Textile and Clothing Heritage as a powerful source for inspiration and fashion education Han Bekke Director General International Apparel Federation
The dream of our founders The IAF was founded in 1976 in Williamsburg (USA), after four years of negotiations between the US, European and Japanese associations by Joachim Hofman (AEIH), Komataro Kondo (JAIC) and Thomas Roboz (AAMA) to promote the common business interests and encourage best practice and support for apparel manufacturers world wide.
Past Presidents 2005 Alejandro Faes 2004 Pere Prat 2003 Umut Oran 2002 Frans Schulte 2001 Thomas Y.T. Huang 2000 L.E. Bo Gibens 1999 L.E. Bo Gibens 1998 Gaetano Marzotto 1997 Sunjoto Tanudjaja 1996 Hasan Arat 1995 James Jacobsen 1994 Takashi Onishi 1993 Herman Santes 1992 W. Jerry Vereen 1991 Yorio Yagi 1990 Andre Delfosse 1989 David T. Shirley 1988 Yasuji Hanoya 1987 Dr. Angelo Zegna 1986 Leo J. Feuer 1985 Sadayasu Shimizu 1984 A. J. W. Lewis 1983 Norman Henerfeld 1982 Tatsuyo Aota 1981 Jacques Gromb 1980 Helmut Gilbert 1979 Thomas Roboz 1978 Komataro Kondo 1977 Dr. J. Hofmann
The IAF today The International Apparel Federation is a politically neutral global association, open to entrepreneurs and executives from the apparel chain worldwide. Its membership includes national clothing associations and companies whose core business is sourcing, designing, development, manufacturing, distribution, and retailing of apparel products. In addition the IAF welcomes, as associate members, educational institutions and companies that supply textiles, accessories, equipment, technology, and services to the apparel industry. The IAF is a worldwide knowledge network that collects and disseminates information, statistical, benchmarking and otherwise, on developments in apparel design, manufacturing, distribution, sourcing, trade and technology.
Mission statement IAF s mission is to develop business contacts which foster dialogue and knowledge exchange between individuals active in the world apparel value chain: for the betterment of business practices for the promotion of the international image of the apparel business for the encouragement of innovation and new ways of thinking for the growth of apparel trade worldwide for the improvement of social, health and safety, and environmental conditions relating to the apparel chain worldwide, and for the advancement of apparel related education and training
Members in more than forty countries worldwide Australia Austria Bangladesh Belgium Bulgaria Cambodia China Colombia Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hong Kong Hungary India Indonesia Ireland Italy Japan Latvia Lithuania Mexico Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Tunisia Turkey United Kingdom USA Vietnam
IAF Services, Committees & Activities 24 th World Apparel Convention, Maastricht, October 2008 Regional Seminars Global Apparel Markets Report, in association with Textiles Intelligence IAF Student Award IAF Education Committee IAF Cultural Committe IAF Designer Award Technical Committee Global Social Responsibility Committee IAF web site & monthly e-newsletter
IAF Annual World Apparel Convention Organized annually since 1984 the World Apparel Convention attracts high level executives from companies in the apparel chain, suppliers & trade associations Past venues include Milan, Florence, Athens, Barcelona, Thessaloniki, Maastricht, Amsterdam, Washington, Istanbul, San Francisco, Atlantic City, Taipei, Hong Kong, Bali, Sun City (South Africa), Acapulco Next conference: 18-28 November, New Delhi, India The future of fashion through consolidation and collaboration
IAF Designer Award The IAF designer Award was launched in 2004 at the Barcelona convention in order to offer visibility to talented young designers. Every IAF member association has the right to nominate a designer. Each designer has to submit garments that are presented during the annual IAF conference. Three winners are chosen by a jury All winners are invited to the next IAF Convention
IAF Education Committee The Education & Training Committee of the IAF was established on May 11th, 1997 during the World Apparel Convention in Hong Kong. in order to: - explore training methods of each country, - explain national approaches to training, - examine training structures in each country, - encourage employers involvement in training, - promote general involvement and assistance - share information in respect of costs, funding, resources etc - encourage the development of new training techniques - share expertise on an international basis - promote international participation to raise training standards to a world class level The inaugural Chairman was Mr. Tom Edge, CBE of CAPITB Trust. He was succeeded by Professor Edward Newton of the Hong Kong Polytechnic. The current chair is Dr. Angela Peers of the Manchester Metropolitan University.
