About 20 emerging, mid-career Nigerian fashion designers have been selected to participate in the International Visitors Leadership Programme, the premier professional exchange programme of the U.S. Department of State.
The virtual IVLP project is titled ‘Promoting Economic Growth and Trade in the Fashion Industry’.
It will offer a professional and cultural exchange opportunity on topics, including current trends and successful business practices in the U.S. fashion industry and the reality of marketing and promoting African designs in the United States.
The U.S. Consulate Public Affairs Officer, Stephen Ibelli, in a statement on Wednesday, explained that the IVLP project was aimed at promoting economic growth and trade in the fashion industry.
It will empower local fashion designers to not only thrive in Nigeria’s fashion industry but also to prepare for the global fashion marketplace.
He mentioned that with the growing relationship between the two countries in the area of sports, Arts, and the rest, the fashion industry should not be ignored.
Ibelli said, “With growing artistic, sports, film, and music ties between Nigeria and the United States, the goal of this IVLP project is to further deepen Nigerian and American ties by adding fashion as another area of growing connectivity between our two countries.”
