Underlines talks to Minerva Alonso, responsible for promoting Gran Canaria’s textile industry.

With 25 editions, the Gran Canaria Swim Week by Moda Calida has become an international benchmark in swimwear. From her position as Councillor for Industry, Trade and Crafts of the Island Council of Gran Canaria, Minerva Alonso is responsible for promoting the region’s textile industry and putting the island’s fashion in the spotlight of the sector. Professionalism, internationalisation, digitalisation and sustainability are the challenges facing the catwalk in its next edition, which will be held in October in Expomeloneras, in the south of the island, featuring around thirty national and international brands.

Last year was the 25th edition of the catwalk. How has it evolved over the years?

Last year’s edition had a very important media impact. The public health crisis meant a lower capacity but from the Cabildo de Gran Canaria we made a great effort to communicate and publicise effectively the swimwear collections that were presented at the Swimwear Fashion Week. In terms of evolution, we are already included in the European Fashion Alliance and we have been present at the Berlin Fashion Week; and it is these types of actions that are aimed at consolidating us as a European swimwear platform, our ultimate objective.

How is this evolution reflected in the Canarian textile industry and the local brands that participate in it?

The Cabildo de Gran Canaria is responsible for the island of Gran Canaria. But we have positive data from the Canary Islands Industrial Development Strategy. According to this document there is a growth in the number of companies in the textile industry of almost 40% in the decade from 2009 to 2019. The island institution also has positive data, such as the growth in the turnover of companies by 28% with respect to 2019. All the figures, in fact, reflect that the work in communication and promotion is functioning and that the institutional programme of Gran Canaria Moda Cálida, as a support to the sector, is working.

The marketing of brands and collections has always been a handicap due to its conditions (location, idiosyncrasy, fiscal conditions, customs, etc.). To what extent do the GCMC platform and the administration help to minimise this fact?

Insularity is synonymous with many virtues, but it has a cost for our companies, both in terms of importing material, machinery or hiring staff, for example, and when it comes to marketing their products abroad, as you say, and indeed it has a cost for our brands. The policies of the Cabildo as an island institution addresses the difficulties generated by insularity in many ways, but tax conditions or customs policy are beyond our competence; however, we have taken the problems and needs of our sector to all the competent administrations in this area. In the meantime, everything that GCMC provides to the companies is a way to alleviate this handicap, from subsidies to acquire material or software programmes for pattern-making and design, or to improve the brand image, to training grants for internship students, or the presence of the brands in sectoral catalogues, to participation in international events.

What is the (economic and social) impact of the textile and fashion industry in the region?

As I mentioned, our area of competence is limited to Gran Canaria, and we are currently drafting a study on the impact of the sector on the island and that of our main event: Swimwear Fashion Week. This study is part of the European Interreg Mac “ModaMac” project, of which we are leaders, which will not only provide an in-depth knowledge of the sector in the Macaronesia region but also promote collaboration between the territories of our outermost region, those of us who share the reality we spoke of earlier in terms of insularity, precisely to improve the export capacity of the fashion sector in the area of cooperation in order to increase its competitiveness, and to strengthen the existing channels of production, promotion and distribution of fashion products and open up potential channels for the distribution of fashion products on the foreign market.

Talking about internationalisation, one of its biggest challenges for years, the catwalk is consolidating its image by actively participating in fairs such as Maredamare or promoting collaboration agreements such as that with the Berlin Fashion Week. Are these actions having commercial results?

We have been participating in the Maredamare for two editions now, and we already have a cooperation alliance that involves promoting the presence of Gran Canaria Moda Cálida in the trade fair and that, in the same way, Maredamare also has a space in our Swimwear Fashion Week. As for Berlin, we presented our platform and from there a dialogue has been generated with other European Fashion Councils, and the presence of German brands on our catwalk has been closed. And yes, from the beginning, the attendance of our designers to these events has generated new commercial agreements for them as well as expanding their network of contacts for the manufacture or purchase of material.

 In addition, you have just joined the European Fashion Alliance to promote a thriving, sustainable and inclusive ecosystem in the fashion industry. What does this mean?

Belonging to the European Fashion Alliance places our catwalk on the European fashion map, includes us in the professional catwalk circuit and simultaneously allows us to promote our island as a tourist destination closely linked to our swimwear; but fundamentally, these are values that we share and promote from this island institution through the project that distinguishes us, the “Ecoisla” project, which seeks to transform our territory for future generations and of course the fashion sector is also part of it.

What novelties will we find in the next edition of the catwalk?

In the 2022 edition we will have four emerging brands, 19 national and 9 international. We prefer not to distinguish between national and local, because the Canarian brands that participate in the Swimwear Fashion Week already parade on the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Madrid or attend national and international fairs, so the distinction makes no sense.

In the current context (economic, geopolitical, social, etc.), how do you think this could affect the competitiveness of the Gran Canarian industry and brands?

The product offered by Gran Canaria is always with an added value. A product that is different because it is produced here, because it is linked to the destination, because it is handcrafted and of the highest quality. And finally, because it is a product with its own identity, and the client values all this more and more. Another issue is how the pandemic has affected the sector, as well as the inflation generated by the recent war, which has certainly had consequences for all companies, especially when what determines us is our insularity.

Digitalisation and sustainability are other challenges to be considered. To what extent are you working in both areas?

In the calls for subsidies aimed at supporting Gran Canarian companies, we value aspects such as sustainability and digitalisation. This has meant that all brands are now in virtual environments. In addition, the call for participation in the Swimwear Fashion Week includes criteria related to these aspects. Both aspects are promoted because we are characterised precisely by encouraging the creation of small companies with small workshops that offer a swimsuits or bikinis of the highest quality and produced in a sustainable way.

Finally, a last word so that no one in the sector misses the next event?

I would say that in our Swimwear Fashion Week we are going to enjoy the firsts in swimwear collections, and this year, with an important variety of nationalities: from Germany, to Denmark, Spain, Colombia, Israel, Sweden, United Kingdom and Italy. To this, and to the atmosphere that a fashion event entails, we must add the fact that it is held on a wonderful island such as Gran Canaria. It is an event not to be missed.