, on average, a better employer with less negative impact on our environment. One wants to show that running a more effective business and more effective supply chain are necessary conditions for becoming a more sustainable business. Just having a good CSR and sustainability policy in isolation is probably not very useful. Making it better is obviously an integral concept!

In emerging economies, a growing local consumer market offers excellent chances for the local fashion industry to develop into brands and retailers. This strengthens the local industry as a whole. Also, a fast developing new economy offers excellent chances for brands from more mature economies and their entry too add to the professional level of the local industry. During the emerging brands and emerging markets session, we will show how local Turkish brands have developed into big retail chains. We will also learn from new entrepreneurs. How do they interact with manufacturers? What is the role of wearable technology?

The day of the Conference will be preceded in the evening of October 13^th by a great gala dinner in the new Raffles Hotel in Istanbul. This dinner is actually also part of the Mercedes Benz Istanbul Fashion Week. The third day of the Convention, Thursday October 15^th, will be devoted to an encounter with the Turkish fashion industry. Companies can sign up for a well-guided business to business program.

Istanbul forms an ideal setting for a Convention, carrying an optimistic message about the development of the fashion value chain. In Turkey, the industry has been at the forefront of investments in quality, speed and service. Beautiful Istanbul on the Bosphorus, clearly visible from the Convention hotel, the Hilton Bosphorus, is a great place to network with Turkish manufacturers, their representatives and the other delegates from over 20 countries in the world. IAF, TCMA and IHKIB welcome the global fashion business to share positive ideas about making it better in Istanbul this October.