For the first time since its creation in 2021, Italy's female entrepreneurship event, Phenomena, was held in Japan last March. 21 female entrepreneurs active in the fashion and agri-food sectors and 35 Japanese buyers animated the two days of B2B meetings, and the best 4 female entrepreneurs voted by local buyers received the Phenomena Japan Edition 2024 Award. 

The entire event was held in the frame of “Mimosa Day”, the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ICCJ)'s event to foster women's empowerment, in collaboration with the Abruzzo Region and Agenzia di Sviluppo, partner of Enterprise Europe Network (EEN).

To the Fashion designer Eleonora D'Ambrosio and her COOLT Bags Collection, previously among the winners of the Phenomena Japan Edition Award, Japan provided a great honour by bestowing on 8 November a second important acknowledgement as “brand new name of Made in Italy” at the first edition of the NIC Award (The New Italian Cool), the international event of the ICCJ dedicated to emerging Italian fashion designers. The show was held in the traditional Noh theatre in Umewaka in the presence of 200 journalists, influencers, buyers, designers and other key players in the fashion world in Japan. 

The winners of this edition, selected by a jury of internationally renowned experts such as Yosuke Aizawa, designer and founder of White Mountaineering, Tomo Koizumi, creative and LVMH Award winner, Kaname Murakami, editor-in-chief of WWD JAPAN, and Maiko Shibata, creative director of RESTIR. INC, flew to Japan and had the opportunity to showcase their collections in an exclusive fashion show, introducing themselves to the press and industry professionals in attendance, including some of the country's largest retailers such as Isetan and Beams. The winning brands will be hosted for the next few months at the ICCJ showroom.

Source: Agenzia di Sviluppo - Azienda Speciale della Camera di Commercio Chieti Pescara