As curtains fell on the 40th India International Garment Fair (IIGF), it also marked the last edition of the fair at the center of New Delhi, Pragati Maidan. From the July Edition onwards the IIGF would take place at the international level Apparel House Complex in Gurgaon with its 250 permanent showrooms and wide open exhibition space to accommodate many more.
The IIGF has truly acquired a global presence with buyers marking the event on their buying circuit year after year with good 60-65% buyers being regular visitors to the show. While these regular buyers form the mainstay of visitation, it is the composition of the new buyers that give indication of how international sourcing is moving for the country. Among the top directions this season were the increase in buyers who were earlier depending on China for outsourcing and influx of buyers from new markets like UAE and Korea.
The tone of the three-day event was set at the inauguration, which was short and very business like with the chief guest Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi, promising to support the industry with some schemes, the first of which she announced immediately in the form of a grant of Rs 30 lakh towards establishment of a training institution where the state government would take responsibility for free training of first 600 students, a small step but a step in the right direction according to the exporters who were present at the opening..
Other important visitors to the fair were MP Jagdish Tytler, Deputy CM of Jharkhand, Ambassador of Romania, Vasile Sofineti and the Minister of Trade High Commission of Pakistan, Fazal Abbas Maken. It was the first time ever that so many political dignitaries visited the fair to understand and lend support.
However, the real VIPs at the show were the over 300 buyers. Though the participation was lower than in the last edition with 270 exporters presenting their collections, the buyer turnout was better. “We have been participating for the last four editions and this is the first time that we got so many buyers that we did not have any time to go around the fair,” said Ravi Gupta of IIIE.
Added Nikhil Thukral, Maharana of India, “Besides meeting up with our regular customers we have received enquires from a number of new contacts, which we are hopeful will develop into good business for the coming seasons.” Haus Mod, which is primarily working in the EU, was thrilled to get an enquiry from Forever 21, a prominent US buyer for young fashion.
It cannot be overlooked that the contents of the fair have improved tremendously over the years.
The ‘Janpath’ style stalls were few and far apart, but then it also cannot be denied that a certain section of buyers come specifically looking for these offerings that are so distinctively Indian.
Yet, the overall look and feel of the fair is now more contemporary and western, though the buyers are still primarily boutique owners, small retailers and importers.
Big volume buyers and buying agencies continue to be the missing link at the fair.
“Most of the exhibitors at the IIGF prefer to work directly with the buyers and perhaps that is why the agencies get little value from the fair,” argued Tushar from Tushar Handworks, a regular at the fair.
It was obvious from the displays that the exhibitors are now concentrating on collections.
[bleft]The overall look and feel of the fair is now more contemporary and western, though the buyers are still primarily boutique owners, small retailers and importers. Big volume buyers and buying agencies continue to be the missing link at the fair.[/bleft]
“We are aware that unless there is something new every time, buyers will move on to other destinations and that has propelled most of us to work on our displays,” reasoned Alok Saraf of Saraf Gartex. “A lot of effort has gone into creating an organic range, which is currently a craze in the international market,” said Pradeep Kumar, Sara Apparels. Trend forecasts were the guiding factor for many.
“We have concentrated more on weaves and textures in our range in tune with international forecast instead of our core strength embroidery,” said Rakesh Sadh, Design Sangrah. “Buyers are looking for new concepts and styles and only those exporters who had something unique to offer could pull in the buyers at the fair,” averred Harpal Singh, Shri Durga Exports Inc, a first time participant in the fair.
An interesting outcome of the fair was the happy faces of buyers who accepted that they had found an attractive and value option to sourcing from China. “Currently only 10% of our sourcing is coming from India but with improvement in conditions governing sourcing in the country on one hand and rising cost of production in China on the other, we are looking to increase sourcing from India,” said Anthony Findlay, ‘please mum’, Canada.
Other buyers who are already sourcing a majority of their products from India re-asserted their faith in the country. “Tom Tailor is sourcing about 80% of their range from India and we are happy with both the quality and price points that manufacturers are offering,” said Mona Abd, Tom Tailor, Germany.
A significant number of new buyers from relatively unexplored markets also expressed their satisfaction and showed interest to buy from the country. “I did not expect so much of variety at the fair and am looking forward to placing orders in the country,” said Di Sacco Pierluigi, Olnapi, Italy. Also from Italy for the first time, Silvia and Adziaua were very impressed with the collections and placed some orders for embellished ladies’ wear.
With production in East Europe becoming expensive and buying power of consumers on the rise, India presents a good sourcing base for this region, “which is why we are here for the first time to see what are the opportunities,” said Yury Siparaau, who has a chain of stores in the region.
There were some buyers from the Middle East who were interested in the ethnic collections. “We have stores in UAE and are manufacturing in Jordan, but now with Indian manufacturers offering high-end quality products, it opens a whole new chapter in sourcing for us,” said Rajesh Sachdeva, SRG, UAE.
Buying office Devoir Merchandising dealing with buyers in the Middle East was also very happy to see the quality of work with the exporters. Loai Nassem. Lomar another buyer from the region was also busy searching for appropriate vendors.
With organisers, participants and buyers satisfied the fair closed on a positive note. The well-received fashion shows added colour and vibrancy to the event.
“We are happy at a job well done and look forward to the challenge of taking the fair to a new venue,” concluded Chairman AEPC Rakesh Vaid.
