{"id":17666,"date":"2026-10-13T16:29:52","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T16:28:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/13\/fashion-digital-talks-2026-spotlights-ai-apparel-trade-gap\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T16:29:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T16:29:54","slug":"fashion-digital-talks-2026-spotlights-ai-apparel-trade-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/13\/fashion-digital-talks-2026-spotlights-ai-apparel-trade-gap\/","title":{"rendered":"Fashion Digital Talks 2026 Spotlights AI, Apparel Trade Gap"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sergio Arturo Lievano Madrigal | Journalist – Tue, 10\/13\/2026 – 09:33 \"Idioma\"\/ Leer en Espa\u00f1ol DIA assistant 1.0x \u2715 <\/p>\n

Mexico\u2019s fashion e-commerce continues to expand while domestic apparel manufacturing faces its first trade deficit since NAFTA took effect in 1995, according to CANAIVE. Online retail sales reached MX$941 billion in 2025, and fashion accounts for close to 18% of online retail. Brands, digital platforms, and manufacturers face pressure from high return rates, undervalued and smuggled Chinese imports, and new circular economy obligations. <\/em><\/p>\n

Fashion Digital Talks celebrated its ninth edition bringing together industry chambers, e-commerce associations, and trade officials to discuss the growth of online fashion sales, linking it to AI adoption, omnichannel retail, and value-added manufacturing, as Mexico\u2019s apparel industry records its first trade deficit in three decades.<\/p>\n

The two-day hybrid event, held at Mexico City on Oct. 7, under the theme \u201cFashion Without Borders,\u201d gathered brands, technology platforms, and payment and logistics providers, and registered more than 1,800 online participants ahead of its opening day. In an exclusive with MBN, Laura Espinosa, Director and Founder, Fashion Digital Talks, describes the event as a bridge between the fashion and technology sectors.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur main mission is to serve as a meeting point between two ecosystems: fashion, which includes apparel, footwear, accessories, and beauty, and technology, which includes e-commerce and digitalization. We bring together technology solutions, platforms, and strategic partners that help fashion brands sell more and sell better online, but above all, that help them create better online shopping experiences for their customers,\u201d says Espinosa. \u201cOur goal is to build a virtuous circle in which these connections, together with innovation and digitalization, allow both national brands and transnational brands to continue growing in the Mexican market.\u201d In an interview with MBN<\/a>, Espinosa named agentic AI, conversational commerce, reverse logistics, and retention programs as central topics for this year\u2019s program.<\/p>\n

The event takes place as online demand for fashion continues to expand. Mexico\u2019s online retail sales reached MX$941 billion (US$52 billion) in 2025, a 19.2% increase, while e-commerce represented 17.7% of total retail sales, according to the Mexican Online Sales Association\u2019s (AMVO) 2026 Online Sales Study<\/a>. Philippe Broome, Commercial Director, AMVO, says fashion, beauty, and personal care rank among the fastest-growing categories, with 82% of Mexican internet users planning to buy these products within the next three months. Broome also identifies returns as a structural challenge, noting that 28% of online fashion buyers return a purchase, while eight in 10 Mexican consumers already shop across channels.<\/p>\n

Paulina Olmos, Director of Community and Strategic Alliances, AMVO, says fashion represents close to 18% of online retail and that its online penetration is nearing 60%. Olmos adds that the category consistently ranks among the top three during the Hot Sale and Buen Fin campaigns.<\/p>\n

The manufacturing side presents a different picture. Jos\u00e9 Pablo Maauad, President, National Chamber of the Apparel Industry (CANAIVE), says Mexico now imports more apparel than it exports for the first time since NAFTA entered into force in 1995. Maauad attributes the shift to the strength of the peso against the US dollar, rising domestic production costs, and declining employment and number of establishments in the sector. He says the value of national production remains stable at about MX$75 billion (US$4.1 billion) per year, and that each garment the US imports from Mexico carries a value four times higher than one imported from China.<\/p>\n

Maauad says apparel imports from China reached US$3 billion in 2025, a 22% increase compared with two years earlier, and identifies undervalued and smuggled goods that avoid import duties, VAT, and income tax as the main market distortion facing the industry. The pressure on the sector has been building for several years: an April MBN analysis<\/a> citing FESPA Mexico and CANAIVE data reported that textile sector GDP fell 8.4% in 2023, with about 20,000 jobs lost as the downturn extended into 2024.<\/p>\n

As a response, CANAIVE proposes a value-based model that combines design, quality, technology, speed to market, circularity, brand positioning, and national content. Maauad says AI should be applied with purpose to understand consumer decisions, forecast demand beyond historical data, reduce inventory, and improve traceability, adding that much of this capacity is now accessible through subscriptions of about US$20 per month. He also points to the General Law of Circular Economy, which entered into force on Jan. 20, 2026<\/a> and introduces extended producer responsibility on a gradual basis. Its implementing regulation<\/a>, however, remained pending after its legal deadline expired in July..<\/p>\n

Maauad highlights Plan Mexico, which seeks to source at least 50% of national consumption in strategic sectors and 50% of public procurement from domestic production, as a measure that could strengthen the apparel ecosystem. As a reference case, he cites the roughly 5 million Mexican national team jerseys sold for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which he says were manufactured entirely in Mexico, from recycled PET fiber to final sale.<\/p>\n

International cooperation also featured in the opening session. Pascaline Le\u00f3n, Head of Beauty, Fashion, and Lifestyle, Business France, says several French brands are evaluating Mexico for nearshoring, and that the embassy supports Mexican designers seeking to internationalize, as France and Mexico mark the bicentennial of diplomatic relations in 2026. Paola Hinojosa, Director, Fashion Group International Mexico, says creative industries in Mexico grew 7.7%, but notes that many designers outside major cities still lack basic digital channels, such as their own websites.<\/p>\n

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\"Newsletter\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sergio Arturo Lievano Madrigal | Journalist – Tue, 10\/13\/2026 – 09:33 Leer en Espa\u00f1ol DIA assistant 1.0x \u2715 Mexico\u2019s fashion e-commerce continues to expand while domestic apparel manufacturing faces its first trade deficit since NAFTA took effect in 1995, according to CANAIVE. Online retail sales reached MX$941 billion in 2025, and fashion accounts for close to 18% of online retail. Brands, digital platforms, and manufacturers face pressure from high return rates, undervalued and smuggled Chinese imports, and new circular economy obligations.
\nFashion Digital Talks celebrated its ninth edition bringing together industry chambers, e-commerce associations, and trade officials to discuss the growth of online fashion sales, linking it to AI adoption, omnichannel retail, and value-added manufacturing, as Mexico\u2019s apparel industry records its first trade deficit in three decades.
\nThe two-day hybrid event, held at Mexico City on Oct. 7, under the theme \u201cFashion Without Borders,\u201d gathered br..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,1,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tie-business","category-local","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17666"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17710,"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17666\/revisions\/17710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turkeynews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}