IAF Student Award The IAF is looking to find the best talent to recruit into the industry. Final year students who have demonstrated excellence in any area of technology can be nominated for the IAF Student Award. They are asked to submit a piece of course work to demonstrate this and have a recommendation from their Institution. The areas considered for nomination may be CAD, design, fabric, construction, product development, graphics, IT, etc. Once each Lectra and SgT has selected a student who they think will benefit from the experience with their company, they will talk to the individual candidates and develop job roles to suit them and find a location to suit the job role and the candidate. The judging at both these companies followed the company selection procedure
IAF Cultural Committee Following a recommendation from the HCIA, who is a partner in the TexMedIn project the Board of the IAF decided unanimously, during the meeting of 20/4/2009 in Cologne, to establish the IAF Cultural Committee. Creativity is a fundamental element of the apparel industry and culture and tradition are a vital source of insight for the creators of Fashion. Globalization has increased the importance of culture and tradition not only as a source of knowledge and inspiration but also as a key for peaceful coexistence of people from different cultures, nationality, religious backgrounds as well as sex, way of thinking and educational level. Fashion creation proves daily that we live in a world that tends to adopt certain common standards which are based on fundamental elements of tradition of all those who have contributed to the world civilization.
IAF Cultural Committee Mission To identify and list institutes, organizations, companies and museums around the world with apparel and textiles collections, To form a forum for knowledge exchange between officers of such organizations, apparel industry executives and educators. To share information on good practices, experiences and new initiatives on an international level, that foster creativity in the clothing and textiles industries. To facilitate cooperation and the development of synergies among museums and cultural institutions with textiles & apparel collections. To foster links between textile and apparel collections and fashion universities that lead to the enrichment of educational programs by leveraging cultural heritage and tradition. To allow fashion companies to tap into the creative wealth of textiles and apparel collections. To support and contribute to, on an international level, the collection, restoration and conservation of historical or antique apparel and textiles artifacts.
Meletis Karabinis, IAF Cultural Committee Chair Meletis Karabinis currently serves as Director General of the Hellenic Fashion Industry Association and as a Director of the Hellenic Fashion Industry Association (SEPEE).. He graduated in 1982 from the International Relations school of Paris and the Social Science school of Paris. In addition to his native Greek he speaks English and French. He represents the HCIA at EURATEX, the IAF and AEDT. He was active in the organization team of the international IAF convention in Thessaloniki-Greece (2006) and has been instrumental in the establishing of the Greek Electronic Commerce Center (EDIGRAC) and the Somatometric Insitute. He has been responsible, since 1985, for the Social Dialogue and the negotiations of the labor collective agreements for the Clothing Sector and has served as Project Manager and Partner of various research projects: MIP, TEDIS, RETEX, Telematics, SMEs Initiative Subcontracting projects, FORCE, LEONARDO, EUMEDIS, EPET, Sectoral EDI projects, IST, ASIA invest, Equal (EP- ENDYSI), Article 6 (ProCrisis(, MED, etc. He is the editor and consulting editor for a number of industry publications including Greek Ready-Garment, INFOWEAR, Garment and Technology and the Greek Fashion Magazine. Meletis is married to Mrs Despina Schina and has one son, Christopher.
IAF Cultural Committee Action/Work Points International Contact Point secretariat for museums, institutes, universities, etc with textiles & apparel collections. Development of a directory of all textile/apparel collections in www.iafnet.com Create a joint group between the IAF education & cultural committees to strengthen links between fashion schools/universities and textile/apparel collections. Leveraging of the Texmedin project results to further digitization of textile/apparel collections and the development of common webaccessible databases
Come and join the IAF Cultural Committee! texmedin workshop