PARIS — As European textile mills battle for market share by touting quality over price, their less expensive competitors from abroad keep building their stake, propelled by retail’s fixation on the bottom line.
The situation augurs well for the latest edition of Texworld here, which begins a four-day run Feb. 20 and features an array of textiles producers from China to India.
Michael Scherpe, president of Messe Frankfurt France, which runs the show, said the mood was positive going into the show, based on improvements in the European economy and robust growth elsewhere.
“I feel quite confident in the business climate,” he said. “We’ve just finished a Texworld show in New York and exhibitors reported strong business. Our exhibitors are positioned in a segment of the market that continues to grow.”
Texworld has asserted a stronger presence in Paris during the last few years, growing as a competitor to the more upscale crosstown show Première Vision. Scherpe insisted Texworld was not trying to lock horns with PV.
“We are complementary shows,” he said. “Our exhibitors don’t produce the same products as mills from Italy or France. They have their own specialties.”
Still, he acknowledged that many exhibitors at Texworld continued to climb upmarket as fashion becomes more detail-oriented, even at the mass level.
“We have more exhibitors that are attacking the high level,” he said. “That’s not to say that we didn’t always have exhibitors catering upmarket. Some of our exhibitors from India produce embroideries that are the best in the world. They can’t produce that quality in Europe.”
Whether by design or not, Texworld is encroaching on PV’s turf. The show is moving from its old venue — the CNIT at La Defense, a business district east of Paris — to Le Bourget, near PV’s venue in the northern suburbs of Paris.
Scherpe said the move had been a long time coming because the show was growing cramped at the CNIT.
“It’s the next step in our evolution,” he said.
After years of turning away exhibitors for lack of space, Texworld now plans to welcome an another 100 exhibitors, mostly from China, India, Turkey and South Korea. Overall, the show expects 830 exhibitors and 17,000 to 18,000 buyers.
Related Articles
You May Also Like
The move also will allow greater visibility for firms and make it more user friendly, Scherpe said. Buyers are expected from across Europe, including France, the U.K., Germany and Italy, and a growing number of buyers is traveling to the show from the U.S.
In recent years, buyers who traditionally visited only PV have been checking out Texworld, too. Many have admitted to asking the show’s cheaper mills to replicate goods similar to those found at PV, something Texworld executives deny.