{"id":18070,"date":"2026-02-19T04:43:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T04:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/18070\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T04:43:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T04:43:10","slug":"new-cultural-exchange-with-berlin-to-help-canadian-fashion-designers-make-inroads-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/18070\/","title":{"rendered":"New cultural exchange with Berlin to help Canadian fashion designers make inroads in Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Sagradesa at Fashion Art Toronto 2025. Designers accepted into FAT\u2019s new initiative will participate in Berlin Fashion Week this summer.Kimia Kordestani\/Supplied<\/p>\n

Canadian fashion designers looking to build their export businesses and break into the European market may find support through a new initiative called Bridge to Berlin<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Part of a three-year cultural and economic exchange funded by the Canadian government\u2019s Creative Export Canada Program, the initiative is intended to help independent, sustainably minded fashion labels improve their export readiness and gain international visibility. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt came from this desire to really build interest in Canadian fashion globally,\u201d said Vanja Vasic, the founder and creative director of Fashion Art Toronto, which is leading the initiative. \u201cWe looked at some of our closest relationships and markets that would be interesting, and Berlin came up as a city that was very much similar to our ecosystem that we built at FAT, so it was kind of a natural fit to start.\u201d <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Designer Emefa Kuadey of Israella Kobla said there\u2019s a growing need for fashion labels to diversify their markets.Fong Ho\/Supplied<\/p>\n

Designers who are accepted into the program will participate in Berlin Fashion Week next year, showing their collections on the runway or in a showroom, and have the opportunity to meet buyers, stylists and media. \u201cUltimately, we want to bring as many designers as we possibly can in different ways to Berlin,\u201d Vasic said. \u201cPart of this will be educating and working with them so that they can become export ready by 2027.\u201d<\/p>\n

The timing of the initiative, which officially kicked off last April with a market-research and relationship-building phase, isn\u2019t exactly coincidental as Canada seeks to diversify away from U.S. trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of this program for us is that desire to create new relationships internationally and not necessarily be dependent on our neighbours to the south,\u201d Vasic said. \u201cOf course, there are the issues with tariffs and a lot of shipping instability and unpredictable pricing.\u201d Emerging brands in particular, she added, are looking for some certainty.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no wonder that many designers, such as Ross Mayer, whose namesake men\u2019s wear brand Mayer previously relied on the U.S. market for almost 70 per cent of its sales, are actively seeking out new opportunities. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Kuadey said Berlin\u2019s fashion week is starting to get more attention internationally.Keemya Parsa\/Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the duties and tariffs that came along and just a whole change in trade policy, et cetera, that really hindered and thwarted business for many people like myself,\u201d Mayer said. \u201cSo we\u2019re exploring other markets of course, and that\u2019s why this Bridge to Berlin initiative has got so much appeal.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Toronto designer already ships garments to individual customers in Europe, but hopes to connect with retailers there through the exchange program. <\/p>\n

Even for fashion labels that haven\u2019t been directly affected by tariffs, there\u2019s a growing urgency to explore new markets and diversify revenue streams. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just so volatile, you really don\u2019t know what to expect from day to day, even hour to hour at some points,\u201d said designer Emefa Kuadey, whose women\u2019s fashion label Israella Kobla is based in Toronto. \u201cFor me it\u2019s really about diversifying where we\u2019re exporting to.\u201d <\/p>\n

Kuadey travelled to Hong Kong last year to showcase her collection at the Centrestage fashion showcase through another Canadian government program, and she believes that meeting buyers in Berlin can only benefit her business. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can go to a Paris Fashion Week or you can go to a New York Fashion Week, and I\u2019ve done showrooms in those places, but you end up being a really small fish in a huge pond,\u201d she said. Berlin\u2019s fashion week, by contrast, is smaller and more intimate, yet it\u2019s also starting to get more attention on the international stage. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think as a smaller brand, it\u2019s more effective to be in a city where \u2026 there\u2019s more opportunity to be featured and get that brand awareness.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Sagradesa at Fashion Art Toronto 2025. Designers accepted into FAT\u2019s new initiative will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[99],"tags":[112,190,7656],"class_list":["post-18070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-berlin","tag-berlin","tag-germany","tag-noastack"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}