Mauritius Fashion Fiesta offers UK buyers 'excellence'

"We are not the biggest player, but we are the most seasoned player," says Dev Chamroo, chief executive officer of Enterprise Mauritius, during the opening ceremony of Fashion Fiesta, the organizations first Meet the Buyer event in the UK. Last Thursday, the national trade promotion organization

of Mauritius welcomed a select group of UK retailers, buyers, manufacturers to a private event held at the Emirates Stadium, which aims to promote the country as a reliable and preferred sourcing location for textiles and garments as the UK is currently Mauritius's largest export market. During the two day event, 25 local suppliers were invited to London to meet with a number of existing customers and connect with potential new buyers.

"Although we are not in the game of large orders, we see a lot of module production taking place in Mauritius, more for clients who are looking for short-term, high quality production. We are moving in terms of technology and our textile productions has become very integrated and mechanized, so we see production capacity there. Large Mauritian production companies have their own factories in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, China and India so they can offer flexible orders to their buyers."

Mauritius has evolved from a producer of fashion basics to a leading vertically integrated supplier

For over forty years, Mauritius has been manufacturing and producing textiles and garments, despite the island lack of natural resources such as cotton and sheep. "Doing something out of nothing and doing it well is what we are know for. We have developed the textile industry on Mauritius on the basis of adding value," explains Chamroo. The cotton comes from Africa, as does the wool, and the island has four spinning mills, 20 knitting factories and 438 manufacturing companies which all produce garments and textiles for the country's export markets.

Nikki Gorrie, trend forecaster at Compagnie Mauricienne de Textile (CMT), was invited by Enterprise Mauritius to exhibit at the event and was impressed with the venue and organization. CMT is the biggest supplier in Mauritius and lists the Arcadia Group, Whistles, Next and Urban Outfitters among its clients, with an annual turnover of 200 million dollars (120 million pounds.)

Gorrie points out that the family run company has grown to become the number one jersey wear supplier for brands in Europe and the US, with over 20 vertically integrated processes, and offers a full-package service to its buyers who have been visiting their stand through out the morning. "So far there has been a good steady number of established client appointments coming in, as well as potential new buyers," says Gorrie. She states that the event seems to be very well put together and is running smoothly. "If it were up to me and CMT is invited to any future events, we would definitely attend again."

Amanda Hall, sales co-coordinator at Wensum Tailoring, which owns their own factory in Mauritius, says the idea to combine the event with rum tasting evening gives it "another type of edge," over other B2B events. The company mainly produces mens suits, both ready-to-wear and made to measure for clients such as Harrods, Hackett London and Austin Reed as well as is own label Bladen. All their garments are made in Mauritius using their own UK made fabrics, and Hall says that its nice to see the government organizing an event for their manufacturers. She highlights how well things seems to be going, considering its the first event of its kind and praises the choice of venue, but she adds that it would be nice to see more exhibitors in a larger location during the next event.

Buyers Neeva and Gopa came to the event in hopes of meeting suppliers for their family run businesses, with high expectations of a large scale event, more exhibitors and a wider range of products. Gopa is the temporary creative director for her sisters haute couture gown and lingerie label, while Neeva is launching her own luxury handbag line, Eva Lobo. Both made a number of new contacts at the event, however they feel that most of the exhibitors at the event only manufacture products aimed at high-street fashion retailers. Neeva says she was disappointed in the lack of handbag and accessories manufacturers exhibiting at the event. "Also not everything seems to be listed on the manufacturers information sheet. I was speaking to a beachwear manufacturer, who mentioned he also produced lingerie, which was not mentioned anywhere on their description page," says Gopa.

Mauritius "not the cheapest sourcing destination and never will be."

Chamroo explains that Mauritius "dominant presence is with the high-street fashion retailers," and therefore most of their produces are aimed at the middle market. "Our manufacturers have not yet emerged with their own brands on the international market," he adds. "But a lot of British retailers still make their designs in Mauritius." Enterprise Mauritius previously helped set up the Mauritius fashion council and is currently promoting designs made in Mauritius. "We are moving from basic manufacturing to design development in Mauritius."

Mauritius is "not just aiming at beating the competition at price only, not just looking at Duty Free to penetrate the market and not trying to level down to the cheapest producers of the world, but aiming to bring [their buyers] the best quality, in comparison to producers in Europe, like Italy and France," concludes the chairman of Enterprise Mauritius, L.Amédee Darga. "We aim for excellence, for the highest quality and for a solution to give clients the highest satisfaction."

Enterprise Mauritius invited FashionUnited to attend their first event in London