Portuguese designers shining in New York

When the European fashion countries come to mind, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy are the first on everyone's lips. However, a little country called Portugal has a burgeoning design community of its own that's finally getting its just due here in New York City.

Earlier this month, Portuguese footwear association, APICCAPS and apparel trade association, Anivec, debuted fashion and designer footwear brands as part of a special “Made in Portugal” initiative during footwear trade event, PROJECT Sole in New York.

Footwear brands featured included Brusque, Carlos Santos, Cloud Footwear, COM - Creation Of Minds, Coxx-Borba, Dromedaris, Felmini, Flex & Go, Fly London, Lemon Jelly, Mocc’s and Boat Dock’s, apparel from, Daily Day, Frenken, Vandoma, Westmister, Inimigo, Qvinto and jewelry from Galeiras, Monseo, and Eleutério.

The organizations have joined forces in order to promote Portugal’s quality craftsmanship and efficient manufacturing. “We believe Portuguese footwear exports to the U.S. – which in 2017 have reached 70 million euros – can double in the coming years. Our idea is to make a global presentation of the Portuguese footwear. We’re sure that when the American customers discover the quality of the Portuguese footwear they won’t trade it for anything else,” said Luís Onofre, designer and president of APICCAPS, in a statement.

PROJECT Sole kicked off the partnership during the July Marketplace, which ran July 22 through July 24 at the Jacob Javits Center, and will follow with another showcase at FN PLATFORM during Magic Las Vegas in August, where nearly 20 men’s and women’s Portuguese footwear brands will show their spring/summer 2019 collections, most for the first time.

As part of the celebration of the partnership, Portuguese commerce organizations, APICCAPS and Portuguese Apparel Association joined forces with PROJECT Sole alongside the FDRA to toast the event at The Standard Hotel on Monday, July 23.

The event hosted a presentation of different designers footwear, apparel and accessories, with models and collections in rotation for presentation. Isaac Hinden-Miller, best known as Isaac Likes, DJed the event, and musicians Best Youth gave a surprise musical performance.

While Portugal has long been a niche market, it is beginning to find a broader home here in New York City.

photos: Sam Deitch/BFA.com