Conceived as a business hub for Indian garment exporters, the Apparel House in Gurgaon has not been able to attract the footfalls envisaged with many of the initial allottees opting out, leaving many showrooms empty. It is sad that many buying offices do not even know of the beautiful international level facility and when the Apparel House Association, the AEPC and Apparel Online joined hands to promote the three-day Buyer Seller Meet under the Ministry of Textiles sponsored market days scheme recently, the venue saw over 50 buyers/buying offices visiting the event for the first time since the opening of Apparel House. The only other time the venue was abuzz with activity was when Rakesh Vaid, the then Chairman of AEPC, had shifted the IIGF to the venue for two consecutive seasons a few years ago.
The event saw 63 showrooms, 32 invited participants and 29 showroom owners with many diverse products display their latest collections. The range of products was indeed wide covering, casual fashion, high fashion ladies wear, kids’ apparel, leather garments, workwear, scarves, artificial jewellery and garment trims and accessories. While the exporters were happy to meet many international buyers and representatives of buying offices, the buyers were surprised at the quality of displays. Though some buyers did comment on the need to have more participants, most of them did find some interesting factories for follow-up.
A special attraction at the fair was the fashion forecast installation on the nautical theme by the Fashion Forward Trends Team, which attracted heavy footfall. Both exporters and buying offices took time out to study the display and interact with the team. Dr Darlie O Koshy, Director, Institute of Apparel Management (IAM) also visited the installation with his team and appreciated the effort to educate the industry on the importance of fashion forecasting.
EXHIBITORS SAY…
“We are extremely happy at the response and though we have been actively involved in all the market weeks organized at the Apparel House, this has been the best show so far and we are really thankful to Apparel Online for supporting the event and giving the Apparel House a much needed thrust…” – Rajiv Kapoor, Affordable Exports
“It has been very fruitful to exhibit at the Apparel House Market days, we received many serious enquiries and the number of buyers/buying offices that visited the event was impressive considering that only a handful of exporters could make it to the event as many were in Japan and at the Tex-Trends…” – Lalit Bajaj Bhumika Exim
“Though not all the buyers who came to the event saw my collection of bags, but whoever did come in, were very relevant and many enquiries have been received for follow-up. Such events are a must to boost trade at this critical time…” – Dinesh Arora, Kohinoor Exports
“Earlier also we had market days, but only a few international visitors were seen and not many of them placed orders, but this time we saw many buying offices, which is a new trend and we look forward to associating with Apparel Online to make future events even bigger…”Ratnesh Malhotra, RNM International
“We received many enquiries and it was very worthwhile to have participated. Though the event was small, the right type of buyers came which made all the difference. We are very hopeful of converting these enquiries…” – Ritu Sachdeva, TT Ltd.
“It was disappointing that not all showroom owners opened their showroom, but the fact is that we have been very disillusioned over the years… But with this new joint effort, I feel that the showroom owners will definitely take more interest and in future shows I expect all 84 to display their collections…” – Sushil Aggarwal, Eves Fashion
“We met a lot of new buyers and even reconnected with some old buyers… I am thankful to Apparel Online for presenting this opportunity. With many buyers interested in fashion accessories, our scarf range was very well received…” – Arun Sadh, Krishna Art
“We will definitely like to be a part of the next show as we are confident that the event will pick up now that so many buyers are aware of the event and Apparel Online is supporting the show…” – Vishal Romesh, Ganga Stitch Design
“I want to thank the AEPC and Apparel Online for joining hands to make this BSM successful. Many of the buyers commented that because the fair was small they were able to spend time with various vendors and understand their product which they are unable to do at bigger events….” – Rajiv Arora, Arun Electronics
BUYER’S FEEDBACK
“I am visiting the complex for the first time and am very impressed with the facilities, more shows should be organized here… it is the right setting to conduct business. I was looking for ladies tops and found some good products with a few of the vendors…” – Manish Jain, Delta Sourcing, Buying Agent
“The participants should have been kept on two or three floors. By spreading out the exhibitors over all the floors, it became too scattered as many showrooms were not open and that created a bad impression. But there were many interesting vendors and it was definitely worth coming…” – Devinder Singh, Charles Vogele , Liaison Office
“We came looking for infant wear and found a few good vendors, but I have also collected profiles of some other exporters in workwear and leather to share with my other divisions. It is good to have such meets as it gives us an opportunity to meet new vendors…” – Gurmeet Kaur, William-e-Connor, Liaison Office
“We have 40 shops in UAE and other Gulf countries and am looking for products in ladies and kids wear. I found a few good vendors and one in particular from Jaipur was very interesting as his price points also matched my expectations. I hope to be able to do business with them in the future…” – Ahmed Dilshad, Anotah, Kuwait
“Many of the showrooms had interesting collections and I actually placed orders with some. But I want to request the exhibitors to have people manning the displays who can answer all our queries. At many of the stalls, though we liked the collections we could not talk business as there was no one to negotiate with…” – Peter Khiantani, Kiss n Tell, USA
“What I liked best was the ability to see many options under one roof. Since I wanted customized 7 pack sets in undergarments, I was able to coordinate with TT Ltd. and Arun Electronics, which has packaging options to work out a costing without wasting any time…” – Subodh Bulgani, Brice Precision, Buying Office
“Definitely a good effort and would love to have seen more number of participants… but I am happy to have identified some interesting factories. More such events should the organized for vendor development…” – Venu Kapoor, Li & Fung, Delhi Office
“I came because the team from Apparel Online was constantly sending me invites and reminders and I felt it was important to have a look. Though I would have liked to see more vendors, those who have participated are good at their work and I was able to connect with some interesting factories…” – Sujatha, SGSR Group, Buying Office
“I was at the Tex-Trends fair and heard about this BSM, so I stayed back for a day to visit this event. The displays are very good and the product variety is also wide. But I feel the fair should not be clubbed with a bigger fair as many buyers get tired and decide to give a smaller event a skip. On the whole it was certainly a worthwhile visit… ” – Rajesh Bhai, 3D Export, Buying Office
