The 4th BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026 – From AI and Digital Algorithms to Building Fashion Eco-System and Fashion Capital to Macrotrends

Venue: The 4^th BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026
Period: 28.09.2026 – 30.09.2026
Location: Zaryadye Concert Hall

Since 2023, the BRICS+ Fashion Summit has been organized and is included in the list of accredited BRICS events [1]. The BRICS+ Fashion Summit is a large-scale premier international platform event dedicated for the fashion business in rapid growing economies and emerging fashion markets [1, 2]. The event brings together over 100 counties under the framework of the BRICS Alliance as well as uniting the global south, Europe and the USA in a single venue [2]. The Summit, acting as a respected international hub, is organized under the auspice of Moscow Fashion Week by creating multipolar system where forum becomes center for business communication between leading industry professionals, experts, light industry specialists, journalists, bloggers, academic experts, up-and-coming designers and emerging brands from around the world [2]. The Summit includes plenary discussions, round tables, lectures, master classes and etc. [2].

This year the 4^th BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026 took place at Zaryadye Concert Hall (Moscow) where fashion industry experts from 64 countries gathered to discuss how fashion industry is changing in current realities [3]. Both the 4^th BRICS+ Fashion Summit (28.09.2026 – 30.09.2026) and the 7^th Moscow Fashion Week (26.09.2026 – 01.10.2026) were organized in parallel with each other making this particular time period very rich with multicultural dialogue. Considering that these venues are very unique and carry international nature and weight as well as are major fashion venues in Russia maybe organizing these events sequentially would optimize even more the reach and the coverage of these venues for leading industry professionals, experts, investors and many other as well as to people who wish to attend both venues. In other words, to make so that visitors/professionals in the fashion field could attend both venues not at the expense of the other. Furthermore, by organizing venues sequentially would allow such as journalists and fashion-analysts to examine these events deeper by potentially seeing reoccurring themes and phenomenon, which might have been discussed at the BRICS+ Fashion Summit(s) and after seeing them taking place in Moscow Fashion Week, or vice versa.

Alongside the Summit ‘Khokhloma × Russian Designers’ exhibition was organized showcasing a modern collection and traditional housewares by the brand ‘Khokhloma’ (in Russian ‘Хохлома’). According to Sofya Yudina, CEO of ANO Khokhloma, the core idea of the project is to bring Russia’s key symbols back into everyday life and revitalizing the craft through contemporary forms and collaborations with leading artists and designers, which will help to demonstrate that Khokhloma can be part of modern design today [4, 5]. For this collection, Alena Akhmadullina, Russian fashion designer and founder of the Alena Akhmadullina brand, worked with archival materials, studied the history and ethnography of the craft, visited the Khokhloma painting factory and worked closely with its artists enabling modern interpretation of traditional painting to be applied in contemporary clothing, furniture, tableware, jewelry and accessories. Attendees to the Summit have the opportunity to explore the brand's products and purchase them.

