From the Sector

Reflecting the enthusiasm of China’s home textiles market, the 2017 Spring Edition of Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles wrapped up last month with strong increases across the board. This year, the fair hosted 204 exhibitors (2016: 182) from eight countries and regions and attracted 18,596 trade buyers (2016: over 12,080) travelling from 69 countries and regions to source, a 12% and 53% increase respectively. Most exhibitors were offering finished products such as bedding, duvets, pillows and towelling, in-line with the Spring Edition’s focus on these during the peak domestic sourcing season for such products.

Ms Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd commented: “We are pleased with the big increase in visitors attending this year, and believe the fair is now firmly established in the domestic industry’s calendar as a key sourcing event at the beginning of the year following its return last year after a break. The timing of the fair within the domestic sourcing season for finished products as well as the four concurrent textile shows also played a part in this increase, but we are most pleased that this growth has led to satisfactory results for the majority of our domestic and international exhibitors this edition.”

Any uncertainty about the state of the global apparel fabrics and accessories industry in the coming year was widely dispelled at last month’s Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Spring Edition, with many exhibitors reporting strong increases in the number of contacts and enquiries they received compared to last year. While the visitor number was up slightly on last year – 71,450 from 103 countries and regions attended (2016: 71,163 from 100 countries and regions) – what was clearly evident in the feedback from exhibitors was that the quality of buyers sourcing at the fair continues to increase. Many exhibitors also commented that they received a healthy spread of buyers to their booths, both from China as well as from key markets in Asia and Europe, and that a satisfying proportion of these buyers were new potential customers.

Reflecting the fact that Intertextile Shanghai’s reputation as the industry’s leading event to conduct business each March & October has been steadily increasing over recent years, the exhibitor number grew by 5.9% this edition to 3,341 from 26 countries and regions (2016: 3,155 from 27 countries and regions). New exhibitor countries included Denmark, Malaysia and Poland. The top 10 visitor countries and regions, excluding Mainland China, were Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, the US, Taiwan, India, Russia, Turkey, Indonesia and the UK.