No. 2 - Its Gran Canaria Magazine

6
INTERVIEW I ENTREVISTA Nº 2
Antonio Morales
President of the Cabildo de
Gran Canaria
BY IBÁN PADRÓN
The 2020 Gran Canaria Swimwear Fashion Week
by Moda Cálida is to be held at ExpoMeloneras
exhibition centre, in Maspalomas (Gran Canaria),
from 22nd to 25th October. With a whole new look,
inspired by the island’s natural paradise setting,
this year’s Gran Canaria Swimwear Week by Moda
Cálida comes with new features following its first
edition 20 years ago, making it undoubtedly one
of the most special events in its history. This is the
subject of we are sharing today with the President
of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales.
How would you define this stage of Moda Cálida
as President of the Cabildo?
We have been moving forward and growing with
this brand and fashion companies for four years.
I believe this has been the result of boosting local
marketing and promotion, with campaigns
including fashion parades at Las Canteras beach,
Ceremony (Bridal), Fashion and Friends, advertising
support, signage at the points of sale and the
institution’s seal on garments… a series of actions
that has done no more than to kickstart the sector’s
economy and its satellite industries (hairdressers,
catering, aesthetics, accessories, audiovisual
production, photography…). An important
part of this was also to bring locally made Gran
Canaria fashion onto the street, for people to perceive
it as accessible and to provide an insight into
the products and their designers.
The programmes’s history has always had an internationalisation
feel. What is the current situation
regarding Gran Canaria’s fashion brand in
this sense?
We needed to build ourselves up on a local level,
we couldn’t envisage venturing out of the island
without first consolidating local promotion and
sales. When this was achieved, by studying data
(progressively increasing companies’ turnover by
61.7%), we started to probe the Spanish market, in
"It is our duty to back our local talent,
entrepreneurship and creativity"
a progressive way and with the help and advice of
the Asociación de Creadores Moda España. It is the
first time the Cabildo has had a close coordinating
relationship with the only fashion association
that could guide us towards this objective. Since
2019 Ifema, the organism that manages Spains’s
leading fashion week, also manages the swimwear
fashion week, something that enables us to
attract not only national and international media
but also buyers.
What has Ifema provided or how does the Gran
Canaria Swimwear Fashion Week help?
It has definitively placed Gran Canaria and its
swimwear on the map. It will provide the positioning
of our companies and our island in the Spanish
market. The experience of running leading Spanish
fashion events will provide a qualitative leap for
the swimwear fashion week, above all as it will increase
competitiveness in the sector.
It makes this fashion week the European swimwear
fashion week, as we are part of the national
calendar. Its also makes its commercial offices,
communications department, sponsorships and
industry professionals available for advice-giving
and highly qualified selectors committee. The
presence of nationally and internationally established
firms will enable the creation of synergies,
and the positioning and exposure of Canary companies.
How has this Cabildo supported companies at
Gran Canaria Moda Cálida?
Firstly, we are close at hand, ready to listen to and
learn from their proposals. Many of the improvements
made to the programme have been a result
of contributions made by the sector. Other
support elements, in addition to all the events run
by the Cabildo for the sales and marketing of Gran
Canaria fashion, include a series of subsidies (from
€30,000 in 2015, rising to €350,000 in 2020) for the
modernisation and creation of workshops for textile
production, points of sale, attending fairs and
presenting collections, to enable activity to continue
in the face of the COVID-19 crisis… And for the
first time belong to the Asociación de Creadores
Moda España, so that companies ready to move
into foreign markets can be given advice by ACME
on an individual basis.
Which do you believe to have been the most important
action?
All the changes, as a whole, that we have started
up have been aimed at abandoning the idea of
local shows, for which, although they have their
positive side, we needed to establish a goal and
actions to achieve them. Generating an economy
through fashion, while promoting the holiday destination
with our Swimwear Fashion Week. But if I
had to point to one specifically, it would be working
alongside new designers. It is the institutions’
duty to back our local talent, entrepreneurship and
creativity.
How are new companies being supported?
First and foremost through training centres. The
budget is committed to increasing the number of
grants to the “La Minilla” institute as well as to the
Gran Canaria Graduate School of Art and Design.
When we arrived, each centre had just four scholarships,
and now not only have we increased this
number we have also increased payment for work
experience in company workshops that are associated
with Gran Canaria Moda Cálida. Another fundamental
action has been the creation of the Gran
Canaria Moda Cálida School, with training aimed
mainly at businesses. Alongside the rest of the
actions we also participate in, we have gone from
having 2 new companies start up in 2015 to 24 new
talents.
Can you give us a preview of any new features for
this year’s Swimwear Fashion Week?
We are currently experiencing a delicate public
health situation. If the situation allows, we have
made necessary changes so that companies will
be able to unveil their 2021 collections at the swimwear
fashion week so the season will not be lost.
Everywhere else these events have been suspended
or have been adapted to the new reality. Our
main objective is to comply with the new normal
and protect the health of the population and and
try to make it compatible for fashion companies in
Gran Canaria to carry on working. To this end we
will make use of the media, social media and the
internet in general, where we can also do promotional
campaigns for the 2021 collections, which
are to be unveiled on the catwalks from 22nd to
25th October.