The Summit was opened with very contemporary and central topic relevant to today’s fashion industry and economy in general – ‘the role of AI in fashion’. All participants across all the panels that were held during three days agreed that AI can be a valuable asset as an assistant to a designer and business. As Vahan Khachatryan, President of the Fashion Chamber of Armenia, noted “we have to learn to ‘befriend’ AI” [6]. In other words, learn to work with AI, know with what AI may help us and use that for our advantage in design and business processes.
From design process perspective, AI may provide options, democratize access to tools for research and assist in doing research and analysis, help to generate a prototype, AI also opens up opportunities for communication with a wider audience and in overall speeds up processes allowing brand to keep up space with the time. While from business perspective, AI may also assist in optimizing the work load of a designer by taking over the business function by reliving the designer from administrative and routine work allowing designer truly to focus on creativity.
Yet, as noted by Kanika Goyal, founder and creative director of the brand Kanika Goyal (India), AI cannot sense how a garment fits or determine if the embroidery is placed well [6]. Furthermore, Vera Soboleva, researcher at the AIRI Institute, also pointed out when AI is conducting research it will generate the most probable, the most average result [6]. For this purpose, AI lacks emotions, personal experience and the history person/people have lived. In order to obtain most creative solution, a human involvement is needed in creative work to generate a vision and a good taste. As Darya Khalfina, Editor-in-Chief of The Symbol, would call it “To be a professional in one's field – professional cannot be replaced by an AI” [6]. In other words, remaining professional in the designer/fashion field means preserving authorship, craftsmanship and cultural heritage.
As a result, all participants from all the panels agreed unanimously that human role remains crucial, necessary and central to designer’s creative work and in fashion in general since the designer sets up the prompt, the tone to creative work, deciding on the creative concept, making a selection, working on details and the final decision remains with the human/designer and, most importantly, in retaining the cultural heritage code in design; as AI cannot choose or sense what resonates the most. Thus, human/designer remains the original author of an idea, as Vahan Khachatryan, President of the Fashion Chamber of Armenia, notes [6]. This was best reflected at Elena Plavova’s collaboration work with AI, creative director of the brand Murmurism brand, describing how her collections are created:

"I come up with most of the designs myself, but I do not like to draw. Since I have so many ideas in my head, I ask AI to generate a prototype. From there, the work is done by hand, and the final result often differs significantly from the prototype created by the neural network".

The symbiosis that Elena Plavova and AI nurture show that AI can truly open new opportunities allowing people to enter more creative/complex jobs by incorporating AI into their work routine. However, not only does AI give an opportunity to people to try themselves in new industry sphere, but narrow specializations are transforming into hybrid roles. According to International Business Machines, by 2030, the routine work that would usually be executed by designers will give a way to hybrid roles where future professionals will manage complex human-machine creative work [7]. As a result, the industry is transmuting from narrow specialization into hybrid professional profiles; process that is already very well underway [7].
Yet, the most overlooked aspect when working with AI might actually be due-diligence, the legal aspect of using AI and protecting intellectual property. Darya Voinova, CEO of IPEX, urged designers/brands to verify the rights associated with the information and reference materials used, the terms of use for specific AI models and the extent of borrowing versus the designer's own creative contribution [6]. Darya Voinova also advised to preserve sketches, photographs and other materials that document the creative process, as proof against any possible claims [6].


Fashion industry is also facing geopolitical and regional instability as well as, in some cases, ‘our own generated’ biases and/or prejudices due to fear of possible cultural intolerance. According to Cem Altan (Turkey), a member of the International Apparel Federation’s Executive Committee, these geopolitical instabilities continue to disrupt the fashion industry’s global supply chain making brands and manufacturers to face growing demand for sustainability, transparency and speed, as under these conditions fashion industry requires even more resilient partnership among all participants in the business chain [8]. In other words, fashion-business eco-system needs a strong stakeholder support-framework, in order to build sustainable interconnected network of partners, suppliers and customers that collaborate to generate shared value that would extend internationally. This in turn would generate even more ‘fashion capital’ allowing fashion to shape city’s image, economy and global perception through local brands, fashion events, architecture, retail and the style of the residents themselves, which forge a cultural identity of the people and the nation as well as putting the city on the global map.
The fact is ‘fashion capital’ is already being generated in BRICS+ Fashion member states, which all share very strong cultural heritage, unique artisan-craftmanship skills and cultural identity. To further foster ‘fashion capital’ Teimuraz Guguberidze, managing director at TD GUM (Moscow), noted that both fashion/retail industry and cultural spaces could simultaneously benefit and boost the urban environment, tourism and the fashion eco-system. As these ‘cross-road’ spaces, where specialists and professionals of different fields meet, generate not only communication between different stakeholders but also revive both the cultural heritage and identity as well as the history of the nation allowing even stronger ‘fashion capital’ generation, which in turn generates attractiveness for possible visitors. For that reason, Teimuraz Guguberidze added, for instance, all year round or well advance start ‘cultural diplomatic’ dialogue on the events such as Moscow Fashion Week and the BRICS+ Fashion Summit, which would raise more long-term awareness but also communication between all stakeholders that would help to attract accumulation of ‘fashion capital’. Here the government support plays a key role for fashion industry, as the recognition of the fashion industry would mean integration of fashion as capital generator as part of economy as a whole.
This phenomenon of fashion, cultural heritage, cultural identity and government support is already taking place in Russia, Moscow, as Aisel Trudel, an entrepreneur and trustee of the Fashion Foundation, has commented:

