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Sourcing Expo and Footwear and Leather Show will be held in Australia, from November 20 to 22, 2018. Registrations for the two shows are 20 per cent higher than they were last year.
More than 4000 trade visitors are expected at the show which will bring together 700 textile, apparel and footwear manufacturers and agents from 16 countries. Sourcing Expo attracts sourcing managers for Australia’s large fashion retailers, niche fashion brands, online outlets and designers. It allows buyers to meet with more reputable suppliers than they could physically visit on an overseas buying trip. The trade-only event will showcase a full spectrum of product and service offerings from off-the-shelf clothing through to made-to-order pieces, fabric and functional textiles. Exhibitors are drawn from India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Fiji, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, Australia, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore.
India’s Council for Leather Exports will represent the growing leather industry in India and showcase the quality of the nation’s products at Footwear and Leather Show. This show is expected to provide a novel and excellent platform for Indian companies to showcase their products to Australian buyers.
Australia’s geographic location means extensive travel is usually required to explore international supply and manufacturing options. These two events will bring everything together under one roof.
"Even though the Autumn edition of Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics was pre-poned this year, it did not have any effect on its popularity. The show attracted around 78,000 trade buyers from 110 countries and regions, there were 4,480 exhibitors from 33 countries. As Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager, Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd said, “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."
Even though the Autumn edition of Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics was pre-poned this year, it did not have any effect on its popularity. The show attracted around 78,000 trade buyers from 110 countries and regions, there were 4,480 exhibitors from 33 countries. As Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager, Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd said, “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.”
Exhibitors’ satisfied with response
There were many first time exhibitors in this zone. German brand Südwolle that focuses on woolen yarns was there for the first time. “This is our first time
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,” said James Tang, Marketing Manager. He said Victoria’s Secret saw their product in the Trend Forum and came to their 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 attract more attention being an international company.” The number of buyers in Premium Wool Zone increased. 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 time has increased. It’s important we are in this zone because of the growing made-to-measure business in China. The zone is 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.”
Korea’s Taekwang Industry was exhibiting at the Functional Lab. Yong Hwan Shin, Marketing Manager of the company pointed out they exhibited at the fair to promote their brand to Chinese consumers and brands, “Intertextile Shanghai gives us a lot of exposure. 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.”
All About Sustainability
The All About Sustainability area, enabled the exhibitors to meet high-quality customers interested in sustainable products. Environmental protection is a big trend in China now, and Intertextile is a good platform to meet domestic buyers. This is a first-class business platform, where one can not only meet existing customers, but also discover new ones.
Chinese company 3M Intl. Trading (SHA) was at the Accessories Vision. As Sean Pan, Sales Manager, 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.”
Much like the exhibitors buyers too had many positive things to say about the Autumn edition. Markus Göldi, General Manager, Global Trend GmbH, Switzerland points out “This exhibition represents the whole textile industry as we can find everything we need. Nowhere else in the world can you find this. 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.”
Similarly Kuldeep Raswant, Golden Unicorn, Hong Kong found this fair amazingly well laid out, with everything they were looking for. “We are able to do 90 per cent of the sourcing we need here. Intertextile also gives us insights into what are the new things coming out. It is a great experience to be here.”
The growth figures
The Functional Lab reported exponential growth 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 25 per cent. Meanwhile, nearly all the fair’s group Pavilions, like 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 & Sports Industry Association expanded sourcing options for buyers
An expo is being held in Nepal in partnership with China. The event aims at promoting trade between the two countries and strengthening people-to-people relations. There are 100 stalls in the expo, from both Nepal and China. Chinese companies are showcasing products like garments, electronic items, and accessories, among others, while Nepal is displaying products such as stone, wood and metal carvings, textile, jewelry and local garments.
Nepal feels it can benefit from Chinese technology and economic achievements and wants to grasp opportunities from the Belt and Road Initiative. China’s Belt and Road Initiative may help Nepal realize its dream of development and economic prosperity.
