Material World's Promise Cut Short
MIAMI BEACH, Fla.—A favorable start for the second annual Material World textile trade show in Miami Beach was halted with the news of terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11.
Approximately 1,100 attendees turned out on Sept. 10, the opening day of the three-day show. Organizers said they were pleased with the “quality and number” of visitors on the first day and had “great expectations” for the second day.
“Yesterday many people said they were happy with the investment we’ve made in the show,” said Tim von Gal, executive vice president of Marietta, Ga.-based Urban Expositions, organizer of the show. Many exhibitors and attendees said they planned to make the show “mandatory” to attend, according to von Gal.
“We couldn’t ask for anything more,” he added.
Urban Expositions also announced it had finalized the dates for next fall’s Material World. The show will be held in Miami Beach Oct. 7–9, 2002, a date that “doesn’t appear to conflict” with other trade shows, von Gal said. Organizers are also exploring the possibility of adding another show in spring 2002 in Miami Beach, he added. Urban Expositions has asked the Miami Beach Convention Center to hold March 20–22 open as a possible date while it surveys members of the industry and investigates whether other shows are already scheduled for those dates.
“We haven’t run any traps to see if there are conflicts,” von Gal said, noting that nothing will be determined until Urban Expositions ascertains that there are “strong industry requests” for the show and that the March dates are “free and clear.”
Word on the show floor regarding the success of this year’s event was mixed.
“Yesterday morning was busy,” said Kevin Reardon, who was working the Burlington Casualwear booth as part of DuPont Lycra’s pavilion. “If you use yesterday as a barometer, it was about the same [level of traffic] as last year.”
The opening day was good and the second day was expected to be even better, according to Pearl Ann Marco of New York-based de Marco California Fabrics.
“In spite of everything, we did have people coming in,” Marco said.
People were “numb” after hearing news of the tragedy in New York and Washington, D.C., on the second day of the show, Marco said. Also, she noted that people typically plan to attend trade shows on the second day and many people who planned to travel on Sept. 11 were unable to get to the show because of the closures of the nation’s airports.
“That whole element that was traveling here did not arrive,” she said.
First-time exhibitor Michael Shapiro of Beverly Hills, Calif.-based D&N Textiles said Miami Beach is a “great place to go to do business” but that he was “disappointed” with the show overall—particularly in comparison to the International Fashion Fabric Exhibition (IFFE) in New York and the Los Angeles International Textile Show.
“My prices are high but that’s never stopped me from having successful shows at IFFE and L.A.,” he said. “At those shows, I would have 124 to 250 pieces of paper. Here, I’ll have maybe 30.”
Shapiro noted that he already has accounts in Florida, many of whom he met at IFFE and in Los Angeles. But many of the companies he was meeting at Material World were small manufacturers. He said it is important to cultivate new business in difficult economic times but added that other textile shows were more important to his business. “I would never miss an L.A. or New York show—there’s too much action,” Shapiro said.
Returning exhibitor Bernie Gardner of Los Angeles-based Impala Industries described the first day of the show as “great,” although he noted that traffic seemed slower than last year.
“I got some immediate business [yesterday],” he said on Sept. 11. “Today everyone has been walking around in shock.”
