Wow - what a busy day! We started bright and early this morning at 7:45 and headed to the Camera Comercio de Lima (Lima Chamber of Commerce). Here we heard a lot about the economy, both in Peru and globally, and how the national and global economies impact one another. One quote I remember in particular was from the first speaker, Oscar Chavez, who stated "When the world sneezes, Peru catches a cold" to indiciate just how closely Peru´s GDP is tied to the gobal economy, and how growth in Peru most often means growth worldwide. Even more interesting was speaking with the representative from the CCL for the garment sector and getting information on the textile industry. Here are some fun facts that I did not know:
Peru is the number one clothing exporter in South America.
- Peru is the number one producer of Alpaca in the world (for those of you who don´t know, an alpaca is like a llama, and their wool is super soft and very luxurious!)
- Peru exports 60 billion SME of fabric into the US, 40% of which is denim
- Brands such as Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, A&F, and Aeropostale source from Peru!
Following our meeting with the CCL, we went and met with the American Chamber of Commerce, or AMCHAM. For me, this was the better presentation of the morning - they talked not only about the economy, but also about the country itself. We also had a change to go a little more in depth about some consumer behavior. With a growing middle class, Peruvians are becoming more and more interested in American and European brands. However, rather than pruchase these goods in Lima, Peruvians travel to Miami, which is a typical market for these consumers. Here, they pruchase the goods and bring them back to Peru because of the cache that products from America have.
After our awesome morning meetings, we had to grab a quick lunch to make it to Creditex on time, so we headed to Bembos, the Peruvian "McDonald´s". Though I didn´t get a burger, I have to say that the chicken sandwich I had was better than any I have ever had at McDonald´s. Not to mention, the whole look is very fun...
...and there was a gorgeous church right across the street (my favorite part of traveling is seeing all the gorgeous churches across the world):
After lunch, we headed to Creditex, which was definitely my favorite part of the day! I am such a textile nerd - I absolutely loved it. It is so interesting to see the entire process that goes into making, for example, one of the fishing shirts that my dad wears from Cabelas. Since Creditex is vertically integrated, they do every part of the manufacturing. So, starting out with the cotton fiber being mixed, carded, drawn and spun into yarn - we saw the yarn being dyed, the fabric being woven, the pieces cut and sewn, and finally, the garments being checked for quality standards and then being packaged for the retailer, ready to be displayed to the end consumer:
Other companies that Creditex produces for include Lacoste, Carolina Herrara, LL Bean ,an dseveal more. They also work with Cotton Inc., and are using some of the technologies from Huntsman and Clarient that I researched this summer during my internship!
To finsih things up, here is a picture of us with Miguel Ortiz de Zevallos at Creditex (I apologize that we aren´t all looking in the same direction, there were three cameras taking the picture at the same time!):
Now its time for dinner, and hopefully some wine! Adios mis amigos!
-Meghan
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