Activewear brands to assemble for the Apparel Summit of the Americas

The event is being organized and promoted to the US industry by the Americas Apparel Producers’ Network (AAPN). As of the date of this release, 230 people from 115 organizations have registered to attend, including nearly 20 US brands and retailers. On November 27-29, 2018, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, a Who’s Who of US activewear brands will assemble for the Apparel Summit of the Americas. The core event is to tour the grand opening of the new United Textiles of Americas, or UTEXA, synthetic yarn spinning operation.

The keynote speaker is Simon Mainwaring, a proven specialist in the critical topic of sustainability and ‘purpose driven brands’. The overall purpose and unique visionary plan of Honduras2020 is perfect for analysis by Mr. Mainwaring. Other speakers include: Ed Gribbin, CEO, Gribbin Strategic LLC,Kurt Cavano, Founder & President of GT Nexus, an Infor Company, Anthony Anzovino, Chief Sourcing & Merchandising Officer, Haggar Clothing Co.,Walter T. Wilhelm, CEO of WWA Advisors will moderate an executive panel featuring: Steve Cochran, CEO, Tegra Global, David Ha, CEO, TexOps, Aaron Ledet, VP, Americas Sourcing, VF Corporation, Ricardo Pettenati, CEO, Pettenati Industrias Textil S.A.

On Wednesday evening, Nov 28, there will be a Fashion Show, Reception and Gala Dinner at the Club Hondureño Arabe. The fashions will all be produced within Honduras and neighbouring countries.

The UTEXA synthetic yarn spinning mill is being built in Choloma, Honduras. It is 500,000 square feet in size. As of this date, new state-of-the-art equipment, most of it of European design, is being installed to produce, texturize and finish massive amounts of yarn.

The Summit was initially inspired by the Honduras2020 plan, presented at the AAPN Annual Conference in 2016. This aggressive and comprehensive Five Year economic plan was so solid, forward looking and inspiring that it ignited high interest in Honduras. After that conference Chuy Canahuati of Elcatex convened meetings in Honduras of producers from El Salvador and Guatemala to clearly coordinate the goals of Honduras2020 and how the results would significantly increase capacity for the exploding market in activewear in the US.

As forecast by the plan, today Honduras is attracting many millions in foreign investment; creating thousands of new jobs; improving infrastructure and ports; enhancing education; building safe affordable housing; generating stable renewable energy; and above all else increasing the capacity for apparel production in the Americas.

What has attracted investment has been the political stability and productive institutions of Honduras, especially the industry group Asociacion Hondurena de Maquiladores (AHM). In preparing for this complex event where three hotels will transport attendees to the Copantl Convention Center and other locations, coordination in-country has been extremely productive.

The Copantl agenda will the morning of Nov 28 and afternoon of Nov 29. Late the first day and early the next will consist of bus tours of a wide range of locations of production in and around San Pedro Sula.