Besides the display and sale of products, the event also features cultural performances and fashion shows. Nepal, a land-locked and least developed country, needs the cooperation of neighbors, especially China, to upgrade its status to a developing country. Nepal seeks investment in sectors like hydropower, agriculture, trade related infrastructure, tourism, herbs and herbal products, natural resources and service.
China and Nepal are interested in enhancing cooperation, namely, strengthening policy coordination and consolidating mutual trust, expanding connectivity and sharing experience for economic development, promoting unimpeded trade, deepening the financial integration and constructing the road for innovation, strengthening the people-to-people bond for mutual learning.
The British High Commission and Marks & Spencer have launched a program in India’s garment and clothing factories. The collaborative program aims at promoting gender equality in the workplace and prevention harassment. Phase 1 of the program focused on two factories in Bangalore. Phase 2 covered 11 factories in Delhi NCR, Bangalore and Chennai.
Workers have been made aware of legal provisions guaranteeing their safety at the workplace, and trained to educate fellow employees also. Supervisors at factories have been trained on gender equality, protecting rights of women and how to work responsibly. Recommendations have been made for safe and decent workplaces.
The garment and clothing sector in India provides direct employment to 45 million people, contributing four per cent to GDP and 17 per cent to total export earnings of the country. However, working conditions in the sector can pose challenges, particularly affecting the 60 per cent of workers who are women.
These gender centric programs, sharing learning and open source resources, are expected to help the garment industry in India and other businesses address gender issues and empower women to have the skills and confidence to take up leadership roles, contributing to a safe and gender equal society.
Pakistan's volume of footwear exports increased 22.6 per cent in August. Value of footwear exports increased 14.2 per cent. >Leather footwear was 91.6 per cent of the total value of exported footwear, thus registering an increase in the volume (45.9 per cent) and value (18.2 per cent) of exports.
Leather footwear drove 90.7 per cent of sales performance, increasing by 12.24 per cent during the first two months of the year. Exports from other footwear categories saw a decline in volume by 13.7 per cent and a decline in value by 14.7 per cent. Canvas shoes also saw a double digit decline in volume and value similar to last year.
Pakistan’s tanning industry produces high quality finished leather from hides as well as skins. Pakistan has inherited a centuries old craftsmanship of shoe making and hand crafted footwear with thick leather used in uppers and soles and special stitching process is exported in huge quantities. Skills are blended with technology to produce highly attractive styles, designs and shapes that are comfortable and durable and have great universal appeal.
The country produces footwear to cater to the needs of a variety of customers – -men and women, boys and girls, business executives and bureaucrats, squash and hockey players, cricketers and footballers, mountaineers and foresters, policemen and soldiers, specially designed footwear for the disabled.
In an effort to educate US and UK shoppers about the environmental impacts of the clothes they buy, a pop-up store in London and an interactive pop-up exhibition in New York has been organised simultaneously. The ‘Up Down’ curated exhibition in the SoHo district of New York has been organised by a team of artists and fashion designers from Parsons School of Design with the help of creative start-up Mindsight Lab.
Running from October 3, the month-long Up Down exhibition focuses on fabric designs to highlight the environmental impacts of the fashion industry. It demonstrates the four stages of the garment-making process to its visitors. It discusses the question ‘what is sustainability,’ and invites New Yorkers to customise their clothes and extends their life.
The pop-up store in London has been set up by the Maiyet Collective at the Conduit Club. This will give small scale designers and brands the chance to show off their sustainable and ethically sourced fashion products in a ‘physical’ retail outlet without taking the expensive risk of opening a store in London.
Maiyet Collective will host a ‘Blockchain for dummies’ seminar along with a range of other talks on sustainability and transparency. The store will offer a curation of sustainable and ethical luxury brands on a rotational monthly basis. It will not only bring in new customers for those brands included, but also offer access to potential investors.
