Colombiamoda 2026 Leaves Medellín More Than US$22 Million

Colombia

Colombiamoda 2026, the 37th edition of Colombia’s premier fashion fair, left an economic spillover of more than US$22 million in Medellín, the city’s Secretaria de Desarrollo Economico confirmed as the seven-day event closed on 31 July. The figure – which covers spending on hotels, restaurants, transport, retail and entertainment by business tourists – marks a record for the fair, up roughly 24 percent from US$17.7 million in 2025. Yet the headline number masks a more complicated picture: exhibiting brands, specialised buyers and international attendees all fell year on year, while Colombia’s fashion sector confronts falling exports and a fresh US tariff disadvantage.

A Record Spend, But Not a Record Crowd

The US$22 million spillover, equivalent to about COP 69.2 billion at the official exchange rate of COP 3,144.14 to the dollar in force from 1 to 3 August 2026, is the highest economic impact the fair has delivered for Medellín. In 2024, the figure was US$13.3 million on more than 70,000 attendees; in 2025, it reached US$17.7 million on 60,000 attendees. This year’s 65,000 attendees pushed spending higher even as footfall remained below the 2024 peak. The record, then, is in per-capita spend, not crowd size.

The two pre-event projections were not the same, and which one you use decides whether the fair over-delivered or under-delivered. The US$25 million figure came from Inexmoda, the Instituto para la Exportacion y la Moda and the fair’s organiser, and El Colombiano attributed it jointly to Inexmoda and the city’s Secretaria de Desarrollo Economico; against it, the US$22 million result fell about 12 percent short. But Medellín’s own city government published a projection of US$18 million on 28 July, and against that number the result comfortably over-delivered. No Colombian media outlet has framed the outcome as a shortfall – Telemedellin headlined it as a record – but the gap against the organiser’s own ambition is notable given the fair’s expansion to a full seven days for the first time, running from 25 to 31 July under the theme ‘Uniqueness is the New Luxury’.

The commercial floor at Plaza Mayor operated from 28 to 30 July, bookended by an opening weekend featuring a Velez x J Balvin collaboration and a closing day on 31 July. Inexmoda reported 140 events across roughly 40 venues, 35 runway shows, participation from 53 countries and 54 Colombian cities, and 2,500 direct and indirect jobs. But the buyer numbers tell a sobering story: specialised buyers dropped to 9,000 from 11,000 in 2025, and international buyers fell to 1,600 from 2,000. Inexmoda’s own pre-event projections had anticipated 17,000 specialised buyers, 4,000 of them international, and more than 70,000 attendees – making the buyer shortfall substantial.

The Only Verified Deals Figure

Amid the broad spillover numbers, one concrete business result has been published. The 24 brands backed by the Camara de Comercio de Medellín’s Cluster Moda, in partnership with Inexmoda, closed COP 1,367 million in business – approximately US$435,000 – and generated more than 1,250 commercial contacts, according to cluster manager Sara Vives on 31 July. This represents a small subset of the fair, not a total for the event. No comprehensive deals or export-order figure for the full fair has been released.

The top international buyer origins were Ecuador, the United States, Venezuela, Costa Rica and Mexico. Inexmoda’s executive president, Sebastian Diez, named the UAE, France and the UK as emerging target markets. Colombiamoda is also expanding its footprint abroad: Colombiamoda Miami 2026 drew more than 2,000 attendees and over 70 brands across three days, and a Paris edition is scheduled for October 2026, with New York in the pipeline.

Tariff Blow Five Days Before the Fair

The fair opened under the shadow of a new US tariff. At 12:01 a.m. on 24 July 2026, the United States applied an additional 12.5 percent tariff on certain Colombian goods, arising from a USTR Section 301 investigation into whether trading partners effectively police forced-labour imports. The finding is that Colombia has not adequately controlled forced-labour imports – it is not an accusation that Colombian goods are made with forced labour.

The tariff does not cover most Colombian exports. Analdex, the national exporters’ association, puts potential exposure at US$4,438.4 million FOB, or 29.8 percent of 2025 exports to the US. Section 232 goods – aluminium, steel, copper, vehicles and parts, wood, and semiconductors – are excluded. Crucially, the 12.5 percent rate replaces the previous 10 percent tariff; it does not stack. The real increase is 2.5 percentage points, and Analdex estimates the extra cost at roughly US$80 million.

For textiles, apparel and leather, the exposure is US$247.1 million FOB, the fifth-largest affected sector behind flowers at US$1,899.8 million. The competitive damage is immediate: rivals that remain at 10 percent – Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Indonesia – now hold a 2.5-point advantage over Colombia in the US market. That gap opened five days before Colombiamoda’s commercial floor began.

Colombia is in a political transition. Abelardo de la Espriella, the president-elect who will be sworn in on 7 August in Cali, attended Colombiamoda’s opening runway and pledged backing for the textile sector, saying it ‘has been abandoned for four years’. The Camara Colombiana de la Confeccion called his presence symbolically important, noting that ‘ten years have passed since a president set foot in the fair’. Vice-president-elect Jose Manuel Restrepo has announced working tables with US authorities and a draft decree to control forced-labour imports, aiming to get the 12.5 percent rate lifted.

Sector Under Pressure: Exports, Shein and Fabricato

The fair’s record spillover contrasts with the sector’s export performance. Sistema Moda exports reached US$345.6 million between January and May 2026, down 6.7 percent year on year, according to DANE data analysed by Analdex president Javier Diaz Molina. Full-year 2025 exports stood at US$920.6 million, up 1.8 percent on 2024. Antioquia, the heartland of Colombian textiles, was the only major department to grow, with exports of US$141 million – 40.8 percent of the national total – up 5.3 percent. Bogotá accounted for 26.1 percent, Atlántico 11.2 percent and Valle del Cauca 10.8 percent.

