Guatemala's Apparel Sourcing Show Takes the Early-Bird Approach
For the first time in recent memory, the Apparel Sourcing Show in Guatemala City, Guatemala, will be held in April instead of May.
Normally, the show is held the second week of May. It had been tentatively scheduled for May 8–10, but the organizers changed the dates to April 17–19 to avoid conflicting with Material World, another apparel sourcing show scheduled for May 8–10 in Miami Beach, Fla. Material World will be held in conjunction with SPESA Expo 2007, held by the Sewn Products Equipment & Suppliers of the Americas.
“The organizers thought it would be better to shift the dates rather than have a potential conflict that would hurt attendance,” said Julia Hughes, president of International Development Systems, a Washington, D.C., firm that helps organize the apparel show with Vestex, the Guatemalan trade group behind the Apparel Sourcing Show.
The show is a convergence of Central America’s top apparel and textile factories and U.S. manufacturers looking for Latin American companies to produce their clothing lines.
Last year’s Apparel Sourcing Show attracted 4,500 attendees from more than 20 countries and had 178 exhibitors, including Los Angeles firms such as Twin Dragon Marketing Inc., Antex Knitting Mills and Swisstex California Inc.
The focus of this year’s show will be on the Central American Free Trade Agreement’s first year of operation after four of the six Central American signatory countries signed the agreement in 2006. There will be seminars, matchmaking events and an exhibition floor.
For more information, go to www.apparelexpo.com. —Deborah Belgum
