It was the third and the last day of the recently concluded Vastra 2015 in Jaipur and there were very few buyers at the venue. Most of them claimed to be wholesalers, but their sourcing is very limited and in fact they seemed to be very small buyers. However, to their satisfaction, the buyers claimed to have found whatever they were looking for. Since many of them are frequently sourcing from the ‘Pink City’, Apparel Online tried to figure out what exactly they are looking for and their wish list to improve Jaipur as a sourcing hub.
Calliope Grigorea Queen Calliope, Athens
________________________________ Profile: Wholesaler/Retailer.
Annual Sourcing from India: Now Euro 50,000, in the backdrop of the Greece crisis.
Sourcing from Jaipur: Last four years per season 500 to 1,000 pieces.
Why Jaipur: People here are skilled in their work, be it stitching, embroidery, offering right prices, also hand block printing is mainly possible here.
Looking for: Embroidered cotton garments for ladies.
Suggestions for improvement: Need to improve on delivery time as this is the only point where Jaipur exporters are not reliable, they have to be more focused and organized to give better attention to order execution.
Growth projections: Can’t say, as there is crisis in Greece.
Ilze Ports
CEO, Wandering Sage Inc., California
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Profile: Wholesaler/Retailer, owns 3 stores and a brand.
Annual Sourcing from India: US $ 300,000.
Sourcing from Jaipur: This is his first visit to Jaipur, but has been sourcing from Delhi and Varanasi for last three years.
Why Jaipur: Because it is easy to connect directly with owner, also interested in women empowerment and sourcing handwork.
Looking for: Scarves made differently by hand or with beadwork.
Suggestions for improvement: Too new to Jaipur to comment.
Growth projections: 20 to 30 per cent.
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Paolo Zani
Art Director, Warli, Italy
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Profile: Designer. Sourcing from India: Karur, Coimbatore, Lucknow of over Euro 1 million per year.
Sourcing from Jaipur: Soon going to start.
Why Jaipur: The city has various facilities to convert our designs into good products.
Looking for: Mainly home products, accessories and some garments too.
Suggestions for improvement: Exporters should not expect orders in two days, as we need time to develop our designs.
Growth projections: 20 per cent; same is being enjoyed from last few years.
__________________________________Profile: Working with department stores.
Sourcing from India: 75 containers per year from Delhi for the past five years.
Sourcing from Jaipur: Will start this year.
Why Jaipur: Nice printing, good quality products.
Looking for: New designs, easy available fabric.
Suggestions for improvement: Jaipur-based manufacturers should do some fusion of traditional styles with western culture.
Growth projections: No comments.
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Dora Popova
Proprietor Manager, Bulgaria
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Profile: Retailer/Wholesaler/Online Sales.
Sourcing from India: For the last 20 years.
Sourcing from Jaipur: Over a decade.
Why Jaipur: Small orders are possible directly from factories, more choice available in designs/styles.
Looking for: Simple designs in ladies dresses.
Suggestions for improvement: Material which is being used now needs to improve; Jaipur exporters should think beyond summerwear also.
Growth projections: This year 10 per cent growth, next year will be better.
Marketing Vision sa, Panama
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Profile: Wholesaler. Sourcing from India: From 12 years.
Sourcing from Jaipur: From 10 years but in very small quantities; about 4,000 pieces annually.
Looking for: Ladies garments.
Suggestions for improvement: There are great designs, fabrics and patterns in Jaipur but exporters don’t put them together in a perfect way, sometimes with some suppliers quality control is also lacking.
Growth projections: No growth expected this year.
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Deanne Richards
Suswar, Australia
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Profile: 2 stores as of now; will launch wholesale division soon.
Sourcing from India: Women’s wear designs which have Indian touch.
Sourcing from Jaipur: From last four years.
Why Jaipur: Variety of products and various modern/traditional techniques at one place.
Looking for: Home products and bags; will start garments.
Suggestions for improvement: Jaipur companies need to improve on communication systems.
Growth projections: Good growth expected.
Rafael YartoCommercial Director, Mexico
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Profile: Wholesaler. Sourcing from India: Variety of garments for many years.
Sourcing from Jaipur: Last one year.
Why Jaipur: Price and quality is very accessible, colours and designs are also good.
Looking for: Garment as well as fabric.
Suggestions for improvement: Everything is okay, no suggestion as such.
Growth projections: 20 per cent at least.
4th Edition of Vastra: Everything, but the buyers, were fine!
Everything was perfect at the 4th Vastra 2015 in Jaipur, be it the infrastructure at expo centre, exhibitors, connectivity or experience of 3 years of organizing the fair, yet despite that the organizers – RIICO and FICCI remained unsuccessful in giving a perfect sourcing event to Jaipur as most important element of a sourcing event – the buyers were missing. Whatever buyers were there, were asking for very small quantities. Though the organizers claimed that 250 buyers and more than 150 buying agents/buying houses visited the fair, but visibility was not so high, and exhibitors were not satisfied. “We got 4-5 enquiries but none of them seemed very serious as per the market conditions. I don’t think that there are more than 50 to 60 buyers at the fair,” says Purushottam Gupta, Chief Executive, Ekta Fashions, Jaipur. Same was the opinion of Lalit Khatri, Proprietor, Rudraksh Exports, Pushkar, “Fair is not up to our expectation and is okay for visitation, but nothing much from business point of view. Only 5-6 buyers exchanged cards with us in three days.”
What are the reasons that this year’s Vastra was not so exciting for exporters, is it that there are continuous fairs from July to September and so frequent visit by the buyers is not possible. Are the international market conditions also responsible for the low footfall or were the efforts of the organizers really enough? Pradeep Nahata, MD, Karni Exports, Jaipur shares, “One of the reasons for the failure of this show is that the organizers were not able to reach/approach buyers to match the profile of the show and most of the buyers here were asking for just 25-50 pieces, which is so small that we cannot even cover the expense of small overheads and this is like wastage of exporters’ time. If FICCI wants exporters to keep participating in this fair, they have to invite buyers who demand at least 300 or more pieces per style, otherwise the show will not be able to sustain interest of the exhibitors. Also, occupying this international sourcing fair by more than a dozen booths of colleges/training centres is something that only derails the show from its main object. Ten buyers visited our booth and out of them only two seemed a little serious.”
There were however few exporters who were satisfied with the fair like Anbhay Sadh of Nehklank Textiles, Noida. “We have participated for the first time in Vastra and the fair seems fruitful.” Lt. Col (Retd.) Vivek Kodikal, Regional Director, FICCI responding to the overall disappointment of the participants said, “I spoke to a few exhibitors and they said none of the buyers are very big, so there is a little disappointment for those exporters who prefer higher MOQ. Our registration shows that the total buyer/buying house visitation was more than 400, which is not a bad count and now we will try and see how we can get larger buyers. We are a growing fair and the effect of the down sentiments at the international level seems very evident here.”
