79th National Garment Fair generates business close to Rs 21 bn in four days
The fair featured more than 1300 apparel brands, showcasing their latest collections across an expansive 1 million square feet of exhibition space.
The 79th National Garment Fair (NGF) 2024, organised by the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI), concluded with unprecedented success, reaffirming its status as India’s largest apparel trade show. The event, held from 23 – 26 July 2024, brought over 39000+ buyers from across the country mainly retailers, distributors and wholesalers with an estimated business generated close to Rs 21 billion in four days. Additionally, it is estimated that business enquiries in the range of Rs 8 billion to Rs 10 billion are expected to fructify over the next 4-8 weeks.
The fair featured more than 1300 apparel brands, showcasing their latest collections across an expansive 1 million square feet of exhibition space. The fair was hosted across two venues: Men’s Wear, Women’s Wear, and Accessories at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon, and Kids Wear at the Jio Convention Centre, BKC.
Speaking about the performance of the domestic garment industry, Rajesh Masand, President of CMAI remarked, “The Fair has vividly illustrated the sector’s growth and transformative potential. This landmark edition has not only highlighted our industry’s resilience but also galvanised our collective ambition. As we look to the future, NGF reaffirms its role as a key enabler for the apparel industry, facilitating crucial connections between apparel brands and buyers.”
Rohit Munjal, Vice President and Chairman of the Fair Committee, CMAI, declared, “The record- breaking footfalls and remarkable business outcome at the 79th National Garment Fair are a testament to the apparel segments positive outlook. This year, 79th NGF has exceeded expectations by providing invaluable opportunities for business, networking, growth and collaboration. Prominent retailers and distributors from across the country and overseas were seen at the fair, expressing interest in regional brands as well. The ongoing success and growth of the fair is largely due to the steadfast support and engagement from both brands and retailers. Their consistent participation has played a crucial role in enhancing the fair’s influence and success.”
Expressing his delights, Anand Choksi, Joint Chairman of the Fair Committee, CMAIadded, “The Indian apparels industry is on a trajectory of stable growth, and CMAI is excited to be a key driver of this journey. The National Garment Fair has highlighted the industry’s readiness to seize emerging opportunities and set new benchmarks.”
Speaking about business outcome at the fair, the key representative of Manish Creation, Men’s Ethnic Wear from West Bengal, said,“Our brand, based in Kolkata, has been a prominent player in the manufacturing industry for the past 25 years and are well known across India. CMAI provides an excellent platform for expanding our dealer network. With the rising prominence of ethnic wear in the apparel industry, trade shows have become increasingly vital to showcase our innovation. It facilitates valuable interactions among buyers, sellers, dealers, and distributors, all under one roof. We anticipate a strong business performance this winter through March, leveraging these opportunities to their fullest.”
Ritik Sheth, PARV Design Studio, Men’s Ethnic Wear from Mumbai, said“We are grateful to CMAI for all of this success. We are a four-year-old company, and we’ve gained a lot of new clients as a result of this event. I really like how the set-up is and applaud the cooperation of CMAI; they’re very supportive, which is exactly what you want when you’re starting out.”
On the last day, Manoj Gupta, Krishan Kumar & Sons, Men’s Ethnic Wear from Delhi, said, “We are the oldest ethnic brand in India, having been in business for 32 years, and we have participated in numerous NGFs. We gain a lot from CMAI; we always acquire new clients, most of them are exporters; we already have domestic clients, but here we also obtain foreign clients, and the entries are excellent along with the conversion rates. This time around, there are more participants.”
Speaking about their prospects, Rohit Bhatia, JADEBERRY Men’s Wear brand from Indore, expressed, “It’s our third year at CMAI, and we’ve noticed that we’ve been getting a lot of inputs and queries from different parts of the states where we didn’t have a presence, but since coming to CMAI, we’ve closed a good number of distributors, dealers, and retailers, so overall it’s been a good response for our brand. The footfall is up from the previous year due to the upcoming festive season, so the total footfall, presence, and ambience are extremely excellent and intriguing.”
Another participant in Men’s Wear, Chirag Kewalramani, ZANAAB, Nagpur, mentioned,“First and foremost, I’d like to congratulate the entire CMAI team for organising such a fantastic event, because we not only received national but also international exposure; we received an order from a Florida retailer, and we are overjoyed that, despite being a regional player, we are still delivering it to the United States. We are quite pleased, and we extend our heartfelt gratitude to CMAI and NGF.”
Expressing joy, Mukesh Panjwani of Sky Clothing and Megha Dresses from Indore, specialising in Kids Wearexpressed, “We have received very amazing response at NGF. We have been with CMAI for the last 5 years, and whenever we come here, we always take something away from the experience. CMAI has provided all the facilities we need. On Day 1, we assumed business would be slow, but the fire started here from Day 1 itself.”
Barbie, TINY GIRL, Rootu Patelnor from Mumbaisaid, “We are associated with CMAI for a very long time and honestly all the exhibition’s that we have put up a stall has always been beneficial for us, we are a girls kid wear brand specially in western wear and honestly every time we come here we meet new people, we have new distributors and retailers who approach us. So every time we get associated with CMAI exhibitions, we have a new market exposure all together and we gain a lot of new clients as well, so its been amazing with CMAI.”
Women’s Wear participants were also elated by the footfalls and the business enquiries. Shaily Gupta of FLO & NOYA and Nikhar Collections from Jaipur, said, “The footfall is amazing and we would like to appreciate the clients who came in such a heavy rainfall shows their motivation and dedication.”
Nikita Moryani of Nian Fashion Women’s Wear from Surat, speaking about theirexperience at NGF said, “It’s been amazing like always, we get new clients and really good clients and we are looking forward to working with them every year. And I think this specific year at NGF there have been more footfall than usual.”
Recognised as the largest and highly anticipated Trade Fair in the Indian Apparel Industry, the National Garment Fair by CMAI serves as a vital platform for connecting National and Regional Brands, Manufacturers, Designers, and Fashion Accessories manufacturers with Retailers, Agents, Distributors, and E-commerce Companies. This biannual event holds significant prestige in the industry and is widely regarded as India’s foremost trade fair, offering a comprehensive sourcing platform that maximises both time and cost efficiency for all stakeholders involved.
