SHANGHAI — The Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics Fair continued to expand in size and diversified the mix of domestic and international participation in its 12th year.
“In its first five years, we had more European and overseas than domestic. Now, that’s changed, which we consider very good,” said Katie Lam, director of trade fairs for Messe Frankfurt Hong Kong, which organizes the event.
At the same time, she added, “It’s now very international. Twelve years ago, it existed to serve domestic China, and to sell to China, but now is more international….China is not just a producer, it’s becoming an importer. China is a huge local market, so local buyers are up. It’s becoming a buyers’ market.”
Intertextile Shanghai, which ran Oct. 25 to 28, filled a space of 80,500 square meters in the Shanghai New International Expo Center in Pudong. It featured 2,033 exhibitors, an increase of 32.7 percent over last year, with a retention rate of 80 percent. A total of 1,414 companies were from Mainland China, and 619 were from 25 nations; there were nine national pavilions, from Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Portugal, Thailand, Taiwan and Turkey.
“Some companies and countries see China as a new market, so they gather in the national pavilions in order to have a stronger presence,” Lam said. “Like with Portugal, which includes a lot of small and medium enterprises, some were chosen and subsidized by the government to be in the national pavilion.”
Intertextile’s concurrent sister show, the second annual Yarn Expo, filled 1,800 square meters and hosted 66 exhibitors from nine countries: France, India, Israel, Peru, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey and the U.S., along with China. The two shows together attracted 52,295 visitors from 97 countries, a 16 percent boost over 2005. Like last year, the fairs’ opening day was invitation only, extended to VIP buyers.
Public interest in the show was evidenced by the presence of vendors selling fake admission badges outside the venue. “In China, you see everything,” Lam said. “We can’t have 100 percent control, as we’re dependent on the security company here. Hawkers want to get in to sell fake merchandise, and some come through the back door by bribing the security guards. I hope visitors will also discourage them by not buying from them.”
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Exhibitor response was positive. “It’s absolutely excellent, a wonderful gathering of the best the world has to offer, and is quickly becoming the center of the world textile industry, if it isn’t already,” said Mark Messura, global supply chain executive vice president of Cotton Incorporated, attending the fair a second time.
“The Shanghai fair…has more people and better products than at other fairs,” said Hou Yirong of Dafa Fabric Group, a large producer from Fujian Province.
The company made about 300 contacts on the first day. “We’re now doing more publicity for our brand, around Asia and particularly in India, which is new,” he continued. “U.S. tariffs have little impact on us as only about 5 percent of our sales go there, since we have few American contacts and connections. Probably a lot of our fabrics are made into apparel that ends up in the U.S. via intermediaries.”
Taiwan’s GogoTex Co. also sells to the U.S., mostly through intermediaries, primarily in Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia, said representative Jean Lin. The company produces 80 percent for export, and is seeking more overseas clients.
Messe Frankfurt will next hold Interstoff Asia at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, March 14 to 16, followed by Intertextile Beijing at the Beijing Exhibition Center and the China World Trade Center, March 22 to 24.
“Intertextile Shanghai is growing a lot, so it will impact all of our other shows, and Interstoff needs to evolve with the industry,” Lam said. “Hong Kong buyers and international clients are more experienced and sophisticated than mainland Chinese, they have niches like ecologically friendly and other specialties, so they already know what they’re looking for. Intertextile Shanghai is like Interstoff when it started 10 years ago. It is a big platform for everything.”
The next Intertextile Shanghai will run Oct. 29 to Nov. 1 at the Shanghai New International Expo Center.