The main Russian
exhibition of fabrics and textile materials has successfully ended, turning Expocentre Fairgrounds into a large-scale showcase of the country’s textile market for three days.
19 763 is the number of visitors, it significantly exceeded the spring exhibition, which were called a record in
March 2023. The result is concluded contracts within the first few hours after the opening, a powerful visitor response from the professional audience, serious results of the most important events in the business program.
800 companies from more than 40 regions of Russia and 12 countries, national expositions of
Uzbekistan, Belarus, Turkiye, China, India; more than
28,000 sq. meters of exhibition space; more than 20 sessions, discussions, round tables and master classes - INTERFABRIC has become the center of the most significant events in the Russian light industry.
Officials from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the Federal Assembly took part in the opening ceremony. “I would like to thank all our honored guests for attendance and kind words to our industry,” said SOYUZLEGPROM’s President
Andrey Razbrodin. – One of the objectives of today’s exhibition is to draw more attention from our government to the industry. We can grow by ourselves, but we can make dramatic progress only if there is a joint work.”
At the opening the winners of Interfabric competition were awarded the “Interfabric Award 2023 – Autumn”. In the nomination “Structure and Surface” the winner was the company Shaoxing Bahong Textile (China), in the nomination “Sustainable Development” – Sverdlovsk Worsted Mill (Ekaterinburg), in the nomination “Finishing and Decoration” – “Mogotex” (Republic of Belarus), in nomination "Drawing" - AVANT textile agency, in the nomination "Import substitution" - "TechTex", in the nomination "Innovation" - "Alpha K".
At the opening plenary session experts considered developing the Russian light industry in the new economic system. “We need to return our market,” said Oleg Bocharov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade in his speech. “In order to achieve such an effect, the government needs to have complete reliable information about the industry and enterprises. We need to understand what support is needed from us now. I expect that SOYUZLEGPROM will formulate a task for us in the near future.”
Also, one of the main topics of the first day of the exhibition was the participation of industry public organizations in industry management. As
Oleg Kashcheev, professor of the Department of Sociology and Advertising Communications at Kosygin Russian State University said : “the further development of not only the textile light industry, fashion industry, but entire economy of Russia should follow the European principle that “industrial unions carry out certain regulatory functions within their community”: “It is not for nothing that unions initiate all measures of state support, identify the most painful issues and suggest what is to be done to develop this industry. The most important and pressing issues are discussed and often resolved precisely on the initiative of industry unions,” he emphasized.
The topic of digital transformation of the industry also attracted a lot of attention from the expert community. According to Andrey Razbrodin, Industry 5.0 provides for massive customization of business for the client: “Business focuses on the external environment, on the place where there are both clients and money. And due to the gradual integration of Industry 5.0 into our reality, the client is being transformed, his needs and requests are changing. And from the economy of impressions, we are moving towards the beginning of transition to the economy of transformations,” says the president of SOYUZLEGPROM.
One of the immersive technologies that allows to completely immerse oneself in the professional environment of textile and garment workers for several hours is a business game - a new interactive format implemented as part of the business program of INTERFABRIC-2023.Autumn. The format of gamification and engaging edutainment technologies in business education is now at the peak of popularity and is in great demand and the organizers of exhibition could not ignore this trend. At “Sewing Verdict” conference the founders of Russia’s only business academy in the clothing industry “Proshyu Business” Ekaterina Nepochatykh and Anna Taran with the participation of the “Sewing Syndicate” moderators Evgenia Khoruzhey and Nikolai Grechkin, the business game “Sewing Way” became a real discovery of the second day of the exhibition and the center of attraction for professional visitors to Forum pavilion. Participants in the business game - representatives of various regions and enterprises and businesses of various sizes - according to the game scenario, the presenters tried on the roles of seamstresses, technologists, designers, customers and production owners, which gave the action even greater dynamics.
The opening of the national exhibition of India, which became possible thanks to assistance and active support of the
Synthetic and Artificial Textile Export Promotion Council of India (SRTEPC) was of great interest among visitors. India's exposition at INTERFABRICS was opened by Ambassador
Pawan Kapoor who emphasized that his country supports exporters at the highest government level and artificial fibers and textiles are being comprehensively promoted to Russia.