"We want Moscow to become a hub where designers from around the world can meet and exchange ideas. Today, the city’s infrastructure is playing a vital role in this process: fashion shows are held in museums and at outdoor urban venues, while fashion itself is becoming integrated into the capital’s cultural and social life. For the city, this serves as both a tool for industry development and a component of the event-driven economy” [9].

In addition to building the fashion-business eco-system, Alena Akhmadulina, owner of the Alena Akhmadulina brand, also stated:

“The era of a rapid surge of new small brands has passed; it is time for the state to shift its focus from supporting the 'birth' of new brands to providing supportive tools that would foster their 'maturation'" [10].

Thus, the next step to scale up the fashion industry’s eco-system would be to assist more progressive brands to overcome challenges and ‘bias-prejudices-fears’ that pertain from allowing these brands from growing bigger, stronger and going abroad.


Another major topic being discussed at the Summit and a shift that has been taking place is fashion consumerism and who defines what is fashionable today. Consumer path has increasingly deviated from the traditional linear shopping ‘see-want-buy’ path. Instead, Huu Nguyen Canh, head of fashion at the Vietnam Design Association, notes the consumer path in fashion e-commerce has become increasingly digital and the digital content has turned into key tool for choosing a product where buyer often scrolls content without having a clear vision what to purchase [9].
Here the task for brands has become to formulate the e-marketing in such way that consumer will make a decision to buy. However, a big role plays digital algorithms that platforms apply – digital algorithms can either push forward or downwards the content that is online. This experience was expressed by Nana Addo Tamakloe, CEO of Accra Fashion Week (Ghana), where digital algorithms were programmed against Ghanaian local brands, which were trying to promote themselves in the digital space, e.g. posts were blocked and TikTok shops were not available [11]. In other words, there is a risk that digital algorithms could be used as ‘political tool’ to isolate, marginalize and/or discriminate specific country and/or its economy/business sphere.
On the other hand, AI algorithms can also help to propel a brand into success through influencer marketing, as Ksenia Kudryashova, founder and designer of the brand BITTE_RUHE, explains [11]. This is a good example of digital shopping, as Mohsen Gorji, Head of the Fashion Department at Iran’s Ministry of Culture, points out where virtual influencer enables personalized communication with audience by fostering closer connection with a consumer where virtual influencer is becoming a vital tool for e-commerce and online business for designers/brands [12]. According to Alexander Smirnov, Head of New Digital Platforms at RWB, blogger’s review is a good e-commerce of a product, but also, it assists a potential consumer to pay attention to an item that he/she did not originally intend to look for [13].
However, digital algorithms remain unpredictable as they change rapidly. According to Carolina Giovanelli, editor-in-chief of GQ Brazil, too much of digital content carries a risk of audience becoming overwhelmed with endless content streaming of recommendations, the fatigue arises from the need to follow new trends and the drive for social approval, which in turn, carries a risk people losing the cultural identity, i.e. ability to personalize the look [11]. This, on the one hand, forces brands to be adaptable to very fast-changing digital environment, on the other hand, it makes the fashion business to be a ‘hostage of algorithms’.
Yet, Jenke Ahmed Tailly—a star stylist who served as Beyoncé’s creative director for three years and has collaborated with Yeezy, Naomi Campbell, Kim Kardashian and Natalia Vodianova— highlighted the demand for authenticity that is growing among consumers, especially among Gen Z in rapidly growing economies:

"In Africa, people are no longer interested in famous global brands; they are interested in their own local labels that reflect their emotions and identity" [11].

