Sourcing Starts Strong
Sourcing at MAGIC, the fabric and sourcing show within the MAGIC Marketplace, opened a day earlier than MAGIC. For many exhibitors, opening day proved to be the busiest.
“Monday was unbelievable,” said April Booth, who represents Eclat Textiles. Her colleague Stefan Novak described the show as “a good post-recession MAGIC.”
Last season, Eclat’s booth was located at the entrance to the show. This season, the Taiwanese knit maker also had prime placement.“We’re right across from the matchmaking booth, and they’re sending people over here,” Booth said. “It’s always a good show for us. We’ve got a lot of new start-ups and well-established companies. It’s a nice mix.”
Eclat brought some new products to the show, including an indigo knit in three weights. The fabric can be stonewashed like denim but has the stretch needed for leggings and ultra-skinny jeans.
“It seems like business is turning around because my orders are bigger and more frequent,” Booth said.
Another returning exhibitor was Los Angeles–based fabric importer Fabric Avenue, which was showing its extensive collection of knits, wovens, yarn dyes, prints and solids from China.
“This is our third time at Sourcing,” said Fabric Avenue’s Samir Masri. “We get new contacts because I have inventory. I have 3 million yards of fabric in stock in Los Angeles, and we have no minimums. There are no small companies; we can service them all.”
Masri said the show looked bigger and traffic seemed stronger than in previous seasons.
New York—based sourcing resource Panjiva partnered with Sourcing at MAGIC organizers this season to create a custom database of sourcing resources at the show.
“There are 799 different suppliers in the database we created for the show,” said Lauren Gearhart, Panjiva account executive. “We had a lot of people come through. They’re using the search engine to help them find the right suppliers.”
Panjiva uses shipping data from customs to determine the “health” of an offshore factory, Gearhart explained. The company also recently added supplier-generated profiles—or SIPS—to provide more information about a factory. Companies can add corporate information, specifics about products or details about buyers.
Returning to the show for the second time was City of Industry, Calif.–based contemporary sweater maker Yuyu International Inc.“This time there are less people, but we got really good customers,” Yuyu Design Director Lili Juan said. Several visitors to the booth asked why Yuyu didn’t show its collection at MAGIC, Juan said. “Because we are a manufacturer, we cannot take on small quantities,” she explained, adding, “Next show, we’ll launch a brand for specialty stores.”
AGEXPORT, the Guatemalan Exporters’ Association, exhibited last season with three companies. This season, the organization brought six companies, which it showed in a Guatemalan pavilion.“You get more exposure as a country,” said AGEXPORT representative Irene Gonzales.Companies showing in the pavilion included Liztex, Monte Textil, Nylontex, Mackditex, Grupo Nina and Duracril.
“Monday was busy and Tuesday, too,” Gonzales said. “We saw some new companies and some that we already know, like Underarmor—and new good ones, like Lululemon, and national stores.” —Alison A. Nieder
