With 94,661 visitors from over 110 countries and region, Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Spring Edition has witnessed 15 per cent rise in numbers from that in the previous year. Aisles in six exhibition halls saw a sea of visitors, as the quality, variety and innovation of the textile options on offer impressed trade buyers from all over the world.
“After already experiencing a significant increase in last year’s Spring Edition visitor numbers, and with muted reports coming from some industry events earlier in the spring/summer sourcing calendar, we were not expecting such a strong increase again this edition,” said Wendy Wen, senior general manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd. “However, it’s apparent that no matter the economic situation, the unrivalled scale and variety of Intertextile Apparel’s exhibitors means that trade buyers worldwide continue to choose this fair as their main spring/summer sourcing platform, year after year. We look forward to welcoming the global apparel industry back for their autumn / winter sourcing from September 25 – 27, for our 25th anniversary.”
“We’ve had a lot of good customers come to our booth during the first two days, who’ve made sample orders. Our target is Chinese buyers, but we’ve also had European and Korean buyers come to our booth. As a Swiss brand, we have a high quality and price, and a very good standard of finishing, and domestic buyers recognise us for these things. We have also had a lot of customers come to our booth saying they saw us in the Trend Forum. Next time, we will have a bigger booth,” Irina De Giorgi, sales manager, Ideas by Glarotex AG, Switzerland, said.
This year’s Spring Edition housed 3,273 exhibitors from 23 countries and regions over six halls at the National Exhibition and Convention Centre (Shanghai). This included an increase of 12 per cent in overseas exhibitors. The top 10 visitor countries & regions this year were Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, India, the US, Taiwan, Russia, Italy, Vietnam and Spain. The invitation-only Milano Unica Pavilion had a 20 per cent increase in visitor numbers compared to the 2018 Spring Edition, and reported a more than satisfactory presence of Chinese buyers, including those who could not visit Milan in February due to the overlap with the Chinese New Year holiday. In addition, Milano Unica noted the presence of international buyers from Asia, in particular South Korea and Japan, but also India, Russia and Saudi Arabia. As well as offering access to the global textile market, the fair also provided industry insight at the fringe programme, which included three panel discussions and 25 seminars.
“I’m really impressed with the quality of the exhibitors and the high level of quality and certified fabrics here. I’m looking for sustainable alternative fabrics such as Tencel, Modal, organic cotton, BCI and I found them all here, so it’s been really good for eco-friendly products. Intertextile is different to other fairs as I can find anything I need here due to the number of suppliers. The price range here is very wide, so I can find all kinds of prices as well as qualities. This fair has been amazing; it will make my life a lot easier back in the office,”Marina Silveira, senior jersey designer, Hush, UK, said.