Well once again, Elemental Imports is on the move. The ownership group of Elemental Imports is making a special trip to Peru for a fashion show hosted in Lima. We would love to tell you the name of it, but it’s our secret, we will post pictures and link to new items here. This event is the pinnacle fashion show of South America. 300 local Peruvian exporters and an estimated record number of foreign corporate attendees will grace the grounds of this spectacular event.
Why Peru?
We were fortunate enough to touch down in Lima long enough to have our driver sneak us into the show last year. That particular trip, was merely investigation as we had a few hours to spare between flights; not to mention, we had only found out about the show itself, 3 days prior. We entered the show at about 8:00 am. Many of the attendees hadn’t even arrived to open up their exhibits. With our ‘interpreter’, we jumped from Kiosk to kiosk, talking with the locals, making notes, collecting cards, taking pictures and gathering company information.
By the time we had finished our rounds at the exhibition, it had seemed like an eternity – hot sweats, faintness, dizziness, all the wonderful joys of early morning travel in a foreign country, yet we had been there less than 60 minutes. “That’s it, that is all we have time for if you still want to catch your flight back” said Peter, cousin of our Peruvian friends. I know by the smirk on Jennien’s face, EI’s other director, that she was entertaining the idea of not going back. I think if either of us would have given the AOK, we would be writing this from there. Other than Nicolas, Kevin’s son and a few nagging obligations back home, we were leaving paradise.
At that moment, we both knew, that we had to make time for the Peru Fashion show in the following year to come. This time we have an agenda, and we have a market. We know what we are missing in our line of textiles and we’re sourcing it! Some recent delivery issues, have left us seeking alternate suppliers and Peru is the place to further our business with reputable textile manufacturers that believe in sustainability and fair-trade.
We have two main goals in our attendance at the show for 2010. Both goals are to close gaps. We identified a gap in our fashion summer fashion line. As much as we love Alpaca, our customers have expressed an interest, errr demanded that we look towards a summer fashion line. We are on the hunt for Pima Cotton.
Our second gap, is one of cultures and distance. The South American people have differing common place names for things, times and events, than we do as Canadians. We seek to close that gap by meeting with our suppliers face to face. We are meeting directly with the Managing Director of Sahino brand sporting wear to further solidify our relationship and supply of fine sporting goods.
“This is a strategic event for us. We will have a chance to reconnect with our Manager of South American Operations, Sr Marco Guererro. He knows the markets we want to be in and has already established relations with some of the best producers South America has to offer. From alpaca to Pima (Egyptian) cotton, I think we will have the designer lines that our customers want to see. Many of our garments are unique and one of a kind, as many of the producers do not produce in large enough quantities to interest the big guys. These items are typically hand made.”
Just as a teaser for those that do follow our blog, here is our new product site, with fully integrated paypal. It works but is not 100% complete, so please just check it out and if you are interested in ordering something please try the system but allow us to correct any mistakes and please follow up to ensure your order is correct. We must apologize for the lack of updates on our site, we have personally been knee deep in a bathroom renovation and when you have one bathroom, it tends to become a priority.
Kevin Shankland & Jennien Yarmie
Director Elemental Imports.