Business

Intex South Asia 2016 Concludes On A Triumphant Note

The 2nd edition of Intex South Asia – South Asia’s only international sourcing show concluded on a successful note which witnessed 2485 professional trade buyers from 18 countries and regions who visited the exhibition and interacted with more than 140 textile suppliers to source yarns, apparel fabric, denim fabric and clothing accessories from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, China, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Italy and South Africa.

The show was inaugurated by Arindam Bagchi, Acting Indian High Commissioner (Chief Guest) and Indira Malwatte, Chairperson & CEO, Sri Lanka Export Development Board (Guest of Honour) in the presence of top industry leaders, corporates, diplomats, government officials, heads of trade associations and media.

Intex South Asia is the first focused business platform in our region which is specifically designed to synergise the garmenting needs of international brands and retailers with the manufacturing strength of South Asia satisfying both exports and large domestic markets. Besides the ‘Trends Zone’ and ‘Denim World’, the highlights of the show was the interactive business forums held on 16th & 17th November alongside the exhibition with the theme “South Asia – Powering the global textile and garment industry”.

The business forums with distinguished speakers from Sri Lanka, India and United Kingdom came to share their views and discuss on business potential in our region and sustainability in the global apparel and textile industry.

Noel Priyatilake, Chairman of Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) shared valuable insights, knowledge and thought provoking ideas on the topic: Positioning Sri Lanka as a Hub of South Asia - Opportunities and Challenges for the textile and garment sector. Also, Intex South Asia hosted the first-ever exclusive presentation by the world renowned trends and forecasting agency, WGSN in Sri Lanka.

Kim Mannino, Head of WGSN Live, UK gave a detailed presentation on “Autumn-Winter 17/18 Season on Men & Women Fashion Trends and Forecast” to a full-house audience at the exhibition.

All major apparel exporters and international sourcing offices in Sri Lanka came in large numbers with their sourcing and design teams under various product/brand verticals to interact with suppliers and to find innovative products and designs for the next season. These included Brandix, MAS, Hiradamani, Omega Line, Timex Garments, Emjay International, MAST Far East, Vogue Tex, Hela Clothing, Lucky Industries, Marks & Spencer, Columbia Sportswear, Tesco Sourcing, Next Sourcing, George UK, Victoria’s Secret, Decathlon, Dewhirst, Asmara International, Li & Fung, William E. Conner’s & Associates, UVW Apparels, Comtex Global, Adeem Uniform, Wag Worthy and many more.

The show also attracted a number of international buyers to Intex South Asia - Inditex Asia (India), Marks & Spencer (Bangladesh), Liverpool (Mexico), The Uniform Exports (Canada), KIKADU (Germany), Korl Mayer (Germany), Tragart (Switzerland), Aswakov (Thailand), AGMS (Japan), SKANDA (Singapore), Frontex Fashion (Hong Kong), Tsar (Malaysia), CTA Apparel (India), Wildcraft (India), Lifestyle Department Stores (India), Orchestra Buying & Retail (India), S. Oliver (India), Maral Overseas (India), Mufti (India), Kariwala (India), Oriental Sourcing (Pakistan), to name a few.

Exhibitors in their testimonials were very forthcoming in their enthusiasm. Dam Kim, Kotra Colombo, Sri Lanka said, “We showcased 7 Korean textile companies’ products and generated many enquiries from domestic as well as international buyers at Intex South Asia. For next year, we would invite more companies from Korea to participate and promote their textile in this growing region.”

“It was a good organised show. We had buyers from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Middle-east and Africa that visited us and made enquiries at our booth. Overall we are happy with the ambience and services of the organisers of Intex South Asia,” said Wear it Group, India in a statement.

“We are glad to be associated with Intex South Asia since its launch in 2015. This unique platform gives us the opportunity to promote our textiles to new buyers and also meet our existing customers from South Asia here in Sri Lanka. Overall, we are happy with the quality of buyers that visited our booth,” said Peggy, PT Sinar Para Taruna, Indonesia.

Manigandan G of Shahi Exports, India’s leading export house said, “We really appreciate the hard work of Worldex India in organising such a great event. We met many suppliers in the fair which was very useful for our fabric sourcing and further new innovations. This event was very useful in enhancing our supplier base. From the shortlisted suppliers, we have invited some to our premises to show case their new products and gradually we are in the process of initiating business with them. The two seminars organised at the exhibition were very useful and informative. We have thoroughly enjoyed the Intex South Asia’s hospitality and service during our visit.”