Retailers in the UK have had their insurance cover reduced or withdrawn altogether as they battle slumping sales and profits. Insurance providers are reducing or withdrawing cover from some of high streets’ biggest names like The Original Factory Shop, New Look and House of Fraser.
However, many suppliers and retailers feel the risk-averse attitude is crippling the industry. Reducing credit insurance can shake suppliers’ confidence in a business. Credit insurance is based on audited accounts. So if retailers are having a tough time, insurers feeling that the business isn’t healthy reduce exposure. And the moment credit insurance is removed, confidence in the business is shaken.
It is like a self-fulfilling prophecy. When retailers have credit insurance pulled, they have to convince existing suppliers and induce them to stay on, but chances of finding someone new get drastically reduced. The lack of confidence that credit insurers show starts to echo or get magnified and can cause problems for retailers. Even those that are still solid businesses can find themselves facing a cash crunch.
Suppliers start treating retailers with caution. They do a risk assessment and look at the volume of business going through. In some instances they totally stop working with a customer. Sometimes they look at payment plans and take a risk.
There's a lot of momentum already building between the US and China in sports. China’s sports market is the biggest in the world. The country’s infrastructure of sports marketing vehicles, including platforms such as WeChat, Alibaba, Tencent and even videos and selfies, all contribute to a market ripe for sports marketing.
Retail sales in China are expected to equal or surpass those in the United States for the first time this year, indicating China's rise to an economic powerhouse. The Chinese, like the Americans, want to be healthy and with increasing buying power Chinese citizens are open to the benefits of healthy living.
No country has prioritized or invested in sports as China has done in recent years, especially in skiing and soccer. Since the millennium, China has made rapid progress in global sports at a rate which almost parallels that of its economy and is expected to surpass the United States by 2024. With 1.4 billion people, China is expected to soon dominate the Olympic Games.
China's emerging middle-class is hungry for high-quality products. China has turned from mostly producing to more global branding. So big American sports brands face lucrative opportunities in China.
Taiwan’s textile exports grew two per cent from January to July this year. The full-year increase may be larger as the traditional peak season falls in the second half. Last year, textile exports grew by only 0.8 per cent.
Taiwanese textile manufacturers are becoming the top choice for global apparel and shoe brands and retailers whenever they want to experiment with new textiles. Sports apparel, outdoor wear and sports shoes have been the main sources of revenue for local textile makers. Taiwanese textile manufacturers supply 40 per cent of materials used in Nike shoes, and 20 per cent of materials for Adidas shoes. Orders for functional textiles used mostly in sports and outdoor apparel are expected to grow 21 per cent this year compared to last year.
Manufacturers expect to benefit from the US-China trade dispute in the long run as major global retailers seek to relocate their Chinese plants to southeast Asian and African nations or India to circumvent new import tariffs imposed by the US.
Taiwanese textile suppliers might benefit from such supply chain shifts. They will not face a higher tax burden, as they could ship their products to the US from their factories in Vietnam or in Taiwan.
Textile Today- a comprehensive and international magazine for textile, apparel & fashion industry – and Northern Tosrifa Group (NTG)-a leading Bangladesh RMG manufacturer have signed an MoU to implement Textile Today’s FSD training program that aims to create skilled professionals in textile and apparel industry. Considered the first ever ‘Industry Orientation Program’ for textile professionals and students in Bangladesh, the FSD training program will involve training the participants by experienced industry experts to provide and share industry knowledge. The program will also train these executives to make them top quality experts of the textile industry.
The FSD training program offers five factory skills development certificates for 16 foundation training courses. Successful completion of certain foundation training courses will make the participants eligible for one FSD certificate. Two certificate winners will be declared as Yellow Belt FSD professionals in textiles, three certificate winners will be declared as Green Belt FSD professionals in textiles. And participants who will be able to complete 4 FSD certificates will be declared as Black Belt FSD professionals in textiles.
