AUSTIN (KXAN) — Soon, fashion designers from Austin and Egypt will help grow the fashion industry through an exchange program.
The City of Austin Economic Development Department and the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, partnered for the ATX+EGYPT exchange program thanks to a $231,000 grant from the embassy.
Selected businesses will take part in a year-long business development and cultural exchange to help move the fashion industry forward in each region, city officials say.
The city and embassy started the relationship in 2019, and the renewed funding will help “support the development and global expansion of Austin-based businesses.”
It also increases exposure of emerging Egyptian businesses to Austin and the U.S., city officials say.
“ATX+EGYPT empowers our local fashion designers to not only thrive in Austin’s $86 million fashion industry, but also to prepare for the global $1.5 trillion fashion marketplace,” said Sylnovia Holt Rabb, the acting director of the city’s economic development department.
“We look forward to leveraging our global networks for economic prosperity in Austin’s growing fashion sector, and we are excited to provide fashion designers from Cairo with an opportunity to access the U.S. market,” she said.
The first phase of the program begins in December and runs through April 2021 with a virtual education series, and the second phase that begins in October 2021 preps those traveling in the exchange program.
The application for the program opens at 10 a.m. Thursday and closes at 5 p.m. Nov. 1.
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