The exposition of
Uzbekistan was no less interesting.
Dilbar Mukhamedova, advisor to the Chairman of Uztextilprom noted that trade relations between the countries are actively developing. “If in previous years we were just guests of the exhibition, now we are becoming full partners. The number of companies from Uzbekistan is increasing every year. Now our activities are aimed at developing cooperative ties. We see that the world is changing, and we understand that only the cooperation of textile workers will allow the textile industry to develop.”
I was pleased with the Turkish exposition - it should be noted that this season all the permanent exhibitors of INTERFABRIC took part in the exhibition, but many of them already had exclusive stands and most of them had stands of a larger area than in previous years, which indicates the demand for the project and presence of a target professional audience.
An exhibition within the exhibition was a large-scale Chinese exposition with its own special atmosphere. The exhibitors almost unanimously expressed satisfaction with their participation and noted good results of the exhibition. “I am very glad we came to participate in this exhibition in Russia. On our first day we were able to find several new customers. We will definitely take part in it again next season,” says Tony Han, a representative of Beijing VVE Zipper Technology. The business program events were also dedicated to the relationship between textile workers in Russia and China as well as cooperation with Belarus.
Belarus traditionally presented a collective stand organized by the BelLegProm concern. As Anzhelika Lashkevich, the chief specialist of CIS countries, noted, INTERFABRIC gives great returns to all companies involved, so participation in the exhibition for Belarusian enterprises is a kind of constant that goes into the distant future of cooperation.
“The exhibition turned out to be big, all declared participants were confirmed and arrived; there were more visitors compared to both the spring and autumn seasons of last year,” says exhibition director
Elena Pishcheva. – Participants in all four pavilions are satisfied with the exhibition. For example, Chinese exhibitors have already confirmed 80% of their participation in the INTERFABRIC-2024.Spring. Those who cooperate with us on an ongoing basis note that we have a good professional team. That is why Russian companies are also actively confirming their participation in the spring exhibition, literally attacking us with their desire to exhibit in Spring, and they are increasing their exhibition space, emphasizing that they are very pleased with the results.”
The exhibition received no less response from visitors - this season the organizers call another record figure for themselves - thirty thousand people. There were no random people or “pedestrians” here – only the business community, only textile market professionals. “We sell fabrics, make women’s clothing, clothes for the home,” say Ulyana and Maria, from the Fabric Shop company. – We visited this exhibition for the first time, it was very interesting: there are really a lot of suppliers, we found something for ourselves, established contacts, and will continue to interact with new partners. Interesting suppliers from Asia, we are committed to looking for ways to cooperate.”
“This is not the first time we come to this exhibition to meet new people, look at fabric samples, and understand the pricing policy,” says Anna, an individual entrepreneur from Chelyabinsk. “The assortment here is, as always, excellent, there are a lot of contacts, we got everything we came here for.”
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Everything is perfect! – Natalya, Baby Artichoke (home textiles) company, shares her impressions. – As at previous exhibitions, everything is perfectly organized, everything is clear, I walk around and just enjoy the atmosphere and the beauty of the exhibition. I am looking for new fabrics for my production, new contacts, alternative commercial offers. INTERFABRIC has it all.”
Victor, an aspiring entrepreneur from St. Petersburg, noted that the exhibition has many opportunities to study the peculiarities of market development and understand the algorithms by which one could easily integrate into the trade and production chain: “I’m just going to open my own production, I came to the exhibition to find partners. But the main thing for me is that here you can not only conclude contracts, for example, for supplies, but also learn how to properly build and develop a business - many thanks to the organizers of the workshops for their practical advice and recommendations to businessmen. I'm very glad I came here."
Read more about the events of INTERFABRIC-2023.Autumn on the website in the “Exhibition News” section.
We will be waiting for you next Spring at INTERFABRIC-2024.Spring.
See you at Expocentre on March 11–13, 2024!
