Textile Enterprises Have Set Foot On The Exhibition Tour Outside Shanghai, And This Rush Has Not Only Received Orders

Li Jianguo is very happy this Spring Festival in the Lunar New Year of the Rabbit.

At the Frankfurt International Home and Commercial Textile Exhibition (hereinafter referred to as "Frankfurt Home Textile Exhibition") held in Germany in January this year, Li Jianguo, the general manager of the exhibitor Yantai North Home Textile Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "North Home Textile"), met the old customers of international famous brands who had been absent for three years. The customer was going to transfer the order to Southeast Asian countries. Because of this reunion, he decided to leave the order in northern home textile, and increased the order volume by 3% in 2023.

Domestic epidemic prevention and control policies were adjusted, and the Frankfurt International Home Textile Exhibition, the world's largest professional exhibition in the home textile field, and related fashion activities were held. Domestic textile industry entrepreneurs and designers have set foot on the journey of visiting Europe. On this trip, the textile staff not only visited old customers, contacted friends, displayed products and obtained the latest market trends, but also, more importantly, let foreign buyers see the resilience of China's textile supply chain and gain more firm confidence in the future.

　　 Overseas Exhibitors Seize Business Opportunities

Whoever actively embraces the market will be closer to the business opportunities.

At the beginning of each year, European textile professional exhibitions and fashion activities are most concentrated, while Frankfurt Home Textile Exhibition is usually the symbol of the opening of the European exhibition season in the new year. Domestic enterprises can't wait to rush to the forefront of the international market and return to offline trade negotiations, trend release and other fashion business activities.

"We signed up for the German Frankfurt Home Textile Exhibition in January this year very early. At that time, the company was determined to go to Frankfurt this time, no matter what difficulties it encountered." Li Jianguo said.

There are many Chinese enterprises with the same ideas as Li Jianguo. According to the statistics of Lankford Exhibition Co., Ltd., the organizer of the exhibition, this exhibition has attracted about 2400 exhibitors from more than 120 countries and regions. Among them, more than 400 Chinese enterprises participated in the exhibition, and textile enterprises from Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei, Guangdong and other places showed up with new products. Many Chinese enterprises participating in the exhibition expressed their hope to seize the business opportunities at home and abroad with the help of the exhibition platform.

In the fashion capital of Italy, Chinese brands shine. On January 16, Jinba men's clothing landed on the official agenda of Milan Fashion Week for the fourth time. In the Design Museum of Milan Triennial, Italy, Powerful Men's Wear, with its high-end series KB HONG, takes the theme of "Jade Ritual Quartet", integrates into the Chinese intangible cultural heritage "horsetail embroidery", and returns to the international vision in the form of offline catwalk. This is the first international show of Hong Boming, CEO and Creative Director of Jinba Men's Wear, after winning the "Golden Summit Award" for Chinese fashion design in September 2022.

In the past three years, Jinba Men's Wear has released online videos for two years, and will return to Milan offline show in 2023. Hong Boming said, "As we are about to usher in the Chinese Lunar New Year, we can already feel the surging vitality, everything is fresh and the future is foreseeable."

With the strong recovery of China's economy, the pace of Chinese brands going abroad is also accelerating. At the same time, the attention and recognition of Chinese design power on the world stage continues to rise. In order to better promote Chinese designers and their works to overseas markets and increase overseas consumers' understanding of Chinese brands, Shanghai Fashion Week designers' overseas promotion plan was restarted to help store energy for the beginning of the New Year.

In London, UK, the "Leihu Family Photo" studio, which symbolizes family reunion, made its debut in Harrods Department Store, a British "century old" luxury department store, on January 20, showing the exclusive Spring Festival limited series created by several Chinese designer brands, integrating family and country feelings into the fashion design for the celebration of the Spring Festival, Help Chinese aesthetics present on the world stage.

The New Year exclusive of M essential brand is a representative new Chinese jacquard suit, which shows the design aesthetics of the combination of oriental traditional culture and contemporary lifestyle. The handcrafted Sweaters of the Year of the Rabbit brought by the brand THE FLOCKS draw cute rabbit patterns on the red sweaters in the way of hand jacquard, bringing the atmosphere of the New Year of the Rabbit full. Nan Lang, the creative director of the brand THE FLOCKS, said that the handmade texture has always been the style that the brand pursues, and it carries the strong emotion of the brand. This special cooperation with Harold's Department Store on the theme of Spring Festival will enable more foreign friends to understand the Chinese Spring Festival and feel the happy moment of Chinese family reunion during the Spring Festival.

　　 Deep understanding of market trends

"Frankfurt International Home Textile Fair has a very high recognition in the industry, especially its professionalism and internationality. We have participated in the fair for many years since 2002. We decided to come when we learned that the fair was fully restored offline this year," said Li Jianguo. Facts have proved that this choice is very correct. On the first day of the exhibition, the visitors received by the booth were always high. "I met with about 40 old customers and also about 40 new customers. Everyone is full of expectations and enthusiasm. It's really a long time since I met you!"

