Attendance Up at GlobalTex
Now in its fourth season, the GlobalTex textile trade show returned to the Los Angeles Convention Center with a tightly edited mix of international textile resources, factories, trend forecasters and technology companies.
Although past GlobalTex shows drew steady but not robust traffic, the Sept. 28–30 show started off strong, with attendance up 50 percent on opening day alone, according to exhibitors.
For Phil Fox, owner of Los Angeles–based Fox Fabrics, the strong start was the result of persistent outreach prior to the show. Fox’s booth, which was showcasing primarily Italian fabrics, was standing room only in the first hours of the show.
“So far, I’m very pleased. And it’s not even noon!” Fox said on the first day of the show. “I heavily promoted it this time—and I got RSVPs. We wanted to make sure we got off to a good start.”
By the last day, Fox said the business in his booth surpassed the two previous shows combined. “It ended up being a really good show,” he said.
Among the designers and labels at the show were Volcom, Jenni Kane, David Meister, Robert Rodriguez, Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent, Joe’s Jeans, 7 For All Mankind, Kill City, Tianello, Agave, Hudson, Bebe, St. John, Guess, Karen Kane, L.L. Bean, Chico’s, Trina Turk, ABS, Rock & Republic, True Religion, Danang, Tilly’s, 3 Dots, Lauren Conrad and Forever 21.
“The show attracted the wannabes, but the big guys came, too,” said Jim Lorber, with Twin Dragon Marketing Inc., a new exhibitor and anchor of GlobalTex’s denim section.
Lorber said the show gave him a chance to explain the new partnership between Twin Dragon and Blue River, which allows manufacturers to source denim production from mill to washhouse in either China or Mexico.
“To work with a denim mill and a premiere laundry house, it saves time and money and you can do development here,” said Lorber, who works out of the company’s studio in Gardena, Calif.
The company is also partnering with cut-and-sew facilities in China and Mexico in order to offer full-package production.
This season, GlobalTex ran concurrently with the Los Angeles International Textile Show, and the new schedule received good reviews from both exhibitors and attendees. In the past, the two shows ran several weeks apart, and not many attendees were able to attend both shows.
That was the case for Jeff Shafer, owner and designer of Agave denim. The company maintains a showroom Los Angeles, but Shafer works out of the company’s Vancouver, Wash., offices. This season, he and his wife, Lauren, flew in early on Sept. 28 to attend both shows in one day.
Shafer said he has attended GlobalTex in the past but skipped last season in favor of the L.A. Textile Show. Shafer’s first stop at GlobalTex was the Design Knit booth. “This time, all my people are here at GlobalTex,” he said, adding that he planned to drop by the L.A. Textile Show before heading back to Vancouver that evening.
(For coverage of the L.A. Textile Show, click here.)
Design Knit opted to show at both GlobalTex and the L.A. Textile Show.
“We’re always at both shows, they’ve just never been in the same week,” said Design Knit’s Pat Tabassi. “We just split up the staff.”
Tabassi said it seemed that there was a bit more optimism this season. “We’ve been very busy,” she said. “We try to keep them inspired by coming up with new product.” Among Design Knit’s new items were more textured knits, two-tone fabrications and lightweight sweater knits.
For high-end French lace supplier Solstiss, the show’s traffic seemed to be concentrated between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m each day.
Executive Vice President Sandrine Bernard said West Coast rep Jane Burge said they saw a surprising number of costume designers this seasons but no bridal designers and no buyers from Canada or Florida. But Bernard said she was nonetheless pleased with the caliber of attendee.
“People seemed more professional,” she said.
New exhibitor Damon Gomez decided to join the lineup at GlobalTex at the last minute.
“I found out on Friday,” he said. Formerly with sublimation house Avid Ink, Gomez is now the president of American Design Innovations, which he founded about six months ago in El Monte, Calif. The company provides garment dye, screen printing and sublimation printing, as well as design consulting services.
Gomez said he was pleased with the turnout.
“We had a lot of foot traffic,” he said. “[And] the quality of the customer is good.”
