Around 78,000 trade buyers from some 110 countries and regions visited the 2018 Autumn Edition of Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics, held during September 27-29. There were 4,480 exhibitors from 33 countries and regions, showing that the show was well received both by exhibitors and buyers. The exhibition also gave strong business results.
Wendy Wen, senior general manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK), commented at the conclusion of the fair: “The diversity and internationality of Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics once again came to the fore, as exhibitors and buyers were widely satisfied in meeting their participation objectives. This was aided by the earlier date which more closely aligned the fair with the industry’s earlier autumn / winter sourcing season, and was appreciated by both exhibitors and buyers. There were many exhibitor success stories this edition throughout all the fair’s product categories, while those focusing either on meeting their existing customers or new buyers were able to find their targets. Those focused on China reported the continued strength of this market, while exhibitors targeting international markets were pleased with the buyer diversity and international brands in attendance. For buyers, the unrivalled range of quality products covering the entire apparel fabrics and accessories industry stood out the most for many of them.”Around 78,000 trade buyers from some 110 countries and regions visited the 2018 Autumn Edition of Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics, held during September 27-29. There were 4,480 exhibitors from 33 countries and regions, showing that the show was well received both by exhibitors and buyers. The exhibition also gave strong business results.#
On the international exhibitors side this edition, strong growth was registered in the Functional Lab with the number of exhibitors increasing by 92 per cent, while participation in Premium Wool Zone grew by 30 per cent. In Accessories Vision, the number of overseas exhibitors increased by 25 per cent. Meanwhile, nearly all of the fair’s Group Pavilions, from the likes of Hyosung, INVISTA, DuPont and OEKO-TEX, were larger this edition, while new pavilions from Birla, ECOCERT + GOTS, the Indian Chamber of Commerce and the Korea Outdoor and Sports Industry Association expanded the sourcing options for buyers.
While there was much business interaction in these areas, many buyers also found the time to gain inspiration for the next season in the fair’s many trend areas for A/W 19-20, including the Intertextile Directions Trend Forum, four Chinese trend forums, as well as trend areas in the Japan, Taiwan and Korea Pavilions. The fringe programme also included a new video display ‘FutureCast: The State of the Consumer’. Developed by the Doneger Group, this presentation helped the apparel industry to gain a wider perspective of the consumer market by delving into the main socio-cultural and innovation developments and their repercussions on business, design, creative and marketing opportunities.
“This is our first time exhibiting here, and both we and our knitting partners have met a lot of potential customers. We target both brands and end-users, and the fair does attract quality Chinese fashion brands as well as garment knitters and weavers. Our products are quite expensive, so we target the high-end market, and many visitors are from this sector. Victoria’s Secret saw our product in the Trend Forum and came to our booth. We’ve also had buyers from Icebreaker and other luxury brands visit us. Chinese buyers are looking for innovation from overseas brands, so we do attract more attention being an international company,” James Tang, marketing manager, Südwolle Group, China (German brand), said.
“The China market pays more attention to the quality and functionality of products nowadays, which provides great potential for us. Dickies used our SOLOTEX fibre last season in China and had great success with it, so we see a lot of potential in this market. We have seen so many buyers in this fair, including textile producers and wholesalers, but also brands such as H&M, Lacrosse and Fila, and Chinese brands like Youngor, Li-Ning, Bosideng and Nanshan Group,” Norihisa Fujiwara, section manager, Textile and Apparel Business Dept, Teijin Frontier, Japan, said.
Speaking about the premium wool zone, William Halstead, sales director, Taylor & Lodge, UK, said, “We are satisfied with the result this time. We always meet new contacts at this fair, and the number of buyers in the Premium Wool Zone this time has increased. It’s important we are in this zone because of the growing made-to-measure business in China. The zone is very established in this market, and many people know this is where to find high-quality wool. In Intertextile, although our main focus is on China, we’ve also seen customers from Singapore, India and the US.”
Functional Lab was also a great hit. “We exhibit here to promote our brand to Chinese consumers and brands, and Intertextile Shanghai gives us a lot of exposure in the market. In addition to many Chinese buyers, we’ve also met a lot of international visitors from the US, Europe, India and Bangladesh. The visitor flow has been excellent so far, and we’ve already distributed around 4,500 brochures to interested buyers,” Yong Hwan Shin, marketing manager, Taekwang Industry, Korea, said.
“Our target here is the Chinese market, in particular high-end brands, and the buyer quality at Intertextile is very good. Septwolves and other well-known domestic brands have visited our booth, while we have also met some high-quality customers with stores on Alibaba, Tmall and Yanxuan. Online shopping is a big trend in China, and the number of e-commerce apparel brands is growing very fast. In addition to these new contacts, we can also meet many of our existing customers here,” Anchuan Tang, design promotion manager, Esquel Ent, Hong Kong, said.
The show had a major focus on sustainability.
“This edition we moved to the All About Sustainability area, and because of this we have met more high-quality customers who are interested in our sustainable products. Environmental protection is a big trend in China now, and Intertextile is a good platform for us to meet domestic buyers, while we can also meet some of our overseas customers here. This is a first-class business platform, where we can not only meet our existing customers, but also discover new ones,” Leon Xu, sales manager, Hemp Fortex Industries (Rushan), China, said.
“As one of the largest textile exhibitions in the world, we can not only meet many of our existing customers here, but also find new potential customers. The number of people in our booth at any one time is always high. Moreover, the quality of customers here is generally good, which, when it comes to doing business, is a unique feature of Intertextile when compared to similar exhibitions,” Sean Pan, sales manager, 3M Intl Trading (SHA), China, said.
Markus Göldi, general manager, Global Trend, Switzerland, who participated as a buyer said, “This exhibition represents the whole textile industry, we can find everything we need! Nowhere else in the world can you find this, only here in China. One place, three days, you can find everything you need, including fabrics, trims and all the accessories, and you can find new suppliers to work with.”
Kuldeep Raswant, Golden Unicorn (HK), Hong Kong, said, “I found this fair amazingly well laid out, and it has everything we are looking for. We are able to do 90 per cent of the sourcing we need to here. Intertextile also gives us insights into what are the new things coming out. It is a great experience to be here.” Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics is co-organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK); the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Textile Information Centre. (SV)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India
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