"Cynosure of textile world the larest ever Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Spring Edition opened today. This joined by four other international textile fairs create the industry’s biggest spring/summer gathering for the entire supply chain. For Intertextile Shanghai alone, a total of 3,386 exhibitors from 22 countries and regions will feature this year."

Cynosure of textile world the larest ever Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Spring Edition opened today. This joined by four other international textile fairs create the industry’s biggest spring/summer gathering for the entire supply chain. For Intertextile Shanghai alone, a total of 3,386 exhibitors from 22 countries and regions will feature this year.

More than 70,000 trade buyers from 100-plus countries and regions are at the fair and will have at their fingertips everything from fabrics for women’s wear, menswear, suiting, shirting, lingerie and swimwear to high-end wool fabrics, original pattern designs, functional and performance fabrics, sustainability products & services, digital printing technologies, garment & fashion accessories and more. As the global textile industry’s most comprehensive sourcing summit for spring/summer season, Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics is the ideal place to find latest developments in product innovation and sustainability. This is especially true in the fair’s Beyond Denim zone, which this edition will feature over 110 exhibitors from China, Japan, Pakistan, Turkey and elsewhere.

“This is the ninth consecutive year of expansion in the exhibitor number for the Spring Edition, which has increased a remarkable 130 per cent in the four years since it moved to Shanghai. The next three days will once again show why Intertextile Shanghai, with its unrivalled number of quality suppliers and buyers together in one place, is the key sourcing destination for the industry’s order writers. With not only the full fabrics and accessories product spectrum on display, but across all price and quality points too, the fair is the most efficient and effective way to discover new suppliers and make purchasing decisions,” said Ms Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK).

The Highlights

Top domestic bedding & towelling brands including A-Fontane, Cotton Field Home, Loftex China, Mercury Home Textiles and Violet Home Textile are here looking for potential franchisees and agents. Some of the well-known international players like Cotton USA and Asahi Kasei will also present their up-to-date products and technologies at the fair. OEMs from the regions of Tongzhou, Haimen, Zhenze, Pujiang, Huzhou, Tongxiang Zhouquan and Gaoyang will showcase their specialty products ranging from bedding, silk products, silk quilts, towelling to quilts and more. Machinery Equipment Zone will be cooperating with China Sewing Machinery Association for the first time to feature the Sewing Equipment Pavilion. In addition, some of the most advanced and efficient textile solutions such as automated production lines, smart logistic systems and computerised embroidery machines are also available. Fringe programme will feature comprehensive forums discussing topics including ongoing market trend, latest technology application and more.

Pathbreaking sessions

More than 35 seminars are scheduled throughout the three-day fair, with many under the Design & Trends category focused on S/S 19, and even A/W 19-20, trends. These include fabric, colour, accessories, women’s wear, viscose and other trends, and are conducted by industry experts such as WGSN, NellyRodi, Peclers Paris, Pantone, Promostyl, Italtex and Doneger Creative Services. Other categories include market information & business strategies, technology & solutions and sustainability issues. The latter also features presentations from many of the industry’s most trusted players, including Testex, SGS and Hohenstein.

Even more insight can be garnered from a number of panel discussions, held on the fair’s first two days. One of these is a must for anyone looking to understand retail environment of the denim and casualwear sectors. Titled ‘Denim’s next move – new opportunities to keep growing sales of jeans and casualwear at retail’, the panel will discuss what consumers really want in jeans and casualwear and share their companies’ latest innovations that will help brands and retailers drive sales and profits. Supported by Invista, the panel is moderated by Jane Singer of Inside Fashion, and includes panellists from Invista, Prospeirty Textile, Advance Denim, Guangzhou Conshing Clothing and Texhong. Two other panel discussions include ‘Application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Textile Industry’ and ‘Sustainable Textile Products & Their Manufacturing in Bangladesh’.

Revamped Fast Fashion & Digital Printing Forum

To be held on Day 2 of the fair, the Fast Fashion and Digital Printing Application Forum features a full day of informative seminars. The forum will commence with a presentation on the findings of a six-month study conducted by Fashion Print, a Chinese publication, for which they visited hundreds of textile companies, printing and dyeing enterprises, as well as their suppliers to produce a research paper on the digital textile printing market and technology. This is followed by sessions on fast fashion technology and trends, and in the afternoon on digital printing applications. Rounding out the day will be a series of discussions on topics such as flexible supply chains, business opportunities created by digital printing and IP protection.

Developed by renowned trend experts from Tokyo, New York, Milan and Paris, the Intertextile Directions Trend Forum will present three trends for Spring / Summer 2019 under the overall theme ‘Dialogue’: @ sense, # couture and e. native. Exhibitors’ fabrics will illustrate the colour, fabric and print styles of each trend. The lead designer for this Trend Forum is Doneger Creative Services (DCS) in New York. Mr Kai Chow, a Director at DCS, will host tours at the forum explaining the latest in design trends through fabric displays and seasonal trend stories.

In addition to Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics, four other textile fairs also take place at the National Exhibition and Convention Center: Yarn Expo Spring, Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles – Spring Edition, fashion garment fair Chic and knitting fair PH Value. Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Spring Edition 2018 is co-organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd; the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Textile Information Centre.