While Karina Diaz Vargas, President and CEO of Costa Rica Fashion Week, notes regional design is often undervalued in favor of fast fashion and/or global brands, making it harder for emerging Latin American designers to gain recognition and command the prices their work deserves [8]. Very same phenomenon was very keenly observed in Russia prior 2022 – after western fashion/retail brands left Russian in 2022 there was a boom of Russian local brands, this way Russian people got introduced to new local Russian brands that won the hearts of the Russian people. In other words, as Russian fashion industry has been changing, so has the fashion consumerism; this happened almost like forcefully but not, considering the doctrine of ‘leaving Russia’ came from external source, which allowed Russian fashion truly to discover itself.
Furthermore, consumer has also become more consciousness of what they are buying and why. According to Eda Meltem Yılmaz (Turkey), founder and president of Antalya Fashion Week, consumer is no longer buying just a product, instead consumer is buying a story, a culture and an experience, and for this purpose brands/designer with a strong and authentic identity have greater chance of success [8]. This in turn has developed a concept called ‘cult branding’, where the brand markets a lifestyle to a consumer, not a product as such. As a result, according to Yeli Gu, founder of Ontimeshow—one of China’s major professional fashion trade shows— brands have to give consumer a clear reason to choose their brand and the product [8].


One of the most significant macrotrends that is very actively developing and taking place today is the emergence of an alternative fashion system to the western one, as Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office of the Russian Federation, notes:

“The West is no longer playing a central role in this regard. This does not mean the disappearance of Western brands, technologies or capital; however, design and investment attraction are increasingly operating within a regional framework, while international cooperation is opening up new horizons” [14].

This was witnessed at the Summit where Fanming Xie, Vice President of the China Fashion Association, and Aysel Trudel, Trustee of the Fashion Foundation (Russia), reached a cooperation dialogue of selecting few local brands from Russia and China and perform an exchange of these brands by bringing them to each other’s countries and local fashion markets in more ‘intentional manner’, in order to assist these brands to get a better introductory and launching opportunity to local market. Another initiative was also suggested at the Summit for companies in BRICS+ countries, in order to make business more practical and help to remove barriers that retain development of the fashion industry. For that purpose, Andrey Guryev, Head of the Russian Chapter of the BRICS Business Council, backed the suggestion made by the Fashion Fund of creating a sectoral subgroup that would focus on the fashion industry and value chains within the Russian Chapter of the BRICS Business Council [15]. The goal of the subgroup will be to gather practical issues from the industry representatives, identify barriers to launch deals and projects and help find solutions ranging from addressing regulatory matters to escalating common issues to the BRICS level [15].
As for technological trends – after the departure of global brands from Russian market –, according to Anton Alikhanov, Minister at the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, the share of domestically produced goods by light industry on the Russian market has reached 45%, approaching the 50% target set in the ‘Strategy for the Development of the Russian Light Industry through 2035’ [16]. According to Anton Alikhanov, the updated version of the strategy – scheduled for approval by the end of 2026 – aims to raise this number to at least 60% [16]. As Russian market is keeping up with the global market, there is a transformation and a decline in consumption of both natural fabrics and natural fibers compared to 30 years ago when cotton accounted for half the market and synthetics for 39%; but today it is vice versa, cotton holds a 25-16% share, while synthetics accounts today for 60% [16]. Hence, Russia remains heavily dependent on supplies of synthetic materials, including polyamides and polyesters, yet, Russian manufacturers have the potential to expand the production of viscose and lyocell, which is designed to be supported though new national project called ‘New Materials and Chemistry’ [16].
Another more local trend has been the growth of second-hand shopping in Russia. For very long-time consumer has harbored subconscious biases regarding second hand items by perceiving them as ‘contaminated/unwanted’. However, according to Valeriya Shishko, Head of Business Development – ​​Fashion and Health & Beauty at Avito, this tendency is changing especially amongst younger generations, as through second hand shopping younger generation has been able to get acquitted with new brands that they have not been familiar with before. As yet, most importantly, consumer has become more conscious choice driven as well as educated, which has spurred awareness in fashion sustainability.
Lastly, in order to maneuver current uneasy economic times in the fashion industry as a designer and brand experts at ‘The Design Business. How to Make Decisions Amidst Change?’-panel identified factors that have helped them to get through these times – 1) Education – allowing academic knowledge to identify business processes that need adaptation to current economy; 2) Experience – by going through ‘trial-and-error’ experience and see which business processes work and which not by analyzing customer response to these decisions; 3) Clients’ feedback – acknowledgement of clients demands and adapt to their needs, 4) ‘Brand’-experience – create a ‘cult-brand’ where the client can immerse itself into the brand, its culture, its lifestyle and its aesthetics, so that the client will receive unforgettable experience and emotions, and, most importantly, 5) Pricing – supervise and necessarily adjust pricing of the goods and if necessary announce sales, in order to attract clients and to keep up the business going even if the profit received is minimal to cover up the minimum input invested into the garment making process.

