Nicaragua with excellent participation at Sourcing at MAGIC

Aug. 31, 2012 - PRLog -- During Nicaragua’s recent participation in this year’s Sourcing at MAGIC, the preeminent trade event of the international fashion industry, the country successfully promoted its burgeoning textiles and apparel sector, as well as its up and coming footwear industry, to global prestigious buyers and sellers.

Javier Chamorro Rubiales, Executive Director of PRONicaragua, the official investment and export promotion agency of Nicaragua, participated in a panel titled “Closer to home: Sourcing in the Americas”. During the panel participants had the opportunity to discover Nicaragua as an attractive sourcing option for footwear and apparel companies due to its many competitive advantages, which include speed to market-speed to profit, preferential market access, attractive fiscal incentives, high levels of productivity and competitive production costs.

Additionally, Nicaragua was highlighted as a feasible footwear sourcing destination during the “Footwear Sourcing Options: Regional Manufacturing Updates” presentation, led by Matt Priest, President of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA). Brown Shoe Company, a billion dollar global leader in the footwear industry, has already began sourcing footwear from companies established Nicaragua.

The country also hosted a cocktail, where Francisco Sanchez, Under Secretary of Commerce of the International Trade Administration, gave a welcoming speech to attendants, including global fashion brands and industry leaders.

The FDRA, in its 2012 Annual Footwear Sourcing Forecast, showcased Nicaragua as a “rising star” with great potential to increase its footwear exports to the U.S., and mentions the country’s potential to position itself among top world industry leaders such as Cambodia. Furthermore, according to the results of a study of the textiles and apparel consulting firm O’Rourke Group Partners, Nicaragua was found to be the single most competitive option for sourcing numerous apparel products, not just in this hemisphere, but in some cases also compared to China, Vietnam and Bangladesh.