SERIOUS BUSINESS: Despite a schedule shift that put a dent in traffic, several LA Textile Show exhibitors reported a good turnout from focused, serious buyers.

SERIOUS BUSINESS: Despite a schedule shift that put a dent in traffic, several LA Textile Show exhibitors reported a good turnout from focused, serious buyers.

TIMING

Focused Buyers at LA Textile Show, Despite Shift in Schedule

A jam-packed calendar pushed the dates of the Los Angeles International Textile Show up a month earlier, putting the show immediately after the Las Vegas trade shows and concurrent with Coterie in New York.

Despite the unfortunate timing, exhibitors reported a turnout from buyers who were on the hunt for very specific items.

“The timing is not very good,” said Sandrine Bernard, executive vice president for Solstiss USA, the U.S. division of French lace mill Solstiss, who said in addition to her cotemporary customers who were in New York at Coterie, her lingerie customers were also in New York for Curve NY and some of her designer customers were in Paris for market.

Bernard and her colleague Jane Burge said many of the people they saw at the Los Angeles show were start-up companies.

“We saw a couple very serious new people,” Burge said. “We got more actual, concrete orders in the last couple of days—which is unusual.”

Nori Hill, design director for Long Beach, Calif.–based Texollini, said she always meets new companies at the show, but she also noticed a difference this season.

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ECO CHIC: Lyon, France–based organic-cotton scarf resource Létol was one of the new lines at the LA Textile Show.

“The people I’ve been working with have been more focused,” she said. “Instead of pulling 35 fabrics, they’re focusing on one or two.”

Still, the turnout included several well-known designers and brands, including Karen Kane, Black Halo, Bebe, Horny Toad, American Apparel, 7 For All Mankind, ABS,Bailey 44, Joie, Bedhead, Stronghold and Claire Pettibone.

Raw Earth Wild Sky designers Karen Kananen and Samantha Robinson said they normally would have been showing at Coterie but recently decided to shift to Designers and Agents. Since they were in town, the two spent two days at the textile show.

“We hit all the [trend] seminars this time,” Robinson saiIntertextile Shanghaid.

Kananen and Robinson discovered a potential new resource for their contemporary eco brand—Létol, a 100 percent organic-cotton scarf resource from Lyon, France.

Patricia Boucquemont, the Lyon-based representative for 2B Diffusions, was showing Létol, along with several mills from France, Italy and England, including French knits byCompagnie des Coton, Italian jacquards by UMT Como, English novelties by Schwarzchild Ochs Ltd. and artisanal hand-worked moiré fabrics by Benard Co., as well as in-stock silks, polyesters and jerseys by Pichet Chelard.

“Business picked up on the second day,” said John Marshall, owner of JM International Group, which was exhibiting 12 mills from Europe, India and Turkey, including Bel Maille/Bel Tech, Bella Tela, Bennett Silks, Confetti, Corti Marcello, Darquer/Noyon, Pinx International and Vema.

One of Marshall’s newest mills is Calcutta, India–based Pinx, which was previously represented by another Los Angeles agent. “The timing is not perfect,” said Pinx director Suresh Chowdhary, who said he was missing his Coterie designers.

Exhibitors were also unhappy with other scheduling decisions.

“The [LA] Textile Show was a disappointment,” said Philips-Boyne Corp.’s David Haber. “Not only was it scheduled at the same time as two shows in [New York], which drew quite a few potential attendees, who were in New York to sell their lines, but then the third day was truncated and ended at 2 [p.m.]!”

Indeed, on the third and final day of the show, attendees were overheard asking to meet later in the week, and several exhibitors said they wished they had more time to work with customers.

“This time of year is extremely busy on the trade show circuit, and after speaking with exhibitors and regular attendees and assessing the calendar, we found most exhibitors agreed it was best to have LA Textile take place in late February as opposed to the middle of April,” said CMC spokesperson Alyson Bender. “The general preference was to hold the show in late February, as other available options would be too late in the season.”

Bender noted the busy March calendar includes Intertextile Shanghai (March 5–7), Los Angeles Fashion (March 11–14), International Textiles Expo in Las Vegas (March 18–20) and Passover (the week of March 25).

New exhibitors, new tech

First-time exhibitor Sonam Sapra was at the show with her hand-drawn printed textiles from her native Fiji.

The graphic designer turned textile designer described the show as “amazing.”

“I got a chance to talk to a lot of manufacturers, and that only increases my knowledge and database,” she said.

Sapra said after a year in business she was able to develop an export market for her prints, sold under the name Sonam Designs, and now is looking to print her designs in the United States in response to requests for made-in-America fabrics.

Returning to the show for the sixth edition was the Lenzing Innovation Pavilion, organized by Austrian fiber maker Lenzing, which makes Tencel and Lenzing Modal. The Pavilion included Design Knit Inc., Laguna Fabrics, Shara-Tex, Texollini, Unitex International, Zentex, Buhler Quality Yarns Corp., American Fabrics International,Britannia Mills Ltd., Epic Textiles, Swisstex Direct, Fine Cotton Factory, Lenzing Fibers Inc., Tuscarora Yarns, Impex Textiles, Pacific Coast Knitting and Sextet Fabrics.

In addition to free trend seminars hosted by Peclers Paris, Promostyl, Stylesight, WGSN, Fashion Snoops, Design Options and Cotton Inc., there were business seminars organized by the California Fashion Association and Fashion Business Inc. Lenzing hosted a seminar featuring new fiber innovations, including its Lenzing Modal Color. Speakers on the panel included David Sasso, vice president of international sales for Buhler Quality Yarns Corp.; David Roberts, vice chairman and chief executive officer of Tuscarora Yarns; Kate Larramendy, director of design and sustainability for Horny Toad; and Claus Metzig, senior manager of dyeing and finishing and global customer services for Lenzing.