California Apparel News

The Los Angeles International Textile Show will open with exhibitors hoping for strong turnout following less than stellar showings at other recent national and international textile shows.

With the industry sobered by the events of Sept. 11, reps are preparing for requests for smaller orders and shorter lead times at the Oct. 22–24 show at the California Mart.

“I think this is the only important show to be at,” said Ann Davis, president of the Textile Association of Los Angeles (TALA). TALA and the Textile Dyers Association (TDA) are supporters of the textile show.

Davis said it is difficult to predict how many people will attend the show but added that she is anticipating “out-of-town attendance.”

“They do need to look at fresh fabric. This will be the show everyone can attend,” she said.

Davis, who is an independent representative for Eclat Textiles, said the show typically draws piece-goods buyers from Southern California, Canada and Southwestern states such as Texas, as well as some from Midwestern states and Hawaii.

The mood at the Oct. 15–17 run of the International Fashion Fabric Exhibition (IFFE) in New York was somber, according to Michael Shapiro, co-owner of Beverly Hills, Calif.-based importer D&N Textiles.The company, which sells imported novelty fabric from China, Taiwan and Korea, typically exhibits at the Los Angeles International Textile Show and IFFE.

Shapiro said he was seeing primarily local and regional designers and piece-goods buyers at the New York show.

“I’m not seeing anybody from the South, very little from the Midwest, very regional,” he said, adding that those aren’t typically strong regions for him.

“I think L.A. might be a little better this time because some people in those areas will go to L.A. this year instead of New York.”

The American turnout was low at Premiere Vision in Paris Oct. 1–4, according to show exhibitors. Organizers said the Paris show had one-third its normal U.S. attendance. Approximately 749 U.S. exhibitors attended the show, compared with 2,640 who visited the show in October 2000.

Francois Damide, U.S. president of French fabric company Solstiss, said he met with only one of his California accounts in Paris.

“For me as a quote-unquote American, I was [there] to greet the American customers, [who] weren’t there,” said the French-born but U.S.-based Damide. “It was a quiet show on the American side.”

Solstiss also exhibited at the Oct. 2–4 National Sewing Show in Las Vegas, but Damide said that the national crisis stemming from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks seemed to keep traffic away there as well.

Still, Damide said he has “good hope” for the Los Angeles show.

“People still have to work on Fall/Winter even though there is not that much excitement on putting together a new line,” he said. “You still need to create a line; you still need to buy goods.”

Staying Close to the Customer

Shapiro said that the national crisis and the downturn in the economy wouldn’t keep him from exhibiting at textile shows.

“The downturn of the garment business has been [going on since] before Sept. 11,” he said. “You must go out there and see customers. You must show new product.”

Trade shows help to bring in new customers, “especially in an era when customers are disappearing,” Shapiro said, adding that exhibiting at trade shows “gives you an indication of where your strength is in your line, which helps you manage your inventories.”

Damide echoed that sentiment, noting that the economic downturn has made it imperative to be “close to the customer.”

“If I have more opportunities to do other shows, I will,” he said. “At this point, you cannot really wait behind your desk for customers. You have to go to shows to find any opportunities to showcase your product.”

French and Italian Pavilions Planned

Organizers of the Los Angeles International Textile Show are also hoping for a strong turnout. The show is anticipating more than 360 domestic and international exhibitors, including the return of Texitalia, a group of Italian mills sponsored by the Italian Trade Commission, in the Fashion Theater and the addition of the French Pavilion on the 13th floor, a new open exhibition space in the Cal Mart.The French Pavilion is sponsored by a group of French mills, the French Trade Commission and Espace Textile, a French trade association. The pavilion debut will include nine textile firms that are new to the textile show.

The show will also feature trend presentations by Cotton Inc., Promostyl, ITBD Publications and Design Options/Report West.

Cotton Inc.’s presentation for Fall/Winter 02–03 will be held Oct. 22 at 4:30 p.m. Promostyl’s Fall/Winter 02–03 Influences, Color, Fabrics, Shapes and Active Sports Trends will be held Oct. 23 at 8:30 a.m. ITBD’s Intersections: Color, Mood/ Styling and Fabric Direction for Autumn/Winter 02–03 will be held Oct. 23 at 4:30 p.m. And Stepping Forward into Fall/Winter 2002, a presentation on colors and trends, including those for the teen, tween and lifestyle markets, by Design Options and Report West, will be held Oct. 24 at 8:30 a.m. All trend presentations will take place in Cal Mart suite C-686.