Texworld and ApparelSourcing trade fairs' report.

Organisers at Messe Frankfurt France have reported that the Texworld and ApparelSourcing trade fairs – both events for fabrics, accessories and finished garments respectively, held in Paris in February 17 – 20 (coinciding with the Premiere Vision luriel fairs) - reported a growth of 11% in terms of visitors’ numbers (compared to the February event of 2013), prompting its president Michael Sherpe to comment that the textiles industry is emerging from the economic crisis.

Mr Sherpe said the positioning of Texworld and ApparelSourcing Paris as pre-eminent platforms, where one can find the whole spectrum of qualities at fair prices, had been firmly established and contributed to these positive results.

Commenting on the fairs’ “very dynamic atmosphere for business”, Mr. Sherpe said, “After the success of the consumer goods exhibitions, Heimtextil, Christmasworld, Paperworld and Ambiente, in Frankfurt, there is no mistaking the improved performance of business since the start of the year.”

The two concurrent shows attracted 13,523 visitors from 103 countries.  

Accordingly, International  visitors came from all over Europe and the rest of the world, led by the United Kingdom (+12%), Germany (+10%), Italy (+15%), Poland (+26%), Spain (+10%), Greece (+38%), Ireland (+56%) and Portugal.  While French visitor numbers remained stable, Eastern and Central Europe also saw healthy growth with Romania (+20%), Serbia (+42%), Moldavia (+54%) and Hungary ( +30%) all showing increases.

Turkey, the bridge between the East and the West, saw an increase of 8.8%.   North Africa posted growth of over 11%.  A significant increase was observed for the countries of the Middle East, where there is strong purchasing power and/or good demand for fashion: Qatar (+266%), Jordan (+225%), Lebanon (+98%), the United Arab Emirates (+44%) and Kuwait with +21%.

The Americas registered an increase of 12%.  After the success of their sister event Texworld USA, Americans (+4%) came to Paris to add some finishing touches to their collections and Canada has increased its attendance (+35%). Brazil reappeared with a healthy increase of +28% and burgeoning interest from Colombia was also noted.

Among their most satisfied exhibitors were companies from China.   

At Texworld, Mr Lin Yunfeng, Vice-President of CCPIT-Tex, the official body that led the Chinese exhibitors, stressed that some exhibitors sold in excess of 200 000 linear metres on the first day alone.

Jagtar Tony from Brar of Hong Kong, a shirt manufacturer, added to the positive outcome, saying they were very satisfied with the results from their first attendance at Texworld. "Demand for shirting is strong and we think it will increase further with demand from countries like Turkey and Brazil.”

According to NTS Ltd (China), which has participated for 10 years, and its international sales representative, Thorsten Wendhack, “We are delighted with sales and the new contacts we have made, in particular from  the United States and Latin America.  Most favoured items were our knitwear and lace collections.”

Mozart Tseng from Mozartex, the prime producer of  Tencel® fabrics in China, added “We have been exhibiting in Texworld for 11 years. This has been an excellent show with substantial orders from our established buyers and from countless new customers,  in particular from the US, thanks to the drop in prices for cellulosic fabrics.  We have more than 700 new products in our collections.”

Ermine Erikler, Sales Director at the Turkish cotton producer Larmatex, spoke of “healthy recovery” compared with the previous show and of having made some excellent contacts.

Sachin Sogani, Senior General Manager at Grasim, one of the divisions in the Aditya Birla group, was also very content: “We’ve worked non-stop for the four days!”.  

In the Lace & Embroidery segment, Rachid Ansari, sales director at Nabeeha Exports (India) also reported a satisfactory result for its first show, counting designers and high-end companies among its top visitors.

German weaver Lillestoffe,  which specialises in organic cotton with playful patterns for childrenswear, was also with the quality and the calibre of the contacts made at the fair.  

Similarly at ApparelSourcing, the fair for finished products, in particular in the areas for accessories and scarves.

Sunil Aggarwal from Anjali Creations, producers of scarves for many ranges, experienced the best show yet among the major international fairs the company takes part.  Reflecting on its success, he said, “We have a comprehensive range of products, totally eco-friendly, from linen to cotton, from price points at entry-level right through to more luxurious materials like baby cashmere for the very high end.”

Sustainable development remained  a priority for Texworld, with many exhibitors indicated their investments in the recycling of waste water, machinery with low energy-consumption, development and the use of eco-friendly dyeing methods or simply in the development of organic and recycled materials.

 “We are involved in a project for an environmentally friendly factory for denim that is entirely vertical” said Iqbal Parekh, head of marketing at the denim producer Soorty.

“We are developing very eco-friendly collections, in particular using recycled polyester. The demand for these products is growing constantly. For the 2015-16 season, we are banking on DWR (durable water repellency), a special finish for outdoor and snowboard clothes, which has already been adopted by many leading labels in these segments”explained Nancy Chu, sales manager at Hyperbola.

The key fabrics for Spring Summer 2015 according to the fairs’ artistic directors, Louis Gérin and Grégory Lamaud, were sumptuous colours with flair.

The next Texworld event will take place September 15 – 18 at Le Bourget, Paris.

All photos by Lucia Carpio for My Fashion Connect.