Yantai Mingyuan Creative Life Technology Co., Ltd. has participated in the Frankfurt Home Textile Exhibition for more than ten years in a row, and the booth has always remained in the old position, and the old customers have become familiar with the way. The company's exhibitors said that the effect of the first exhibition after the epidemic was very ideal, even better than before the epidemic. The company has made a lot of preparations for this exhibition and brought many new products to customers. There are more than 10 attendants in the exhibition team, and the staff is still not enough. The company invited major customers from France, Italy, Spain, Morocco, the United States, Canada and other countries to come and chat with them face to face and exchange a lot of unique market information.

The core theme of this exhibition is sustainable development. Detlev Braun, executive director of Lankford Exhibition Company, the organizer of the exhibition, said that by demonstrating the innovative trend of sustainable products and green development of the industry, he would spread the concept of environmental protection in the industry and promote the development of the global home textile industry.

At the exhibition, many domestic exhibitors also used the exhibition platform to show green development achievements and new products. Jiangyin Hongliu Group participated in the exhibition with hundreds of special products, such as new green and environment-friendly ecological textile products, waterproof shower curtains and blackout curtains. Lu Jun, the Group's sales manager, said that the Group was optimistic about the huge market opportunities brought by sustainable development.

Nanjing Hailingmeng Home Furnishings Co., Ltd. prepared many new products including sustainable green products for this exhibition. Enterprises started earlier in the green product line, which also makes them more competitive in the market. The company said that it has received a lot of latest market information during the offline exhibition, and will adjust production flexibly according to market demand later.

　　 "The textile industry has been pursuing the concept of sustainable development for many years, and this year's exhibition has put more emphasis on the extension of the concept of sustainable development. For manufacturers, they will pay more attention to the renewable, sustainable and environmentally friendly characteristics of their products. We will promote sustainable development from the selection of sustainable natural fiber raw materials, optimization of production processes and other aspects, and increase the percentage of green products in product sales Than. For retailers, they will also pay more attention to the sustainability of products when purchasing, because consumers' recognition of green and sustainable products is increasing. " Li Jianguo told China Textile News, "We also noticed that the number of visitors to the exhibition this year is less than that in previous years, and the number of exhibitors from Turkey, India, Pakistan and other textile producing countries has increased significantly, which also puts pressure on our future market competition. We must make more efforts for future market competition."

　　 Fully enhance professional advantages

Returning to the offline exhibition and face-to-face communication with customers, many textile enterprises have gained not only orders and confidence, but also confidence in the development of China's textile industry for overseas buyers.

Inflation has a negative impact on the purchasing power of the international consumer market. Retailers' inventories are high, and market orders declined in the second half of last year, resulting in a bleak situation that has not been seen for many years. "Due to the weak promotion of consumption and terminal retail, the overall market procurement is insufficient, and the production end of products is not too saturated. At this exhibition, 80% - 90% of the company's cooperative customers from Europe, the United States and Australia came, and the number of customers received increased, which has improved the confidence of our cooperation in the new year." Li Jianguo said.

Haining Qianbaihui Weaving Co., Ltd. has participated in the exhibition since 2015, mainly engaged in overall household soft decoration. Based on market analysis, the company gradually adjusted its business strategy and paid more attention to improving the competitiveness of its products. "This year, we will compete with European enterprises to grab orders! This exhibition has achieved very good results, received many new and old customers with purchase needs, and explored the market potential of products. We are confident about the future!" said the enterprise exhibitors.

Haining Zhida Fabric Weaving Co., Ltd. has also achieved satisfactory results. Not only many old customers have come, but also many new customers are interested in the company's products. The new products at the exhibition have made great efforts in fabric color, feel and pattern design, and their functions such as antifouling and waterproof have also been improved, which can provide customers with more choices. The factory can also provide accurate and small batch customization according to customer needs, which becomes an advantage in the competitive market.

Ten enterprises from Changxing County, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, such as Shengfa, Xingying, Yongxin and Dingqiang, collectively "went to sea" to participate in the exhibition, which is also the first offline physical exhibition that Changxing enterprises have participated in since the epidemic, demonstrating their confidence in embracing the international market. Exhibitors have expressed that they have gained a lot from this trip and seized more opportunities for exchange and cooperation with overseas customers by virtue of their own advantages.

Xu Yafang, general manager of Changxing Yongxin Textile Printing and Dyeing Co., Ltd., said that the company has adjusted its production proportion, including updating machinery and equipment, in view of the preference of the European market for white high-end environment-friendly fabrics. On the first day of the exhibition, 6 enterprises with cooperation intention and more than 10 batches of inquiry customers were gathered in the enterprise booth.

Changxing Dingqiang Textile Co., Ltd. has participated in the exhibition for many times. Cao Ye Yumeng, the enterprise "creating the second generation", said that the company has been working hard on the overseas market. This time, she brought new products to the exhibition, which not only consolidated many old customers, but also gained some new customers, and boosted the confidence of the enterprise.

In the face of fierce market competition, Li Jianguo believes that China's textile industry chain has an incomparable advantage in the world and can not be replaced up to now. "China's textile industry chain is complete, mature and highly efficient. Buyers can find any product they want in China without worrying about the accuracy of production and delivery cycle. Chinese enterprises should unswervingly" go out ", have a deep understanding and more sensitive perception of the changes in the market, give play to professional advantages to resist the uncertainty of the market, and go steady and far 。” He said.

(Source: Xi Ping, author of China Textile News)