A record 971 exhibitors from 12 countries and regions (2017: 721), and 17,664 trade buyers from 35 countries and regions (2017: 15,608) took part in the Intertextile Pavilion Shenzhen, reflecting the strength of the Southern China fashion sector. The event has emerged as the industry’s platform of choice for suppliers to connect with leading brands. Shenzhen is fast establishing itself as China’s fashion capital – with some 1,000 fashion brands, 2,000 garment companies and 30,000 fashion designers based in the city.
This year saw participation by 35 per cent more exhibitors in the show, which also attracted 13 per cent more trade buyers. Some of the big domestic brands sourcing at the fair this year included Bosideng, Elegant Prosper, Heilan Group, Marisfrolg, Peacebird and Purcotton, while the fair’s strong exhibitor profile and Shenzhen’s location adjacent to Hong Kong attracted global fashion labels such as Debenhams, Evisu, Giorgio Armani, Givenchy, Ralph Lauren and Triumph to source at the fair.
China, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the UK were represented by exhibitors again at this year’s fair, while India, Indonesia, Thailand and Turkey were new faces in 2018. This year’s top 10 buyer countries and regions, excluding Mainland China, were Hong Kong, Taiwan, the US, Korea, India, Japan, Brazil, Australia, the UK and Macau.
“The reason we exhibit here is there are many young designers and small brands in Shenzhen that have high potential to become big in the near future. We’ve already met around 20 that we can work with that have a lot of potential. Our company has been in China for five years now, and we’ve seen a big improvement in the quality of buyers. This fair is effective for us to meet existing customers as well as new ones, and to increase our sales. We can find big opportunities to grow here,†Atsushi Yamazaki, President, Crystal Cloth, Japan, said.