Photos: https://disk.360.yandex.ru/d/03IRnvGac6KtIw

Participants at the September 29 session “Supporting Local Brands. Building Infrastructure for Growth,” held as part of the BRICS+ Fashion Summit, discussed strategies for developing brands, localizing production, training the workforce, and exchanging expertise internationally.

The speakers included Anton Alikhanov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation; Alexei Fursin, Minister of the Moscow Government and Head of the Moscow Department of Culture; Alena Akhmadullina, Owner of the Alena Akhmadullina brand; Yeli Gu, Founder of Ontimeshow; Anton Letushev, CEO of Melon Fashion Group; Yulia Poletaeva, Director of Entrepreneurship Support Projects at RWB; and Susan Sabet, Board member and Secretary General of the Egyptian Fashion and Design Council.

Production Growth in Russia and New Support Measures
Anton Alikhanov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, noted that clothing production increased by 23.5% in 2025. Since the beginning of 2026, the industry has entered a period of consolidation: textiles are showing moderate growth, while clothing production has stabilized. Following the departure of several global brands, the market has passed the peak of its rapid growth, and new domestic labels have partially filled the gaps left behind.

“Government support measures have proved effective, including a unified leasing subsidy, preferential loans, and a 50% discount on equipment. In addition to new Russian brands, imports from partner countries have also entered the market. Since 2020, the share of domestically produced knitwear has increased from 13% to 20%, while the share of locally made clothing has risen from 8.5% to 31%,” Anton Alikhanov noted.
The Minister added that competition for consumers has shifted online, and the next stage in the development of the platform economy will involve the deeper integration of artificial intelligence. He said AI tools will allow consumers to customize products and place orders tailored to their individual preferences directly through manufacturing platforms, bypassing traditional marketplaces.

Moscow: From Startup Support to International Expansion
Alexei Fursin, Minister of the Moscow Government and Head of the Moscow Department of Culture, spoke about support for local brands and its structure in the Russian capital. According to him, the Moscow Government aims to create high-quality infrastructure and provide resources for ambitious people to grow their businesses. In these conditions, leaders will emerge on their own.

“Many brands that have already scaled would like to enter international markets.It is challenging – no one is waiting for us there – but we need to give them the opportunity to prove themselves. Fashion weeks provide a platform for brands to present themselves to partners, buyers, investors, and everyday consumers. Through our partnership programs, we are bringing Moscow designers to China and even to the United States,” the Minister of the Moscow Government noted.

He also recalled that fashion and traditional culture have long struggled to find common ground and a platform for dialogue. The Moscow Government acts as a bridge between them, challenging the perception of fashion as “just a commercial add-on.” Collaborations offer museums and theaters a powerful promotional tool and access to new audiences.

From Launching Brands to Scaling Them
Alena Akhmadullina, owner of the Alena Akhmadullina brand, spoke about the need to shift from supporting new labels to developing established players. In her view, the Russian fashion industry has made a fundamental breakthrough over the past 25 years: “Our consumers are no longer embarrassed to buy Russian products. Now they choose them willingly, not out of patriotism, but because they really like them.”
However, the period of rapid growth in the number of small brands has passed, and the government should now shift its focus from helping brands get off the ground to providing the tools they need to mature, the designer believes. According to her, the Moscow Government has successfully built an infrastructure for launching brands through initiatives such as Made in Moscow and the Fashion Academy. The next step, however, requires a new level of support: a program tentatively called “100 Russian Growth Brands.”
Supporting growing brands does not mean providing endless financial subsidies to cover business risks. Instead, it means teaching them to fish rather than giving them fish, Alena Akhmadullina agreed. The government should equip small companies with knowledge and train them in business processes, strategic management, and systematic scaling.

To help distinctive Russian brands reach the international market, the government need only adopt proven global practices: organizing targeted business missions and facilitating participation in international trade shows and industry events attended by major foreign buyers ready to place orders for Russian collections.
“In 10 years, we should be discussing not how many brands were launched during the boom, but how many of them became truly large while remaining Russian,” Alena Akhmadullina concluded.

The Chinese Experience: Building Infrastructure for Brands
Yeli Gu, founder of Ontimeshow, spoke about China's experience in supporting and developing local brands. Founded in 2014, Ontimeshow is a B2B platform that serves as an official partner of fashion weeks and connects independent labels with the global market. Over the years, Ontimeshow has brought together more than 6,000 designer brands and facilitated a turnover of 100 million products, creating a comprehensive infrastructure for bringing creative products to market.

The project operates with ongoing support from the Chinese government. The platform has established a multi-tiered system of subsidies and assistance, divided into clearly defined areas. Depending on a brand's needs and stage of development, emerging designers can apply for different targeted support packages, ranging from promotion and startup incubation programs to direct technological assistance at the most challenging stage of clothing production.

Branding as a Matter of National Image
Anton Letushev, CEO of Melon Fashion Group, presented the perspective of major Russian industry players. He believes the key objective of government support for established brands should be to help them enter the global arena and demonstrate their competitiveness in direct competition with international players. The presence of strong domestic brands in the world's fashion capitals is a matter of both national image and the country's economy.

Anton Letushev observed that over the past three to four years, Russian designers have proven their ability to compete on equal terms with global giants. Their departure has also opened up a major creative cluster in Russia. At the same time, he proposed drawing a clear distinction between a “Russian brand” and a “Russian product,” since “a brand may move its garment production to any country in the world for economic reasons, and its international success will still contribute to Russia's reputation.” The essential condition is that the brand's creative core – its design, mission, vision, and DNA – must be developed in Russia.
Domestic government support should focus on lowering barriers to entry into the industry and helping businesses remain operational, Anton Letushev added. Moreover, the industry has reached a point where traditional education is no longer meeting its needs. Graduates often have little understanding of the actual economic and operational models of fashion businesses. Universities must adapt their curricula to the demanding and realistic needs of the market.

Marketplaces as Brand Incubators
A separate part of the discussion focused on the role of marketplaces in developing Russian brands. The longstanding stereotype that marketplaces pose a threat to authentic labels has been thoroughly disproven by market realities, according to Yulia Poletaeva, Director of the Department for the Implementation of Entrepreneurship Support Projects at RWB. She noted that fashion consumers are increasingly turning to marketplaces to search for brands more intentionally. At the same time, Russian brands account for the big share of searches on these platforms.

Yulia Poletaeva also shared the results of “Growth Platform,” a joint program by Wildberries and the Agency for Strategic Initiatives. The project now brings together companies from 58 regions of the country, while sales generated by the local brands participating in the program have increased by 80% year over year. One of the project's key priorities is to expand its geographic reach and provide further support to Russian brands.

The speaker emphasized that the support infrastructure provided by the marketplace is, above all, a powerful analytical and technological foundation. The platform offers the sector advanced IT solutions, including predictive sales analytics tools that can increase brands' sales conversion rates by 120%. Wildberries also has its own large language models, which automate routine technical processes involved in operating on the marketplace.

The BRICS+ Fashion Summit is taking place alongside Moscow Fashion Week (September 26–October 1, Central Exhibition Hall ⁠'Manege'). Admission to all events is free, with advance registration required.
Strategic partner of the BRICS+ Fashion Summit is Sber.
 
General partner of the BRICS+ Fashion Summit is Wildberries.
 
Technology partner of the BRICS+ Fashion Summit is GigaChat neural network.
 
More content from the BRICS+ Fashion Summit is available on the event’s official Wibes account and under the hashtag #BRICSFashionSummit.
 
The event’s official photography service is the Rodchenko Moscow School of Photography and Multimedia.