The international recognition for Belgian fashion came with the “Six of Antwerp”. Afterwards, the Antwerp Academy generated more new successful generations of Belgian designers and it still does so today. With the establishment of the Flanders Fashion Institute (FFI), the promotion of Belgian fashion was guaranteed.

 

This was also the beginning of a unique project called ModeNatie. This building, a true “fashion temple”, is a public-private cooperation between the city of Antwerp, province of Antwerp (Fashion Museum), Flemish Region and 8 private partners including Creamoda. Creamoda also joined hands with Modo Bruxellae to promote fashion from Brussels.

 

Creamoda is the employers’ association that represents manufacturers, designers, wholesalers and agencies active in the Belgian fashion and ready-to-wear industry. The federation was established in 1946 to unite the employers of this industry. To defend and advise its members in all areas of economic life is one of the principal missions of Creamoda. This vast task notably includes social mediation and information, technical support, advice in international trading matters and commercial support as well as madeto- measure service. Promoting Belgian fashion on national and international level is another vital task of Creamoda.

The sector of clothing and apparel is a very labour-intensive one. The majority of companies are family-owned businesses, small to medium sized and environmentally-friendly. On the one hand, the industry experiences a tough international competition especially from Asian countries. On the other hand, the clothing and apparel industry is very export-oriented. Nowadays, several Belgian brands are sold throughout the world and well-known by many people. Belgian fashion is exported to several countries; however, the top 5 is France, Germany, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Spain.

 

At present, 17.677 people are working in the clothing and apparel industry of which 70% are blue collar and 30% white collar workers. 75% of all employees are women. The majority of companies are located in Flanders (85%) of which 60% are based in East and West Flanders. One of the main problems for the Belgian clothing and apparel companies is the high labour cost. This has forced numerous companies to take their production abroad in order to stay competitive on international level. In 2006 clothing alone represented a turnover of 1.8 billion euro. If apparel is added, the turnover amounts to 2.4 billion euro of which 70% was generated by export.