California Apparel News

NEW YORK—Clear winter weather and a holiday opening day helped kick off Texworld USA with busy aisles and booths for the show’s Jan. 21–23 run at the Jacob K. Javits Center.

The show drew a handful of West Coast attendees, including Steve Barraza, founder of Los Angeles–based Tianello, who said he was at the show looking for silks and novelty knits.

“Novelty knits is really the driving force of my business at this point,” he said. “Five years ago, before the recession, we were 100 percent wovens, [but] wovens have really softened up and novelty knits are really hitting on all cylinders.”

Barraza said he typically sources novelty knits from South Korea but has started to find new knits at a good price from Taiwan as well as some knits from France.

With opening day falling on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, some Texworld exhibitors were pleasantly surprised by the turnout although some larger brands and retailers scheduled appointments later in the week.

The Burlington/ITG booth was steadily busy throughout opening day as the Greensboro, N.C.–based company showcased its made-in-America products for outdoor, athletic and travel apparel.

“Burlington is known as the suit guys, but we’ve got military jackets, shirtings in washable worsted crossed with Tencel for travel and lifestyle brands,” said Gary Kernaghan, executive vice president of global business development. “Burlington is thought of for the men’s market, but we want to get back into women’s.”

The company—which has facilities in the United States, Mexico and China—was showcasing some of its specialty products, such as Merino FX, a performance wool product first developed for military applications. Other performance products designed initially for military use include No Fly Zone, an insect-repellant fabric, and BioGuard, an antimicrobial fabric.

Burlington produces worsted wools in the United States and in Mexico and produces synthetics domestically and in China, Kernaghan said.

This was the first time in several seasons that Burlington was showing at Texworld. Kernaghan said the company was hoping to pique designers’ interest to visit Burlington’s New York showroom.

“The New York office is set up as an incubator for design,” he said.

Another busy booth was Ashford Mills, a Gardena, Calif.–based company that has been producing fabrics in Asia for 20 years.

After exhibiting for two years at Sourcing at MAGIC, the company decided to switch to Texworld for the first time this season.

“This has been a great show,” said company representative Anthony G. Mone. Although many of the people walking the show were “start-ups with big vision,” Mone said, they were well-informed and knowledgeable about the market.

“Everybody is talking about lead times and minimums,” he said.

Ashford started as a branded beach-towel maker but today also produces a range of knit fabrics from swim textiles to fleece.

The company works with large companies as well as smaller start-ups.

“Because we work with very big manufacturers, it affords us the ability to work with the smaller companies. Eighty percent of the walk-ins [at the show] are start-ups. Even though they’re small, they’re looking for price, production and commitment from manufacturers.”

At the Buhler Quality Yarns booth, larger brands and retailers booked appointments on the second day of the show. This season, the Georgia-based yarn spinner put the focus on its Modal yarns, emphasizing the benefits of using Modal yarns for production made in Peru or the CAFTA (Central America Free-Trade Agreement) countries.

“The duty-free benefit has become important for synthetic fibers like Modal,” said David Sasso, Buhler’s vice president of sales. “It’s ideal to manufacture nearby. You need speed to sell full price.”

Buhler was showing at the Lenzing Innovation Pavilion, organized by Austrian fiber maker Lenzing, which produces cellulosic fibers such as Tencel and Lenzing Modal. Tricia Carey, Lenzing’s merchandising manager, participated in a Texworld seminar focused on made-in-America opportunities. Lenzing produces fiber in Asia, Europe and in the United States, in a facility in Mobile, Ala.

Carey said Lenzing views itself as the raw-materials part of the made-in-America revival. Plus, there are benefits for companies that are producing offshore but in this hemisphere.

“We need to have that facility in Mobile because if you’re working in NAFTA [North America Free-Trade Agreement countries—the U.S., Mexico and Canada], CAFTA, they’re all yarn-forward.”

Returning exhibitor Tradegood, the international sourcing resource launched in 2012 by Intertek, partnered with Texworld this season to offer matchmaking opportunities for attendees looking to find partners at the show.

“If they don’t find what they want here, we’ll help them post-show,” said Anabela Fonseca, Tradegood’s director of business development for North America. “If they’re looking for a special factory or a specific country, we can help them through our database.”

Tradegood was also spreading the word about a new showroom opening on Feb. 16 in midtown Manhattan.

“All our factories are verified, and we can showcase members’ products at the showroom,” Fonseca said. They can see the quality and price range.”

For now, the showroom will show women’s products only, but the company hopes to expand to menswear and children’s apparel.

“It’s just a small sample of what we can supply,” Fonesca said. “We have almost 100,000 suppliers in the database.”

Vernon, Calif.–based Duo Digital Prints was at Texworld for the first time after hearing that many of its clients attend the show.

“We want to be here to extend our message about what we’re doing in LA, [creating] digital prints in-house,” Duo Sales Account Manager Morgan Jackson said.

The 2-year-old company produces digital prints on silk, polyester and cotton with low or no minimums depending on the fabrication.

This was also the first time at Texworld for Moda Team Italy Ltd., a newly formed association of five Italian accessories companies. Moda Team Italy includes embellishments such as beading, lace trim, leather, fur and cording from Ulisse; metal fasteners and buttons from J-Val; horn, bone, mother of pearl, glass and polyester buttons from Conti Weij; luxury zippers for apparel and accessories from Unzip;and labels, tickets and patches from Red Asia.

“We are a one-stop shop for accessories with everything from bags to evening dresses, day dresses to jeans,” said Moda Team Italy representative Gera Gallico. In addition to offices in Italy and New York, Moda Team Italy has offices in China, Istanbul and India.

“We sell to Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Prada, Balenciaga, all the way to Forever 21, H&M and Victoria’s Secret. We have accessories at every level of the market.”

Another new exhibitor showing at Texworld’s sister show, Apparel Sourcing, which runs alongside Texworld, was Goucam, a Portuguese manufacturer of tailored garments for men and women.

The company has four factories and can produce up to 900 jackets and 500 pairs of pants per day, said Henrique Gandara, Goucam’s commercial director, who was exhibiting at Apparel Sourcing with the company’s New York agent, Walter Pogliani.

“We produce for bigger brands like Massimo Dutti and Carolina Herrera,” Gandara said.