Kingpins Show: Mumbai the next possible destination

After a successful debut in Delhi last April, the second Kingpins denim show held in Bangalore recently saw big names from the Indian denim industry under one roof. The invitation-only, boutique denim supply chain show was sponsored by Invista

featured a highly-edited selection of vendors, select international denim mills, trim suppliers, fiber makers and denim makers showcasing their innovations and products. The exhibitors included top denim producers and players in supply chain from across the world like Arvind, Orta Anadolu,Raymond UCO Denim, LNJ Denim, Malwa Group, Suryalakshmi Cotton Mills, KG Denim, Bhaskar Denims, Certified Fibermax Cotton, Group Ashima, Invista,Union Knopf, Copen United, BluConnection and SF Dyes to name a few.

Delighted with the success of first Kingpins show in Bangalore, Andrew Olah, the brain behind the Kingpins Show and CEO of Olah Inc said, “The seven-year-old show that kicked off like a party event showcasing denim collections free of cost has now become a fully commercial enterprise. We hold shows in New York, Los Angles, Shanghai and Hong Kong and debuted in India last April. The response in New Delhi was way beyond what we had expected. We have never had such a good response in any first time event. It encouraged us to enter Bangalore with the second edition. Though the event is not as huge as we hold in New York, the exhibitors are happy with the trade enquiries.”

Kingpins Show will also take place in Bangladesh next year since it has a huge production zone. “We are going to hold our first show in Bangladesh in November 2012. We are going to create a Bangladesh TV network simultaneously running on the web. And will screen videos of the jeans and cotton business. Viewers get to see the live denim videos online,” Olah adds.

The DNA of the show is that the participants are experts from the denim field, whether it’s Arvind, or Orta from Turkey. The motto is to create a reliable platform for denim industry professionals. Explains Olah, “I don’t expect the fairs to be booking places. I expect it to be places where people meet, connect, hear new ideas, make new relationships or deepen the existing ones. This is a platform for them to explore opportunities.”

Next year, the organizers plan to introduce numerous changes in the show. They have created an application called the denim survival guide on the history of jeans and its up and running on the company website. “Many vendors here want to be at our other shows and we will try to incorporate them where we can. Limitation of space is an issue. The next Kingpins show in India would visit a new destination, may be Mumbai. We plan to do two shows a year in India and two shows a year in Dhaka,” Olah concludes on a positive note.