SPINEXPO Shanghai shows business is business

by+ZHENG+Ran

SPINEXPO Shanghai took place at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center in Pudong Shanghai， 1-2-3 September 2015. The organizer wasnt sure what to anticipate as this edition of the show opened just after the announcement of the devaluation of the Yuan by the Chinese Government and the slow down of its economic growth that brought up numerous publications by the international media of the possible collapse of China.

At the same time， SPINEXPO had to face the unexpected “National Day” of celebration of the victory of China over Japan， with prediction from the same media that no Japanese would come to China during this period.

SPINEXPO Shanghai did not witness any of it！ With 447 Japanese visitors versus 430 from the March session， and 10，098 total visitors over the three days， a 7% growth over the previous session， the exhibition took place in a dynamic and business-like atmosphere. The third day was one of the best for the exhibition ever in terms of the quality of visitors.

It shows that business is business. Today， the medium-to-top level spinning industry is doing well and the knitwear companies that structured and adapted to the buyers demands are not overly concerned by the slow down of the sector. Spinners and knitwear manufacturers adjust their production to fit the needs of the global market， not always easy to understand， with brands that also have to re-adjust their positioning and strategy. Some sectors face harsh competition， in particular cashmere companies as some of the groups compete on the same products and price level. The present economic situation will surely bring a “cleaning up” and a better harmonisation of the proposed offer.

Chinese visitors totalled 8，049， a stable number compared to March 2015， and foreign visitors 2，049， a progression of 32% over the March session. Hong Kong showed a high progression with 638 visitors compared to 373 for the March session. Europe showed a slightly higher number of visitors with 318 versus 252 for the former show.

SPINEXPO continues to screen the potential VIPs among its visitors and thanks to the work conducted by its promotion offices， is now able to upgrade Chinese companies as well as brands from outside of China. This gives the team the possibility to discuss with the major buyers and to understand better what they find or would like to find at the show. SPINEXPO welcomes this exchange that confirms or shapes up what the show proposes in terms of trend information， marketing orientation and general hospitality.

SPINEXPO continued to renovate its way of presenting trend information， slowly moving away from swatches displayed by colour stories to focus more on yarn categories， uses and performance. Divided into three respective zones， the main trend area started with an in-depth activewear presentation， englobing shoes， socks， and active sport starting with a soft dance/yoga section， on to endurance and performance. This part of the trend area fits what SPINEXPO wishes to achieve， showing the visitor how to start with a yarn， go through the machinery process and end up with the finished product with the accurate explanation from the styl- ist Eva De Laat， working in cooperation with Santoni at their Shanghai Center. The partnership between machinery， spinner and stylist is a direction that SPINEXPO intends to develop， moving away from general trend directions based on colours and “stories”. The garments at the SPINEXCLUSIVE part of the trend area brought together a spinning mill， a knitwear manufacturer working on new machinery software and one stylist. Many new machines are arriving on the market， at a rate that was never witnessed before. Knitwear manufacturers have to discover what is on offer， learn how to process the machine and what to expect from them. This new aspect of the trend area helps users and brands to understand what the technology can add up to their style and design. Many knitwear manufacturers were involved in this area， from Fenix Hong Kong， to Yanfan China； spinners included Consinee， Top Line， Zhongding， Yarns & Colors， Hubo， UPW， Best Leader， and stylists Paula Cheng， Steven Oo， Rory Longdon， Uki Lau， Iben Hoej and Felicity Brown.

Swatches from Rory Longdon fea- tured techniques on a number of new software developments and completed the presentation.

The swatches displayed by colour story were presented for the last time during this session， and will be replaced by a presentation based on type of yarns， functionality， in the same way as SPINEXPO presented it in the active presentation.

The former “marketing area” was transformed into the “spinners products orientation” and presented the spinnersown developments and new products， with a special focus on interesting novelties， coatings， blends and new fibres.

SPINEXPO also presented the“Knitted Room”， a project put forward by Yarns & Colors and Aussco， introducing its InDHouse project. The second part of the presentation was designed by Steven Oo and featured a bedroom and study room decorated with knitted and yarn constructions， thanks to the help of Yanfan and Santoni. The idea met with very positive feed back and we will continue to present SPINEXPOs idea of home and lifestyle decoration at the next show.

Woolmark presented its new products orientation with two seminars： the Wool Lab A/W 2016/17 being an innovative seasonal guide to the best wool fabrics and yarns in the world shown with real samples of commercially available fabrics aligned to the seasons macro themes. The second seminar helped attendees to learn about the latest innovations in Merino wool including Merino retract， wool denim jersey， wool denim knits， warp knits and mottled Merino.

SPINEXPO？ Shanghai will take place at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center 1-2-3 March 2016. A stronger partnership with the Yarn of Excellence from Italy will be made possible with the help of Italian Trade Commission– Shanghai Office and the Consorzio Promozione Filati from Prato， Italy.

In addition to SPINEXPO？ New York， that will follow with the A/W 2017-18 collections at the Brooklyn Exhibition Center in New York 19-20-21 July 2016， SPINEXPO will bring its first A/W presentation to Paris， and will launch SPINEXPO？ Paris， at the “Cité de la Mode et du Design”， 6-7 July 2016.