The United States remains the dominant destination at US$101.5 million, or 29.4 percent of exports, followed by Mexico at 10.9 percent, Ecuador at 10.8 percent and Peru at 9.9 percent. Fast-growing markets include Canada, up 92 percent; the Dominican Republic, up 99.1 percent; Germany, up 66.8 percent; and Venezuela, up 41.3 percent. Top product categories include cotton toilet and kitchen linen at roughly US$27.5 million, shapewear and fajas at US$21.2 million – up 11.2 percent – and women’s swimwear, up 9.7 percent.

Diez also named the ‘digital platform phenomenon’ – Shein and Temu – as a direct hit on brands serving lower-income households. The Camara Colombiana de la Confeccion, led by president Guillermo Criado, has asked the incoming government to regulate these platforms, arguing that ‘we cannot compete with someone who does not pay taxes, does not pay VAT and does not generate employment’. The industry proposed a specific tariff on Shein and Temu purchases in April 2026 and is seeking soft loans for textile SMEs.

The stress is visible on the ground. Fabricato’s spinning mill has shrunk from roughly 350 workers to about 50, according to Gustavo Lenis, Fabricato president and chair of the ANDI’s cotton, fibre and textile chamber. Lenis also noted that Colombiatex, the January textiles and sourcing fair, remains the sector’s main business platform – a pointed dissent from inside the industry. On the Colombiamoda floor, El Colombiano found SMEs reporting sharp contractions: Amaranta Maison dropped from 70 employees to 10, and All People was down roughly 40 percent.

Inexmoda estimates the sector’s scale at roughly COP 37 trillion a year – about US$11.8 billion – with 1.7 million direct and indirect jobs and 83,000 registered fashion firms. Fashion accounts for 3 percent of household spending, with per-capita spending of roughly US$209 a year, well below Chile and Uruguay at roughly US$400 but above Ecuador at roughly US$135. Antioquia represents 41 percent of national textile production. Colombia’s fashion exports peaked at US$2.3 billion to US$2.4 billion in 2008-09, when Venezuela was the main buyer. Diez cites roughly US$700 million a year in current fashion exports, a narrower definition than Analdex’s US$920.6 million for the full Sistema Moda in 2025.

What the Fair Offered Visitors and Expats

Colombiamoda 2026 was open to the public. General admission cost COP 340,000 – roughly US$108 – at the full rate from 1 to 30 July. Earlier tiers were priced at COP 170,000 (about US$54) and COP 255,000 (about US$81), while students paid COP 120,000 (about US$38) for a single day valid from 28 to 30 July.

Beyond the ticketed floor at Plaza Mayor, the Circuito de Ciudad was the real visitor story: 140 events across roughly 40 venues throughout Medellín, including brand activations, immersive experiences, gastronomy and sport. Official restaurants Maximo and Niku participated, along with a Don Julio signature-cocktail route and a closing party called ‘Oro Latino’. Free consumer-facing content included the Set de Conocimiento Inexmoda Pascual Bravo, with 126 speakers across 28 to 30 July; Green Talks; the Biblioteca de Materiales; the Ruta de la Sostenibilidad; and the Mercado de Moda Circular, backed by the Coca-Cola system, featuring 25 textile-recycling and circular-economy ventures. Several runways were livestreamed.

For context, Colombiamoda should not be confused with Colombiatex de las Americas, the January textiles and sourcing fair. The 38th edition of Colombiatex ran from 27 to 29 January 2026, also at Plaza Mayor, drawing 30,000 visitors, 615 exhibiting brands from more than 20 countries, 17,000 specialised buyers and an economic spillover of US$11.6 million, up from US$10.2 million in 2025.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What was the economic impact of Colombiamoda 2026 on Medellín?

The fair left an economic spillover of more than US$22 million – roughly COP 69.2 billion – in the city, according to Medellín’s Secretaria de Desarrollo Economico. This covers spending by business tourists on hotels, restaurants, transport, retail and entertainment. It is not a measure of revenue, deals closed or export orders generated by the fair.

Did Colombiamoda 2026 break attendance records?

No. The 65,000 attendees in 2026 exceeded the 60,000 recorded in 2025 but remained below the more than 70,000 attendees reported in 2024. The record is in economic spillover – per-capita spending rose – not in crowd size. Additionally, specialised buyers fell from 11,000 to 9,000 and international buyers dropped from 2,000 to 1,600 year on year.

How does the new US tariff affect Colombian fashion exports?

A 12.5 percent US tariff on certain Colombian goods took effect on 24 July 2026, replacing a previous 10 percent rate. The real increase is 2.5 percentage points. Textiles, apparel and leather face US$247.1 million in exposure. Rivals including Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, India and Bangladesh remain at 10 percent, giving them a 2.5-point advantage over Colombia in the US market.

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Correction, 2 August 2026: An earlier version of this article attributed a single pre-event projection of US$25 million to both Inexmoda and the city of Medellín, and reported the US$22 million result as falling short of that shared target. Two different projections were published: US$25 million by Inexmoda, the fair’s organiser, and US$18 million by Medellín’s city government on 28 July – a figure the result exceeded. The US$22 million spillover, the 2025 comparison of US$17.7 million and the 2024 figure of US$13.3 million are unchanged and were confirmed.

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