“The language that conveys the beauty of what we have today is the language of fashion”.

- Irena Soprano, Founder and designer of SOLANGEL brand [17]

Bibliography

[1] САММИТ МОДЫ БРИКС+ (2026) “О ПРОЕКТЕ” (transl. BRICS+ FASHION SUMMIT (2026) “About Project”) https://fashionsummit.org/

[2] BRICS+ FASHION SUMMIT (2026) “About us” https://fashionsummit.org/en/about

[3] Московская неделя моды (t.me/mosfweek) in Telegram (2026) “BRICS+ Fashion Summit стартовал!...” (transl. Moscow Fashion Week (t.me/mosfweek) in Telegram (2026) “The BRICS+ Fashion Summit has kicked off!...”) https://t.me/mosfweek/22376

[4] Пресс-центр Саммита Моды БРИКС+ 2026 (2026) in Telegram “Бренд ‘Хохлома’ представит современные коллекции и традиционные изделия на BRICS+ Fashion Summit” (transl. RICS+ Fashion Summit 2026 Press Center (2026) in Telegram “The "Khokhloma" brand will showcase modern collections and traditional pieces at the BRICS+ Fashion Summit…” https://t.me/c/4440411161/8

[5] Селина, Анна (2026) in Москва24 “Четвертый Саммит моды БРИКС+ завершился в Москве” (transl. Selina, Anna (2026) in Москва24 “The fourth BRICS+ Fashion Summit has concluded in Moscow”) https://www.m24.ru/galleries/02102026/948123

[6] Пресс-центр Саммита Моды БРИКС+ 2026 (2026) in Telegram “Инструмент для дизайнера или соавтор с амбициями: участники BRICS+ Fashion Summit обсудили, какую роль играет искусственный интеллект в моде” (transl. BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026 Press Center (2026) in Telegram “A tool for designers or an ambitious co-creator: BRICS+ Fashion Summit participants discussed the role of artificial intelligence in fashion”) https://t.me/c/4440411161/22

[7] Саммит моды БРИКС+ (2026) in MAX “На часах — время гибридных профессионалов…” (transl. BRICS+ Fashion Summit (2026) in MAX “The time has come for hybrid professionals…”) https://max.ru/id9710154298_biz/AaDdX1RNSzY

