CMAI’s National Garment Fair takes off on a positive note

The 57th edition of National Garment Fair (NGF), organised by CMAI commenced in Mumbai yesterday. Inaugurated by textile commissioner A B Joshi, this year, NGF has seen more than 50 percent growth in the number of participants

and a huge increase in footfalls. A sure indication that this edition of NGF, will be one of the biggest and best ever. And for CMAI, this is one of the best ways to celebrate its Golden Jubilee year.

While inaugurating the three day event, Joshi said a lot of developments have taken place in the textile industry since the launch of the last textile policy in year 2000. New sectors like technical textiles have emerged. So, the government has appointed National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) under the chairmanship of Ajay Shankar which will review the old textile policy and prepare a final report on National Fibre Policy by October 31, 2013. The first meeting of this committee will be taking place today.

57th edition of National Garment Fair saw a growth in participants

Joshi, Textile further added the removal of excise duty on branded readymade garments, has given a boost to the industry and it has started moving towards growth path once more. This largest garment fair will also improve the sentiment of the clothing and textile industry. Good monsoon will also increase the cotton production.

The first day of the fair, witnessed a huge opening, with a major increase in retailer footfalls. Well-known names in the business including brands, retailers, wholesalers, agents and distributors are a part of the fair. The USP of last two fairs, the business networking sessions are being continued this year as well. What’s more, CMAI has also revived the popular fashion shows, which were a hit at the earlier NGFs.

Rahul Mehta, President-CMAI says, “We are happy to see such a huge response. The fair is spread over around 3.75 lakh square foot and has 589 stalls displaying over 640 brands. We are expecting about 35,000 retailers from all across India. This year, due to the sheer size of the event we have divided the fair in three zones: women’s wear, kids’ wear and menswear. After a gap of three years, we have revived fashion shows at the fair. We look forward to good business and wish all the best to the participants.”

While the event has always been known for having a high number of menswear brands this year there has been an increase in the number of in kids’ brands. There is an umbrella pavilion for more than 20 top kids’ wear brands named it KFU (Kids Fashion United). The idea behind KFU was to drive buyers’ attention towards kids’ wear brands and help the industry grow. Ojas Nishar, Director, Sangam Dresses says, “We as brand custodians felt that we must unite and work towards building the market and help each other. So we formed KFU where each one of us can have good visibility and we can also help grow the kids wear market.”

Similarly, Sunil Nishar, from Kittens said, “In a three day fair we have observed that buyers sometimes are not able to see our products as they either get lost in the fair or don’t get time to visit each brand individually. That’s when we stumbled upon the idea of having all the kid’s wear brands under one umbrella. This way we all can service our clients better and also attract more buyers,”

The fair has also witnessed a huge participation from the women’s wear brands especially ethnic wear. The CMAI fair has always been known for its networking sessions and high conversion rates. “We have a huge number of brands participating while the footfall of retailers on the first day itself has been good we hope to do good business ahead for the coming season,” says, Rajesh Giani of Toffy House. With so many brands participating and a positive beginning the NGF looks forward to bring cheer for both retailers and brands. CMAI’s next NGF will be held from January 6 to 8, 2014 at Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon-Mumbai.