Brazilian brands to feature at Milan Fashion Week
Milan Fashion Week kicks off today with 60 shows, 53 physical and seven digital. The schedule also includes 93 presentations, six of which are by appointment, and 58 events, totalling 211 appointments. An additional 11 events from the Fashion Hub will also take place. Brazilian brands are set to be key participants in Milan.
ApexBrasil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, is bringing a multifaceted representation of the Brazilian fashion system to the heart of the international fashion scene. This showcase will span from creative and design aspects to the textile and apparel supply chain.
“Creativity is our inexhaustible raw material” is the concept that accompanies Brazil's presence in Milan, summarising its vision.
The project focuses on transforming Brazil's creative diversity into fashion, brands and high value-added products, encompassing everything from innovation and know-how to sustainability, cultural identity and contemporary design. “Milan thus becomes a strategic platform to present this capability to one of the world's main fashion hubs and to forge new relationships with the international market,” a note explains. “This perspective is consistent with the mission of ApexBrasil, a non-profit organisation that promotes Brazilian exports, supports the internationalisation of companies and attracts foreign investment to Brazil”.
From September 22 to 24, as part of the Texbrasil programme, ApexBrasil and the Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association (Abit) will bring ten companies to Milan. Supported by Abrimos, the Brazilian Association of Industry, Commerce, Services and Education for Sustainable Fashion, these companies have been selected for their excellent and sustainable products. The programme will include a collection presentation and a business showroom aimed at developing relationships with international buyers and industry professionals.
Brazilian brands to participate through Fashion Label Brasil
From September 24 to 27, the Brazilian presence will continue at White Milano, where 23 brands will participate through Fashion Label Brasil. This cross-sector presence will span different fashion segments and will be supported by a dedicated communication strategy. The goal is to directly connect participating companies with the international network of buyers, press and industry professionals gathered in Milan during Fashion Week.
These are two different projects, but they are part of the same internationalisation strategy. The aim is to leverage one of the most concentrated international moments in the fashion system to expand market access for Brazilian companies. This will create commercial connections and strengthen the country's position through fashion that transforms creativity, diversity, innovation and sustainability into economic value.
Italy accounted for 16.9 percent of Brazilian fashion exports to EU
“Milan represents a strategic step in the internationalisation of Brazilian fashion. It is an opportunity to expand our companies' presence in international markets and connect them with buyers, partners and opinion leaders,” says Maria Paula Velloso, business director of ApexBrasil, in the note. “Brazil possesses an extraordinary heritage of creativity, diversity, know-how and innovation. Our goal is to help transform this heritage into added value, new business opportunities and an increasingly competitive presence in global markets, while also promoting sustainability as a key element of our offering.”
Appointed business director of ApexBrasil in April 2026, Maria Paula Velloso has been with the agency since 2007. She has led projects developed with major Brazilian industry and service associations, as well as programmes dedicated to exports, design and innovation aimed at increasing corporate competitiveness.
In the textile and apparel supply chain, the collaboration between ApexBrasil and Abit is developed through Texbrasil. This programme has supported approximately 2,000 brands in entering export markets over more than 25 years, generating 11 billion dollars in business. Abit represents an industrial base of 25,700 companies, over 1.34 million workers and an annual turnover of 221 billion reais in 2024.
Brazilian fashion establishes its position at the intersection of these dimensions: design culture, industrial capacity and international development. Sustainability is a strategic component, closely linked to innovation, know-how, materials research and production processes. It is also increasingly tied to the ability to create high value-added products that are competitive in global markets.
In this context, Italy plays a particularly strategic role. In 2025, it accounted for 16.9 percent of Brazilian fashion exports to the European Union, making it the second-largest market in the bloc after France. This figure reinforces Milan's value as a platform for accessing and engaging with the European market. It also serves as a key vantage point for the international development of Brazilian companies.