Germany and Italy will have the largest delegations among the more than two dozen European firms exhibiting at Fashion Week.
Eleven German and 10 Italian companies are taking part. Others are from France, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and Britain.
Italy is Hong Kong's second largest fashion supplier after the mainland. For the first three quarters of last year, fashion imports from Italy totalled US$248 million, a drop of more than 20 per cent from the same period of 1997.
Italian Trade Commissioner Leonardo Radicati said Asian imports of Italian-origin fashion and accessories had declined 17 to 50 per cent during the first half of last year due to the regional economic crisis.
However, Mr Radicati said his faith in Hong Kong remained unshaken, especially as a re-export gateway to the mainland.
In a sign of the mainland growing affluence and sophistication, it imported US$7.5 million worth of fashion and fashion accessories from Italy during the first three quarters of last year, up 43 per cent from the same period in 1997.
