20th Intertextile Shanghai International Apparel Fabrics and Accessories – Fall Edition 2014 organised by Messe Frankfurt in China which has a great market in the textile sector brought together manufacturers with suppliers. The fair where editorial staff of our Magazine Group which follows the textile sector very closely showed up was held in Shanghai World Expo Fair and Congress Centre. While 3844 participants took part in the fair from 30 countries, 71.138 sector representatives visited it from 93 countries. The highest levels of participation were from the host China, Korea, Japan, the USA, Taiwan, Russia, Indonesia, England, India and Turkey.
In the fair where various activities and fashion shows were also organised, Fabric Wall where specially designed fabric samples were exhibited, Fringe Program where the trends of the future were discussed and Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) forum were organised. Besides, two competitions held within the scope of the 20th year activities revived the fair.
Fair was Productive in terms of Turkey
Selin Ekmekçi, Advertising and Public Relations Expert of Bossa which participated in the fair from Turkey being among 10 countries with the highest levels of participation in Intertextile Shanghai –Fall Edition 2014 explained to our Magazine Group that China disturbed the balance of the textile sector as a manufacturer after the trade barriers were removed in 2005. Emphasizing that the Chinese market and the luxury segment, in particular, became an important textile consumer in a relatively short time following the fast enrichment, Ekmekçi stated that the fair was rather successful and fruitful in terms of both local participants and international participants and the interest shown in the fair increased in comparison to the previous year.
As to Onur Keçekülah, Sales and Marketing Director of Kipaş Holding, he said that: “We find the fair that we participated for the first time significant in terms of its potential and the interest shown in our product group.” Adding that the participant profile was considerably good, Keçekülah stated that all kinds of “Made in Europe” products related to innovation were in demand in the fair. Saying that they offered their shirt groups to the visitors in the fair, Keçekülah emphasized that the fair was highly successful.
In Far East, Turkey has made a distinguished name for itself
Halil Ersan Özsoy, Governing Board Member of Uludağ Textile Exporters’ Association (UTIB) which attended the fair with a large group stated that the fair was positive for the Turkish companies. Stating that the Turkish companies participating in the fair established major business ties, Özsoy added that he believe that Turkey will gain even more importance in the Far Eastern market with its new designs.
J.A. Ferreira from Texer, a Portuguese firm participating in Intertextile Shanghai – Fall Edition 2014, stated that he envisages that the demand of China for European fabrics will continuously increase in the upcoming 5 years. L. Grassi, General Director of the Italian Mapel SpA, said that China focuses on design and quality and this is an advantage for the brands.
Fair Focussed on Local Markets
Wendy Wen, Hong Kong General Director of Messe Frankfurt, expressed that: “Participants attracted intense attention from numerous great European and American purchasers. At the same time, the growing economy Russia gained new clients from the Middle East and South-eastern Asia. The purchasers expressed their satisfaction with the increase in the quality of local participants and the broad range of products offered by the high quality suppliers of Europe and Asia.”
Emphasizing that they did not consider only the demand of the purchasers while organising the fair, Wen stated that: “We collected the same countries and product groups in the same sections in order to ensure that trends of different products can be followed. Besides, these sections were determined based on the needs local market focuses on. In this way, we ensured that foreign participants caught the opportunities in the local market.”
