On Sept. 25, 2018, CAF held our inaugural Apparel & Fashion Career Fair and Expo at Metro Hall in downtown Toronto. Thanks to an overwhelming amount of support from both the industry and attendees, the event was a tremendous success.

We would like to thank our exhibitors who represented a group of the Canadian apparel/fashion industry's most dynamic and innovative employers. We welcomed more than 350 attendees to the event, many of whom were able to make connections and find full-time jobs in their field. We received extremely positive feedback from our employers regarding the quality of attendees and their enthusiasm for finding new careers in the industry. One employer said they interviewed over 70 candidates on the spot and are now on their second round of 10 interviews.

Some of our exhibitors included:

• Wuxly Movement
• Cobmex Apparel Inc.
• Picadilly Canada
• Unisync
• Superior Glove
• Powerhouse Retail Services
• George Brown College
• Colintex Placements
• YM Inc.
• Brave Leather
• Coppley Ltd.
• and more (see full list here)

Thank you also to our seminar panelists and our moderators. Our well-attended seminar series and panel discussions received glowing reviews for both the panelists in attendance and the enthusiastic discussions that ensued. Many attendees said the seminars were of the highest quality, and were impressed by the high profile of the panelists. Our seminars discussed topical industry issues including How to Build an Authentic Brand that Stands Out in a Crowd, The Ever-Evolving Nature of a Thriving Business (is entrepreneurship right for you?) and The Future of Clothing, Apparel & Fashion. In total, 235 people attended the seminars.

Our panelists included: 

• Camal Pirbhai, Couture Curtain-Maker & Artist of StudioLaBeauté
• Jenny Bird, Designer & Founder of Jenny Bird Jewellery
• James Yurichuk, CEO of Wuxly Movement
• Kimberley Newport-Mimran, President & Design Director of Pink Tartan
• Phil Newman, President of Cobmex Apparel Inc.
• Judy Cornish, Co-owner of Comrags
• James Bottoms, President of Unisync Group
• Kristi Soomer, CEO of Encircled
• Ilaria Varoli, Executive VP of Myant Inc.
• MODERATOR: Brian Garry, Cobmex Apparel Inc.
• MODERATOR: Colin Lewis, Colintex Placements
• MODERATOR: Bob Kirke, Canadian Apparel Federation

Due to overwhelming demand, we are gauging interest for a similar seminar program for current post- students, recent graduates and anyone else looking to enter the apparel and fashion industry. We are accepting feedback and suggestions regarding topics of discussion for such a program.

Finally, we would like to extend a special thank you to our sponsors, whose generous contributions helped make this event more polished, professional and well-received than we could have hoped for:

• Our Founding Sponsor, the City of Toronto‘s Economic Development and Culture division
• Cobmex Apparel Inc.;
• Colintex Placements;
• Powerhouse Retail Services;

Our event website is still live for anyone who would like more information on this year’s event, including our exhibitors, seminar panelists, moderators, media coverage and more. You can find it here: www.apparelfashioncareerexpo.com.

To find out how you can get involved with next year's event, please click here. Until then, our sister organization Apparel Quebec will be hosting RH Mode, a similar career fair event,  in Montreal in early 2019. Stay tuned for more information.