From her position as Councillor for Industry, Trade and Crafts of the Island Council of Gran Canaria, Minerva Alonso is responsible for promoting the Canary Islands textile industry through, among other actions, the Gran Canaria Moda Cálida programme, a platform that serves as a showcase for the island’s swimwear brands and whose main challenges in the short term are professionalisation, international projection and sustainability.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the catwalk. How has it evolved in all this time?
Moda Cálida began as an initiative of the island’s own designer sector, which has gradually become more professional and turned the island into a European platform for presenting swimwear collections. Over the years, it has been implemented in the communication and by the fact that swimwear labels from the rest of Europe look to Gran Canaria as the stage for the presentation of their collections. Over the last 25 years, work has been carried out to specialise and support new companies (new talents), accentuating the link between swimwear and the destination.
In the current context, what challenges does the catwalk face and what are its objectives in the short and medium term?
This Swimwear Fashion Week is a launching pad for start-up companies and also a platform for consolidated ones. In the short term, we hope that European swimwear brands will see Gran Canaria as an opportunity for promotion, and that in the medium term we will gradually add more labels and will achieve the desired internationalisation.
Internationalisation and professionalisation have always been your main focuses. What measures are being taken in these areas?
The alliance with IFEMA MADRID for Gran Canaria is strategic to meet these challenges. We have also been working for some years in coordination with the Asociación de Creadores Moda España (ACME), which gives us first-hand knowledge of the needs and demands of the sector and is important for projecting any objective related to internationalisation and professionalisation. We also work with the Chamber of Commerce of Gran Canaria and ICEX Spain, in different actions related to the presence of the island’s brands in Europe.
In relation to the brands from Gran Canaria, how has their work and designs evolved?
The changes in the Swimwear Fashion Week and especially in the selection process of brands, in the requirements, have meant an improvement in the professionalisation of the companies, especially in digitalization and in the presence on the Internet through websites and online shops. The promotional activities carried out by the Cabildo, in addition to marketing, have also meant that new companies have joined the programme. Around 25 new talents have joined the programme, which means that there is plenty of talent in the design and fashion sector in Gran Canaria. In terms of creativity, I always say that we have great creative people on the island, and in the last few editions it has been brands from Gran Canaria that have won the Best Collection award.
What advantages/differences do they bring to the swimwear sector, which is already too fragmented?
Advantages without a doubt. The union of the sector around the “Gran Canaria Moda Cálida” programme, led by the island’s Cabildo, which aims to boost the fashion industry through professionalisation and internationalisation, as well as the constant work to achieve one of our priority objectives: to attract brands from all over the world to Gran Canaria.
The marketing of brands on the mainland has always been a handicap. Is this true or has globalisation helped to minimise this physical (or mental, or fiscal…) distance?
I already mentioned that the alliance with IFEMA MADRID has been a boost in this sense. Also the presence in ACME and in national trade fairs. Our presence in the virtual world also helps us to be anywhere in the world. We still have some way to go in terms of customs costs due to our tax situation, which effectively affects companies and depends on changes that the Spanish State must promote.
In addition to Gran Canarian brands, what can buyers who attend this event find? Give me three reasons for a professional visitor to come to this event…
Identity swimwear, linked to our destination, a volcanic island that not only offers sun and wonderful beaches 365 days a year. It also has a spectacular summit, from where you can see rural villages with their own distinctive features… Each of the landscapes of Gran Canaria can be seen in the character of the swimwear collections. I believe I am not wrong if I say that we are the only destination with a group of designers who make swimwear a hallmark of the island and who bring together national and international labels such as Agatha Ruíz de la Prada, Dolores Cortés, Gottex… To be able to appreciate these designer collections on a wonderful island…, these are more than enough reasons.
Finally, sustainability has also gained importance in recent editions. What is GCMC’s commitment in this area?
To value the firms that are committed to it. We do this in the call for the selection of brands that choose sustainability. A Cabildo that has an eco-island project for Gran Canaria cannot ignore this type of fashion, quite the opposite, we try to reinforce those brands and companies that work to reduce their carbon footprint.
