According to official data 380 exhibitors, 3,264 international buyers and 442 buying agents were part of the 4th edition of Tex Trends recently held at Pragati Maidan.
Touted as one of Asia’s largest textile shows covering yarns to apparels and accessories, the event despite running for the fourth consecutive year and in-cooperation with various export promotion councils, still needs a lot of improvement especially in terms of adding more value to the participants as well as the visitors. Team Apparel Online, in conversation with various buyers and exhibitors at Tex Trends, tried to capture the pulse of the fair…
With the product profile of India growing, buyers were on the lookout for many different categories and techniques at Tex Trends. Severino Soares, Director, Maha Laksmi Com. Imp. Ltd., Brazil was looking for ladies garments in cotton, whites with embroidery, while in silhouettes his priority was dresses, trousers (prints and loose) and tops. Furthermore, Maali Al Asad, BOYNER Buyuk, Turkey, who mostly does sportswear, was particularly looking for woven shirts, check shirts, in voiles and cottons, while Roshan Khandur, Radhika Imports Inc., California who sources apparels of almost US $ 1.5 million per year from India, supplying women and kidswear to around 1,200 stores in the US, this time came with a changed priority and requirement.
“Past few years we were sourcing mainly tie and dye products, but this time our focus is in washes, apart from stone and acid wash, different kinds of washes is in demand,” stated Roshan.” Buyers looking for ladies wear in particular were happy with the fair as they got what they were primarily looking for. “We came here with good expectations and they have all been met. We are enhancing our product range so we came here for ladies garments and we are very happy with the fair,” confirmed Rohil Suryakant Makhecha, Director, SDZ Impex Ltd., Mauritius.
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Tex Trend requires more participants with various kinds of products to offer more value to the buyers and majority of participants feel that more buyers need to enhance the business of Indian apparel sector.
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Earlier dominated by exhibitors mostly from the Delhi-NCR and Jaipur region, this year the fair saw a good turnout of participants from Kolkata, Mauritius and Varanasi. This in turn proved advantageous for the buyers who came exploring more vendors with different product categories. Nonetheless price remained a major bone of contention for exporters and buyers this year as well. “I have never expected that price expectations can go down to this level as buyers are asking products for US $ 3.5 to 5,” said an astonished Noida based exporter doing high-end garments. But exporters such as Dinesh Apparels, a Kannur based manufacturer of men’s shirts who participated for the first time, was quiet satisfied regarding pricing. “We met some buyers from Europe and as our prices were already reasonable with normal margins, we did not face any price issues,” shared Raveendran PV, GM, Dinesh Apparels.
This year, accessories such as scarves were a common product to a lot of exhibitors, and while many buyers were interested in such products the displays got a mixed reaction. “We got scarves according to our need and we are happy with the variety on display,” maintained Laura and Filipo from F.G. Studio Di Gallo Filipo, Progetti & Prodetti, Italy. On the other hand Helle Juul of JUUL Accessories & Clothing, Denmark who was visiting the fair for the first time and came specifically looking for suppliers of accessories was disappointed. “The products at the fair are just okay and despite many stalls displaying accessories, it wasn’t too great,” observed Helle.
Commonly for most exhibitors the fair was a routine affair, but for some it helped in adding new buyers such as Satvinder Singh Luthra, Creative Director, Cotton Jersey, Noida was content with the turnout. “We had discussion with the buyers of developing countries and markets which we were not doing earlier like Brazil and Turkey. As we have good infrastructure for high-end embroidery garments we are positive to get orders from these buyers.” Nonetheless Ravi P. K. MD of the Fabrocrats, Tirupur who got four serious buyers from Hong Kong, Dubai, Mauritius, still thought Tex Trends was not up to the mark. He adds, “As it is the biggest fair of India, buyer visitation was low. We were hoping for more buyers.”
With market conditions improving, most of the participants were expecting a great fair, but most were just satisfied with the response they received, whereas many buyers voiced their disappointment at the limited product displays. Though projected as a complete textile chain fair, 70 per cent participation is from apparel exporters, who primarily display summer apparels which form the core strength of India. Therefore, a few buyers who were looking for winter wear were dissatisfied with a restricted list of exhibitors. “We are looking for winter garments and in this fair there are only a few. I have been coming here for the last 12 years and all I can say is that every year it’s just going down and down,” asserted Manuel Pin, MD, H.H.G Import and Export, Spain.
Further, Ashwajeet Garg, Country Head and Sourcing Manager, Standard Textile, Ohio added, “I am visiting the fair after 5 years; it is more of an exploratory trip trying to see what’s out there. We are mostly into basics and I hoped to see more of textile people but 90 per cent exhibitors are majorly focusing on value added garments.”
Apart from garments and accessories, the fabric buyers had a similar story to tell. Although the fair saw the participation of big companies such as Vardhman, Arvind, Birla Cellulose, Nandan Denim, Ramkrishna Cottex and some players from Surat, etc. but these were not enough according to the visitors. Looking especially for denim fabric, Ahmad Laltahan from Syria stated, “I found only one player for the kind of denim fabric which I need and I am really disappointed about it. It is a small fair for fabrics; more companies should participate to make it more worthwhile.”
Analysing products at display at Tex Trends 2014…
Tex Trends is commonly identified as an autumn/winter fair; although, if the exporters’ showcase is anything to go by, it would be safe to assume that the exhibition is really a spring/summer fair guised in an autumn/winter setup. As flimsy blouses, tunic tops and pyjama trousers were delivered in summer appropriate fabrics – nylon, cotton voiles, cambric, silks and rayon – exporters looked at playing on their best cards, which obviously were drawn for a definite buyer for summer apparel.
From a print infused summer (which was an overexploited category in this fair), exporters, for fall, explore the many possibilities that value addition has to offer. So while some exporters still bask in the glory of vibrant prints and thread embroideries carried forth from IIGF Spring/Summer, a refreshing lot of exporters have been successful in countering the ever-increasing demand for embellishments. Sequins, stone and bead embroideries have emerged not only on cocktail dresses but been used cleverly on popular ready to wear and high-street categories – whether for maxi skirts and quarter sleeves shirts or bomber jackets constructed in Indian Fabrics. Topping the colour charts for most exporters was the colour blue which will be followed by a trail of trends – porcelain prints, shades of indigo and folksy hues – which are likely to surface by Spring/Summer’15.
What could account for a little respite for this Autumn/Winter fair would be the occasional sightings of winter fabrics. Positioned only as a secondary fabric choice, wool was given a serious competition by rayon and modal blends as exporters claimed to have given in to their rising popularity.
Absence of knits, even from the Autumn/Winter collections except for a few, is an area the exhibition, unfortunately, fell flat on.
