"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