[8] Пресс-центр Саммита Моды БРИКС+ 2026 (2026) in Telegram “Глобальная индустрия моды меняет правила: участники Саммита моды БРИКС+ назвали главные вызовы рынка” (transl. BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026 Press Center (2026) in Telegram “The global fashion industry is changing the rules: BRICS+ Fashion Summit participants identified key market challenges.”) https://t.me/c/4440411161/5

[9] Пресс-центр Саммита Моды БРИКС+ 2026 (2026) in Telegram “ИИ, инвестиции в моду, новые технологии и культурный код: в Москве завершился первый день BRICS+ Fashion Summit” (transl. BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026 Press Center (2026) in Telegram “AI, fashion investments, new technologies, and cultural code: the first day of the BRICS+ Fashion Summit has concluded in Moscow.”) https://t.me/c/4440411161/37

[10] Саммит моды БРИКС+ (2026) in MAX “Давайте вспомним, каким был второй день BRICS+ Fashion Summit…” (transl. BRICS+ Fashion Summit (2026) in MAX “Let’s look back at the second day of the BRICS+ Fashion Summit…”) https://max.ru/id9710154298_biz/AaDyWXucFIU

[11] Пресс-центр Саммита Моды БРИКС+ 2026 (2026) in Telegram “Кто теперь решает, что модно: на BRICS+ Fashion Summit обсудили кризис традиционных авторитетов в fashion-индустрии…” (transl. BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026 Press Center (2026) in Telegram “Who decides what’s in vogue now? The BRICS+ Fashion Summit addressed the crisis of traditional authorities in the fashion industry…”) https://t.me/c/4440411161/40

[12] Саммит моды БРИКС+ (2026) in MAX) “Как «умный» шоппинг меняет путь покупателя” (transl. BRICS+ Fashion Summit (2026) in MAX “How "smart" shopping is changing the customer journey”) https://max.ru/id9710154298_biz/AaDpH87LBSU

[13] Пресс-центр Саммита Моды БРИКС+ 2026 (2026) in Telegram “Как «умный» шоппинг меняет путь покупателя: обсудили на BRICS+ Fashion Summit” (transl. BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026 Press Center (2026) in Telegram “How "Smart" Shopping Is Changing the Customer Journey: A Discussion at the BRICS+ Fashion Summit”) https://t.me/c/4440411161/28

[14] Пресс-центр Саммита Моды БРИКС+ 2026 (2026) in Telegram “Макроэкономика моды, взаимоотношения бренда и аудитории, демография спроса на модную одежду: в Москве завершился BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026” (transl. BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026 Press Center (2026) in Telegram “The macroeconomics of fashion, the relationship between brands and their audiences, and the demographics of demand for fashion apparel: the BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026 has concluded in Moscow”) https://t.me/c/4440411161/49

[15] Пресс-центр Саммита Моды БРИКС+ 2026 (2026) in Telegram “Деловой совет БРИКС создаст отраслевую подгруппу по индустрии моды — Андрей Гурьев на BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026” (transl. BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026 Press Center (2026) in Telegram “BRICS Business Council to establish a fashion industry subgroup — Andrey Guryev at BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026”) https://t.me/c/4440411161/48

[16] Пресс-центр Саммита Моды БРИКС+ 2026 (2026) in Telegram “Доля отечественной продукции легкой промышленности на рынке РФ достигла 45% — Антон Алиханов на BRICS+ Fashion Summit” (transl. BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026 Press Center (2026) in Telegram “The share of domestic light industry products on the Russian market has reached 45% — Anton Alikhanov at the BRICS+ Fashion Summit”)https://t.me/c/4440411161/38

[17] Пресс-центр Саммита Моды БРИКС+ 2026 (2026) in Telegram “Мода как символический капитал города, новые технологии производства и ценностный маркетинг: в Москве стартовал BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026" (transl. BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026 Press Center (2026) in Telegram “Fashion as a city's symbolic capital, new production technologies, and values-based marketing: the BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026 has kicked off in Moscow”) https://t.me/c/4440411161/13