While the duo behind the Latin American Fashion Summit has been busy bringing the region’s talent to the global fashion industry, their latest endeavor looks to welcome the global fashion industry into the region.
Launching with the first iteration in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from March 13 to 15, Raíces by LAFS aims to be a marriage between a networking event and a trade show — but minus the stuffy corporate element and the cavernous convention center vibe.
“We’ve noticed after four years doing summits that there’s so much impact that is created when you connect people that are in the same industry,” said Estefania Lacayo, cofounder of LAFS, digital networking platform Tribu and now Raíces by LAFS. “People invite them to their country to come to a trunk show. You can generate so much that can help them grow their businesses.”
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LAFS, the original summit that Lacayo launched with partner Samantha Tams in 2018 — which in its pandemic-postponed iteration in March counted Johanna Ortiz, Alexandre Birman, Lauren Santo Domingo and Pharrell Williams among its guest speakers — will remain a staple in Miami, taking place in November each year as a “think tank” of sorts, bringing in C-level executives to uncover not just the latest coming out of Latin America but also the latest in business best practices. Raíces, on the other hand, hopes to facilitate more casual interactions between those doing business in Latin America and those looking to do so.
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“Latin America will be an extremely different product. We will [bring together] emerging designers, entrepreneurs that maybe really don’t want to listen to a top executive talking about the meta world because they might not be there yet. They’re more interested in [things like] what’s the perfect way to create a pitch to an editor, or what buyers want and hearing from the fashion director of two, three different retailers,” Lacayo said. “The product in Latin America will be very heavy on networking. Heavy on meeting with the buyers, meeting with the many, many brands and many, many entrepreneurs in the fashion ecosystem. That’s really what they want.”
The conference will take place over two days, with panel discussions limited to the mornings and the bulk of the afternoons designed for speed dating — meetings between handbag designers and buyers, meetings between jewelry artisans and shops that want their one-of-a-kind wares, meetings between those interested in fashion media and those in it sharing their insight.
“Many speed dating activations [will] be happening [simultaneously] and the idea behind this is that people really want to get to know not only the top senior people doing this but they also want to meet other people that they could generate business with, people that are doing something like this in Argentina or Brazil in London that are Latins in this world,” Lacayo said.
And running counter to all that’s unlikeable about the typical trade show, Raíces is all set to take place in a colonial home, bringing alongside the exhibition of brands and designs from the region, the beauty of the Dominican Republic. As Tams said, the aim is for it to feel like more of an “out of office offsite kind of thing rather than business as usual.”
“Even though Miami is the capital of Latin America, the reason why we created LAFS is because we also wanted to show all of you guys what Latin America has to offer, with its culture, with its heritage, with its artisans, with gastronomy,” Lacayo said.
As such, that’s what will happen at Raíces on the sidelines of new business meetings.
“In this edition, we are planning to really get to your senses with gastronomy, with visual things, like the streets are beautiful but definitely we have historic elements — everything that we’re going to plan it’s for you as guest to back and say, ‘wow, this was the very best taste of Latin America,” Tams said.
Because of the multifaceted features, the host country is fully on board. The first edition of the event will be presented by the Ministry of Tourism of the Dominican Republic. With the aim of making this a roving event throughout the region, LAFS is already in talks with other nations to develop similar things.
Tourism aside, the selection of Latin American design is what visiting buyers have most to look forward to from a business standpoint. And that very keen curation is what landed LAFS in Amazon’s Luxury Stores earlier this summer, with an edit that showcases the best fashion coming out of Latin America. And Raíces intends to bring more where that came from.
“Latin America has become a huge focus for retailers. There is so much interest and there are so many opportunities, from small boutiques to large department stores,” Lacayo said. “For [buyers] to come to Latin America and see a beautiful curation, a beautiful showroom pop up, right after Paris [Fashion Week]…it’s a great opportunity for them to get to see all the brands in a one-stop shop.”
It’s prime for brands and retailers that have promised to stock their shelves with more product by Black and Latin-owned brands but that aren’t yet sure where to find them — or haven’t been committed enough to really look.