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China market rebound confirmed and how your business can benefit from it

24 Jun 2021

First-hand fair experiences amid the pandemic: To discover the feeling on the ground at Intertextile Apparel’s Spring Edition, Messe Frankfurt spoke with fairgoers about their experiences, their forecast for the Chinese market and new trends and changes they’ve observed over the past year. Read the first-hand experiences of your peers at the March 2021 fair below.

“Right now, all eyes are on China and it’s recovering market” Ms Rosalyn Chen, Area Manager, Sidogras S.A , Spain

With business very much resuming in China, the textile market is moving full steam ahead on a fast track of recovery, witnessing a strong rebound and even increased growth from before the pandemic.

Over the past year, Intertextile has continued to connect the textile industry to help exhibitors and buyers capitalise on the fast recovering Chinese market and to delve into new pandemic related trends. The Spring Edition in March welcomed nearly 2,600 exhibitors from 17 countries and regions, along with 80,553 buyers.

Of course, many businesses have been restricted by travel limitations, so Intertextile has introduced a range of hybrid and online solutions to enable easy and efficient participation for overseas suppliers and buyers. These solutions will again be on offer at the Autumn Edition this August, including enhanced hybrid options, so you don’t need to miss out on the business potential. Find the right solution for your business at the end of this report.

 

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Registration at Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Spring Edition in March 2021

China’s 1.4 billion population constitutes a huge and growing market for the textile and apparel industry. According to figures released by Euromonitor, China’s adult garment market was worth around RMB 2.19 trillion (USD 332 billion) in 2019, an increase of 5.2% year‑on‑year. As a result of the pandemic, Euromonitor also estimated that the size of the garment market contracted to RMB 1.99 trillion (USD 303 billion) in 2020. However, long term prospects are still promising, as the market is expected to increase to RMB 2.26 trillion (USD 343 billion) in 2021.

How the Chinese market and Intertextile have bounced back

Intertextile’s fairgoers observed high footfall, numerous genuine enquiries and orders, along with an overall optimism of the market’s rebound at the latest Spring Edition in March this year. The overriding feeling that the textile industry is recovering and progressing in China, dominated conversations at the fair. 

Ms Rosalyn Chen, Area Manager of Sidogras S.A , Spain shared their experience of joining SalonEurope at the Spring Edition: “I’m very impressed with the visitor flow these two days and we’ve been in contact with over 160 clients. Right now all eyes are on China as it is undergoing quick recovery from the pandemic. Given the huge prospects in the domestic market, we have already signed up for the Autumn and Shenzhen Editions of Intertextile this year.”

“The number of visitors is higher than last September and overall our booth has proved more popular too, so we have certainly seen a rebound of customers. So much so that we are expecting our domestic sales to have increased by about 30 – 40% compared to last year” commented Ms Jing Ren Li, Department Head of R&D Textile Co Ltd from Korea.

Mr Li Changde, Planning Director of Hong Kong Yifang Textile Co Ltd also reported on their success at the show: “Despite the pandemic and related issues, our exhibition results are better than my expectation and are actually even better compared with previous years. We’ve seen a lot of active participation from many visitors and have met nearly 1,000 customers.”

Mr Jackal Tsang, Regional Sales at Orta Anadolu from Turkey who joined the Beyond Denim zone spoke about their market strategy: “The market in China picked up quite quickly after the covid-19 disruptions last year, we noticed recovery and rebound in the market around May 2020. This is why we’ve focused more on the domestic market over the past year.”

“I think we have more visitors here compared to the 2019 edition! We’ve been very busy these two days meeting with many trading companies, fashion brands and designers”

“Intertextile Apparel is very effective for promoting our brand. We didn’t have very high expectations for this edition because of the pandemic, but our booth had an estimated 300-plus visitors yesterday, so we are very happy. In fact, the apparel industry in China is dominated by the south, but yesterday there were more customers from the north, including Shandong and Beijing.”

UK Fashion & Textile Association (UKFT) organised a strong British presence at Intertextile’s Overseas Zone. Almost all ‘TAP’ (Department for International Trade’s Tradeshow Access Programme) UKFT exhibitors reported around a 10 – 20% increase of visitors compared with the previous season. TAP UKFT exhibitors included: Linton Tweeds, Dugdale Bros & Co, Marling & Evans, Liberty Fabrics and Huddersfield Cloth.

The influence of Intertextile

Intertextile’s solid reputation has made it the key business and networking platform in China, before and during the pandemic. And now, more than ever, it has proved invaluable in reconnecting companies, all the while providing opportunities to meet new customers that are ready and waiting in China’s market. Companies can tap into the re-established domestic demand, with diverse, innovative and sustainable products attracting the fair’s quality buyers.

“The purpose of participating in the fair is to send out a signal of confidence to everyone and to show that we are still operating in a healthy manner. This year, we are growing together with our Chinese customers and providing them with quality products. Overall, the fair is an effective, prestigious platform for the industry to meet in a centralised place. We can gather with existing customers while new customers can find us as well” explained Ms Zheng Liu, Product Manager of Alumo AG from Switzerland who joined SalonEurope.

Ms Leanne Li, Operations Manager of Celeli (Shanghai) Trading Co Ltd from China described why they continue to exhibit at the fair, year after year: “We have participated at Intertextile for many years because it is a large-scale professional exhibition with a good reputation in the textile industry. Intertextile is an important channel for our company to discover new customers, especially with the fair being held despite the pandemic, as it continues to pull the industry together.”

“We have participated in Intertextile for many years and every time our experience is very good. After all, this is the most important apparel and fabric trade fair in China. Since it is not convenient for us to travel and visit customers during the pandemic, it’s nice that we can conduct business talks during the fair. Through our exchange with the customers, it is obvious that the market is recovering which boosts our confidence.”

“Through this fair, we have met with existing customers that we haven’t seen for a year and it feels really good. What we are doing is not just a business, it is also a partnership. There are quite a lot of new customers this time. We welcomed about 30 groups of customers, and among them 12 groups were new. The number of orders has also been quite good, with new customers placing more orders than existing customers”

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How can you join the industry’s leading trade fair this August?

We’ve got you covered! There are several ways for you to join Intertextile Apparel’s Autumn Edition including in-person, hybrid and online solutions. So no matter where you are in the world, you don’t have to miss out.

o Exhibit at the fair in-person with a dedicated booth for your company

o Have your Chinese representatives or branch office attend the fair in-person to manage your company’s onsite booth

o Join the fair with our Hybrid Exhibition Package – showcase your products onsite and interact with buyers via our interactive sourcing and business matching online platforms

o Haven’t decided yet? Read more about our hybrid participation options here and contact us to discuss your options in more detail

Ms Maggie Tse +852 2238 9963
Maggie.tse@hongkong.messefrankfurt.com  

Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Autumn Edition 2021 will be held from 25 – 27 August at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) alongside Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles – Autumn Edition, Yarn Expo Autumn, CHIC and PH Value.

The fair is co-organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd; the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Textile Information Centre. For more details on this fair, please visit: www.intertextileapparel.com. Information from the international textiles sector and Messe Frankfurt’s textile fairs worldwide can be found at: www.texpertise-network.com

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