World's top retailers set to spice up Manila FAME opening today

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s premier trade show on lifestyle exports opens today at the SMX Convention Center, with the world’s top retailers and industry leaders adding glamour, glitter and grandeur to this four-day international event.

Topping the list of visiting foreign buyers at the Manila Furnishings and Apparel Merchandise Exchange (FAME) International are the world-famous Marks & Spencer, EL Corte Ingles, ENESCO, Regalo Fama, and Hallmark Cards.

Also joining the ranks of Manila FAME’s more than a hundred prestigious buyers are Australia’s Freedom, Canada’s Rona Inc., and USA’s Hallmark Cards, Crate & Barrel, Roost, Kalalou, Leahy Global Resources, Natori Company and Material ConneXion, and many others from India, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Finland, Italy, Sweden, Singapore, Turkey and Vietnam

The foreign buyers will be matched with Filipino exporters of lifestyle and creative products from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for three straight days of business transactions beginning today, according to the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the export promotion agency of the Department of Trade and Industry.

CITEM executive director Rosvi C. Gaetos said the buyers would also view the Manila FAME exhibits with the theme “Weaving Dreams”.

“Manila FAME’s Weaving Dreams brings together the country’s other major sourcing events to brand the Philippines as ‘Asia’s Premier Design Destination’. These events are the Manila Now, Cebu Next, and Bijoux Cebu, Pampanga One and Mindanao One,” Gaetos added.

The exhibits feature innovative products masterfully crafted from indigenous materials for various contemporary lifestyle applications spanning both home and fashion industries and beyond.

Also interwoven in the exhibits are three strategic demand-driven thematic designs Mood Indigo, Naturalist, and Graffiti developed by US merchandise specialist Linda Simpson to shape the direction of product development by selected exporters for this 54th edition of Manila FAME.

Aside from the exhibits and business matching activities, the event includes trade seminars, buyers’ and exhibitors’ night, networking cocktails, dinner with the international media, and creativity awards, all designed to push the country’s lifestyle exports across cultural boundaries and into the expanding global market.

Serving as the venue for CITEM’s international wholesale marketing and promotion of Philippine creative products, the Manila FAME International has been helping develop the country’s home and fashion industries for the last 28 years.

Manila FAME is the country’s only event accredited by the Union des Foires Internationales (UFI), a Paris-based association of trade fair organizers.

Organized by CITEM, the Manila FAME is supported by the Philippine Airlines and the business support organizations of various export industry sectors such as the Association of Negros Producers, Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation, Chamber of Furniture Industries of the Philippines, Christmas Décor Producers and Exporters Association of the Philippines, Hospitality and Wellness Filipinas, Home Accents Group of the Philippines, Philippine Chamber of Handicraft Industries, Philippine Exporters, Retailers and Producers Development Association Inc., Philippine Exporters Confederation, Fame Foundation Philippines Inc., Mindanao Trade Expo Foundation Inc., and Cebu Gifts, Toys and Houseware, among others.

More information on Manila FAME International can be obtained from CITEM and www.manilafame.com.