The verdict is in: Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics is the undisputable leader when it comes to providing business outcomes for the global textile industry. The global sourcing summit that is Intertextile Shanghai wrapped up last Friday with a huge 15% increase in the buyer figure to 82,314 [1] from 104 countries and regions (2017: 71,450, 103 countries and regions), to go along with the 3,386 exhibitors from 22 countries and regions (2017: 3,341, 26 countries and regions) that exhibited at the National Exhibition and Convention Center. Strong growth was registered in buyers from Hong Kong, Korea, Japan and India – this edition’s top four countries and regions – while Italy and Bangladesh entered the top 10 list this year, in eight and tenth places respectively, alongside the US, Taiwan, Russia and the UK.
“After the strong increase in the buyer figure at last October’s Autumn Edition and the generally favourable outlook of the global textile industry in recent months, we were expecting a strong result this year, but the increased number of exhibitors and buyers placing their trust in this fair as their main business platform has completely exceeded our expectations,” Ms Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd explained after the fair. “We put this exceptional result down to the fact that there is no other industry event that matches Intertextile Shanghai’s scale, but most importantly that year after year the fair delivers new contacts from around the world and actual orders & business results for exhibitors. With the quality & quantity of buyers this edition and the tangible outcomes reported to us by exhibitors, the fair has reached a new level as the kick-off event for the spring / summer season.”
Just one of the many exhibitors to echo these sentiments was first-time French lace exhibitor Jean Bracq. “We are here to promote our lace to worldwide markets,” Mr Philippe Larrieu, Responsible Commercial Export, said. “A lot of people have come to our booth, including from China, Australia, India, France, the US and more. On the first day we had already received 60 sampling enquiries – even our catalogue ran out! So the result is beyond our expectation. At this fair, we not only meet new buyers, but also see our existing customers which we usually meet in fairs in Paris.”
Seven halls and 187,000 sqm, equal to 2017, were in use at this edition, with everything from fabrics for ladieswear, menswear, suiting, shirting, lingerie and swimwear to high-end wool fabrics, original pattern designs, functional & performance fabrics, sustainability products & services, digital printing technologies, garment & fashion accessories and more on display. Growth areas this edition included the Premium Wool Zone, with the exhibitor number doubling from last year, reflecting the evolving use of wool in spring / summer collections. The international area of the Beyond Denim zone also doubled in size this year, while overseas presence in Accessories Vision grew by 73%.
Exhibitor comments
SalonEurope
“It is our first time here and I am very impressed with how great the visitor quality is. Although we sell high-end products, buyers here are still very interested, and on the first day we met with over 30 buyers, and I think a large amount of them will place orders. Compared to other fairs, I think there are more serious buyers here, and people are actually interested in doing business rather than just learning what the market offers.”
Ms Irina De Giorgi, Sales Manager, Ideas by Glarotex AG, Switzerland
France Zone
“The first day was really important as we had a few orders already, and we met a lot of new customers. Most were from China, as well as some foreigners. So far we’re really happy with the results. We get a lot of visibility here and a lot of people are coming to our booth; it’s a really cool place. It’s important to have the wide range of customers that are here. What I also like about the fair is it’s really big and really light, so it’s more relaxing for a fair.”
Ms Marion Dumas, Export Sales, Malhia Kent, France
Japan Pavilion
“This is our first time exhibiting here, and we are really impressed with the scale. A large number of visitors have come to our booth: around 85 on the first day and 100 on the second day. The majority of them are Chinese, but we’ve also had buyers visiting from Europe, and sourcing and apparel companies from Hong Kong. As many buyers around the world source here, we think it is a really helpful, effective and important fair for us. It helps us to find new customers. For sure it is the best fair in industry for the spring / summer season.”
Mr Kenji Sasakura, Sales Section, Bon Co Ltd, Japan
Taiwan Pavilion
“Not only is this an important gateway for us to tap into the China market, but we also received guests from all over the world. Many big names visited our booth including famous sports brand Li-Ning, while 30% of buyers were from countries ranging from Europe and America to Southeast Asia, so we’ve found a lot of opportunities for future cooperation. And, pleasingly, many customers have asked about our latest eco-friendly functional fabrics.”
