As a part of Messe Frankfurt’s renowned Intertextile brand, Intertextile Pavilion at the Shenzhen International Trade Fair for Apparel Fabrics and Accessories (Intertextile Pavilion Shenzhen) has a distinctive focus on the South China market, benefitting from this region’s promising market conditions and providing huge opportunities for exhibitors at this year’s fair.

Given its solid industrial bases and favourable geographic locations, the South China region is at the heart of China’s garment industry. Moreover one of its two major cities, Shenzhen, has a reputation as the nation’s garment and fashion capital. Currently, the city houses over 2,000 garment companies, 30,000 fashion designers and more than 1,000 fashion brands. In 2016, total sales from the Shenzhen garment industry exceed 200 billion RMB, accounting for over 60 per cent of the market of shopping malls in China’s Tier I cities. As per Hong Kong Trade Development Council’s study ‘China Garment Industry’, with growing spending power, these two markets are projected to continue their strong growth. While men’s garments segment is seeing growth with retail sales expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 11.8 per cent between 2015 and 2020, some domestic women’s wear brands have started forging into the mid-range to high-end women’s garment segments. The research also stated most enterprises which own women’s garment brands such as Ellassay, Marisfrolg, Yinger and Koradior, are located in South China.

Positive exhibitor experience

Showcasing this positive data are testimonies and insights shared by overseas exhibitors at last year’s Intertextile Pavilion Shenzhen. As Hiroshi Kawabata, Sales Manager – International Sales Department of Japan’s Sunwell says they see the strong potential in South China market because this is the hub for ladieswear. Given the large population in China, this market is stable and demand will continue to grow. John Lee, Director–Exhibition Project Division of Korea Pavilion’s organiser DGTIA points out, “Shenzhen is a fast-growing city being a Special Economic Zone. More than 3,000 garment factories are located here, which creates enormous demand for apparel fabrics and accessories.” Moreover, Taiwan Pavilion’s organiser Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF) conducted its own research on the South China fashion market and found, “more than 75 per cent of fashion brands in South China are keen to purchase high-quality overseas products,” Petra Peng, representative of TTF explained.

Meeting point for high quality buyers

Along with favourable market conditions the fair’s ability to attract high quality buyers is also a key factor. In 2016, visitor numbers jumped 15 per cent to 17,019 buyers from 36 countries and regions, easy commuting distances between Hong Kong and other major cities in Southern China ensured numerous international and domestic fashion brand buyers such as Brooks Brothers, Combi, Descente, Diesel, etc, utilised the fair as their key sourcing platform in the region.

As Diesel’s senior merchandiser (Knit – R&D) Janice Liu observes, “The date of the fair is good for our sourcing because brands like us are always developing new products and consistently sourcing new materials at different time of the year. Therefore, although we also attend the Shanghai fair (Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics), this fair is still very important for us. We did find some potential overseas and domestic suppliers this time.” Hong Kong ladieswear brand Kinji’s fashion designer Wing Cham agrees and says, “The fair is close to Hong Kong and covers a good range of products, so I plan to invite my boss to come with me next time.”

Country pavilion added attractopm

The 2017 edition of Intertextile Pavilion Shenzhen will be held from July 6 to 8 in Halls 6, 7 and 9 of the Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center, with some key country and region pavilions set to return to feature an array of high-quality fabrics for ladieswear, casual wear, lingerie & swimwear and suiting, the latest knitting fabrics, as well as accessories, lace & embroidery, and yarns & fibres. Among these are:

Korea Pavilion: Organised by Korea Fashion Textile Association (KFTA) and Daegu Gyeongbuk Textile Industry Association (DGIA), will showcase a variety of knitted and man-made fabrics for ladieswear, as well as functional fabrics

Taiwan Pavilion: Organised by Taiwan Textile Federation, will feature the latest collections of lace & embroidery and knitted fabrics

Fine Japan Zone: Formed by leading Japanese companies to highlight Japanese-quality cotton and man-made fabrics for ladieswear as well as casual wear with small order quantity

Shengze Pavilion: Representing the Eastern Silk Market from Suzhou, China, will display an array of man-made and silk-like fabrics for ladieswear.

The fair will also have valuable opportunities to learn next year’s trends through the Spring/Summer 2018 Trend Forum in Hall 9, and a series of seminars during the first two days. Together with Intertextile Pavilion Shenzhen 2017, the 17th China International Fashion Brand Fair – Shenzhen (halls 1 & 2) and a fashion show (hall 5) are held concurrently from 6 – 8 July in the same venue.