National Garment Fair – Focused to be a pure biz event

Preparations for the 55th National Garment Fair, to be held from July 9 to11, 2012 at the Bombay Exhibition Center are in full swing. Organisers, Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) are very optimistic with the kind of response

it is getting from exhibitors as well as visitors. Opines an ecstatic Rahul Mehta, President, CMAI, “It’s by far the biggest fair in the history of CMAI in terms of the size we have booked. It spans over 10,000 sq. mtr. In terms of the number of participants, we have crossed 425. Our strategy of making it purely a booking or business oriented fair is attracting mid and small-sized players, whose focus is mere business. We have moved away from the earlier concept of branding as a focal point since most of the national brands participated only to showcase their brands, because their bookings are already done before the fair.”

The fair will be inaugurated by Kiran Dhingra, Textiles Secretary, Ministry of Textiles. And immediately after the inauguration, there would be a top level interactive session between the Dhingra and industry stalwarts. “We have confirmations from Kishore Biyani, Govind Shrikhande, J Suresh, Ashish Dixit, Kewal Jain and Shreyas Joshi, among others. They will discuss the issues faced by the domestic industry,” explains Mehta.

The organisers have also decided not to have a fashion show during the fair, since the emphasis is given to creating networking opportunities for the participants and visitors. As Mehta opines, “We have three networking sessions, one with large format stores, one with MBOs and one with agents and distributors. We have invited leading members of all these segments to be with us at specified times, where a participant can introduce his company or products to them. Each session will be around two to three hours.”

Unlike earlier editions, which focused only on men’s wear, the forthcoming fair has a fairly good spread of women’s wear, children’s wear and accessories. The women’s wear segment would have players from all three categories -- western wear, ethnic wear and lingerie.

Looking forward to a positive autumn/winter season with festivals around the corner, Mehta believes there is a certain amount of positivity in the air. He recommends everyone should take a cautious approach while planning inventory or budgeting for sales and to be careful while increasing their EBOs. Citing the reasons, he says, “Most EBOs in India are still not economically viable due to the high rent and expenses. Last year we did see some kind of realism in mall rates. That is continuing. People should desist from aggressive expansion unless they have very deep pockets or are ready to take losses.”

While the year 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the organization, the next edition of National Garment Fair will be organised in January 2013. “Dates of the next fair are yet to be finalized. But since next year is the 50th anniversary of CMAI, 2013 will be a big year for us. We are planning activities like international conferences and seminars,” Mehta sums up on a buoyant note.