Mr Steven Wu, Business Director, PALTEX Co Ltd, Taiwan
Korea Textile Center Pavilion
“The first day was so busy. We had so many buyers in the pavilion, and our exhibitors are confident they will receive a good number of orders after the fair. These buyers have been genuine trade buyers, and both old customers as well as new contacts. There’s also been a mix of Chinese and international buyers. This is a very effective trade fair for us. We’ve been here over 10 years now, and see the continuing market potential in China. You can always find new customers here.”
Mr Ryu Hong-Kun, General Manager, Marketing Dept, Korea Textile Center, Korea (KTC Pavilion organiser)
Premium Wool Zone
“Our target buyers are the very best, high-end bespoke tailors in China, and we’ve received many such tailors at our booth looking for high-end European suppliers. The majority of buyers have been from China, but we’ve also met people from India, Southeast Asia and even the UK. I believe the European presence in Intertextile is gradually increasing – not just the exhibitor side but also visitors. I feel like it may be gaining importance over some of the long-established trade shows in France and Italy, and is an indication of the general shift of attention from Europe to Asia. Chinese buyers are becoming more sophisticated, more discerning. They are getting a better idea of what they want and how to differentiate quality, which is good for us. We can’t afford not to be here, and all the big players in the premium wool space are here. Our booth was always packed with visitors this edition, and sometimes people couldn’t come in and would have to queue!”
Mr Josh Lane, Regional Sales Manager, Far East, Holland & Sherry, UK
“Each year we come here the buyer traffic is increasing, so we’ve been expanding our booth space each time. The results this year have been better than in Paris. Here, in one day, we received the same amount of potential business leads that we would get in three days in Paris! This is a great show. It is very business-effective, and very well organised. It is well-known in the industry, so being here is important for our marketing and brand recognition. Overall, this year’s result is excellent and better than last year. We met buyers from China, Japan, Korea and the US, including some renowned brands such as Uniqlo. We have received a lot of sampling enquires and I believe most of them will turn into orders.”
Mr Daniel Gun Fischman, Export Manager of Textile Business Unit, Aris Industrial S.A., Peru
Verve for Design
“We are very focused on the Chinese market, and Intertextile is good in helping our business grow here. Buyers coming to our booth are all genuine, and we don’t need to educate them about our products. Although our designs are quite expensive, buyers here still place orders on the spot, with each purchasing three on average. We also work with Chinese buyers from European shows, but they are quite different kinds of buyers. Here you get a mixture of brands and manufacturers, a whole range in fact, from high-end labels and manufacturers to mills, which is good. The result this year is good. We’ve had more individual sales, so we’ve seen more clients buying smaller amounts. We’ve also got a more varied client base now which is better. It’s also really nice that we have returning clients from the last autumn fair. Intertextile is the biggest and the best fair here, so why go anywhere else?”
Mr Joel Sernagiotto, Head of East Coast Sales, Liz Casella, USA
Beyond Denim
“We’re getting a very good response from worldwide buyers here, and we’re developing new customers through this fair, so we are really delighted to be here as it’s paying off. In the previous three shows, we’ve developed eight new customers, and this edition we’ve also made two deals. It’s worth for us to come time and time again because you not only see your existing customers, but you find opportunities to develop new customers as well. It’s an achievement to come to this fair and sell something! We also like that this is a huge fair, not only denim but fabrics, yarns, everything, and it’s divided into different zones and very focused, so we know buyers coming here are really looking for denim, so only really focused customers come here.”
Mr Rizwan Hafeez, Marketing Manager, Diamond Denim by Sapphire, Pakistan
Functional Lab
“We choose Intertextile to announce our new products as it’s the most well-known trade fair in the textile industry. One of our fabrics was selected in the Fabrics China Award which attracted a lot of buyers to our booth. We make use of this fair to promote our brand and meet new customers. We regard it as an international platform, and met many professional buyers from garment factories and brands, 20% of whom were from overseas.”
Mr Raymond Tsai, Business Manager, TAIG CHEIN Textile Co Ltd, Taiwan
Digital Printing Zone
“This fair has very high potential for us; we can get a lot of leads here to generate business. Yesterday we had a continuous amount of buyers coming to our booth to learn about our technology and the possibilities for them, so the fair’s been very good. The quality of buyers is pretty high too. I saw so many new potential customers with quality products come to our booth. At a machinery exhibition, the buyers are there to check the details of your products as they know the industry well already, but at this fair buyers are here to learn about new products and solutions for their business. Overall, this is a really good window for us to the textile industry.”
Mr Alessio Zunta, Business Manager, Dover (Shanghai) Industrial Co Ltd (MS Printing Solutions Srl), Italy
Accessories Vision
“The buyers here are of high quality. We have already met some from leading brands, including H&M and Zara, and we’ve also had buyers who directly placed orders with us. This is a leading fair in the industry, which is why we come here every year.”
Mr Wen Chen, Project Manager, Shanghai Shide Network Technology Co Ltd, China
Trend Forecaster
“We can meet many fashion buyers and designers here. We regard this fair as an important platform for us to explore new opportunities and keep connected with our frequent clients, and also to learn the market trends. We found the quantity and quality of visitors has improved this year, with all buyers coming to our booth with strong demand for trend consulting services and clear requirements.”
Mr Sunny Hu, Marketing Manager, CTIC WGSN China Ltd, China
Buyer comments
“This fair gives us a good overview of what’s happening in the market. We’re looking for a wide range of products, so the fair is good as it has a bit of everything. It’s good for researching new vendors, and you can always find new ones to work with. The scope of the fair is also very useful. Our knit R&D team goes to Yarn Expo, while we find the Functional Lab and Beyond Denim segmented zones in Intertextile absolutely useful. The innovation in the Functional Lab is interesting as we’re always looking for new innovation. It’s really helpful how the fair is sorted, and we could easily cover all our shirting needs in one morning.”
Ms Michelle Klein, Manager Fabric R&D, American Eagle Outfitters, USA
“We’re here to look for new fabrics and new suppliers to cooperate with, which we’ve achieved. Each edition, we will visit 60-70 exhibitors, with half of them being new contacts. Our favourite part about the fair is the Trend Forum. Every time we come, we will visit this first, select the fabrics we are interested in, then visit the exhibitors accordingly. The fair is also a great place and timing for us to meet all kinds of suppliers.”
Ms Kitt Chan, Senior Business Unit Head, Tom Tailor Sourcing, China
“This fair is the ‘alpha’ to find new suppliers, and the ‘alpha’ for relationship building with companies as everyone is here. It’s good to come here to learn who the actual manufacturers are, and who the middle men that you might meet overseas are. We can meet people here that we can’t at other fairs, where it’s often just the agents present, so it’s easier to manage suppliers by coming here as you have more direct contact. Timing is the first thing in fashion, so it’s important to have this direct contact.”
Mr Nicola Grosso, Global R&D Fabric & Trimming Manager, Brooks Brothers, USA
The Autumn Edition of Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics will be held on the earlier date of 27 – 29 September 2018 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center.
Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Spring Edition 2018 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. To find out more about all Messe Frankfurt textile fairs worldwide, please visit: www.texpertise-network.com.
[1] Including buyers from the concurrent Yarn Expo Spring, PH Value and CHIC fairs who also visited Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics
-end-
Notes to editors:
Pictures from the fair are available here
http://www.hk.messefrankfurt.com/hongkong/en/media/textiles-technologies/intertextile_shanghai_apparel_fabrics_spring/media.html
Further press information & picture material
http://www.hk.messefrankfurt.com/hongkong/en/media/textiles-technologies/intertextile_shanghai_apparel_fabrics_spring/news.html
Follow Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics on social media
www.facebook.com/intertextile.shanghai
https://twitter.com/Intertextile
www.linkedin.com/in/intertextileapparel
Background information on Messe Frankfurt
Messe Frankfurt is the world’s largest trade fair, congress and event organiser with its own exhibition grounds. With more than 2,500* employees at some 30 locations, the company generates annual sales of around €661* million. Thanks to its far-reaching ties with the relevant sectors and to its international sales network, the Group looks after the business interests of its customers effectively. A comprehensive range of services – both onsite and online – ensures that customers worldwide enjoy consistently high quality and flexibility when planning, organising and running their events. The wide range of services includes renting exhibition grounds, trade fair construction and marketing, personnel and food services.
With its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, the company is owned by the City of Frankfurt (60 percent) and the State of Hesse (40 percent).
*preliminary numbers 2017
For more information, please visit our website at:
www.messefrankfurt.com | www.congressfrankfurt.de | www.festhalle.de
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