`Change` is in the air and this time it is a `positive` one for the apparel market in eastern India. The recently held `Winds of Change`, the 17th garment fair organised by Eastern India Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Federation(EIGMEF) reflected a positive evolution taking place in the industry.
Spanning three days, 28th-30th June, the extravaganza unveiled many pleasant surprises for buyers and sellers who visited the exhibition. "Like the Indian economy, which is shining world over, the apparel industry in eastern India is also witnessing a boom. There is a positive change everywhere. Lot of national brands are coming up from east, new brands are emerging, a fresh set of smart and capable entrepreneaurs are coming up in the market with fresh ideas. All these together is making the environment conducive for growth. Keeping in sync with the positivity all around, we have also infused a lot of fresh, innovative elements to the fair this time. The single objective of the fair is to become a platform for the apparel industry of eastern India and act as a catalyst for its further development," said Alok More, Chairman, advisory committee, EIGMEF.
Covering a sprawling 56,000 sq ft `Milan Mela` ground on Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, opposite Science City, the fair flagged off with 150 stalls, more than 107 brands and over 2000 retailers and trade professionals m all over India. The exhibition area was designed with four exclusive zones named `Brand Planet`, `Kids Planet`, `Fashion Planet` and `Trend Planet`. `Brand Planet` consisted of 20 leading fashion brands including leading national players like Success, Manyavar, Passport, Moustache as well as emerging players like Zinc, Blue Mint and Bornfree. Similarly `Kids Planet` consisted of almost 40 kidswear brands including Toffyhouse, Apple Eye, Raja Sahab , Yuv-raaj, `Afirst` and `Mohit`. Showcasing the best of upcoming fashion brands in menswear, womenswear and kidswear, `Fashion Planet` consisted of 40 brands from eastern India, Mumbai and Delhi. `Trend Planet` was conceived to serve as a platform for allied members of the apparel industry, especially the technology players, publications as well as a choicest selection of fashion brands. `Trend Planet` featured stalls from leading companies like Rance Computers, Ginni Systems, Freeman Apparel Exim, Specgraph India and many more. Overall, the innovative zoning made it easy to navigate the stalls while it also provided maximum visibility to each stall.
Apart from showcasing the latest collections from brands, the fair also provided a rare opprtunity to the industry professionals and entrepreneurs to get together under the same roof to network and exchange ideas. Not only did the fair get the who`s who of the industry, but also included 80 leading apparel brands, more than 30 emerging brands, and manufacturers under one roof, along with some of the topline retailers of the countery like V mart, Vishal Retail, Bazar Kolkata and Chennai Silk House. "This time apart from the retailers and manufacturers of eastern India, we have got a number of outstation brands and retailers from South India, Mumbai and Delhi. We have also got a lot of overseas visitors this time from countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka , Dubai and Sudan," added Jay Varma, convenor, EIGMEF Fair.
Talking about the ambitious initiative of the organisers, Mohit Tikmany, CEO, Manyavar commented "East has often been neglected. People have the wrong perception about east but it needs to change now. 17th EIGMEF fair has been a specatuclar show of the talent, skill and ideas of apparel industry. The show is not just bigger and better, but it has now also got a national perspective to it." His thoughts were echoed by Rajesh Giani, Director, Toffyhouse, "Kolkata is the biggest hub for sourcing garments for the world and this fair reflects it by its sheer scale and style. This is just the begining."
With the innovation and professionalism of the EIGMEF committee and the fair participants `Winds of Change` was successful in attracting the attention of national and international audience and has set a new benchmark for the trade events across India." In the last 2-3 years the profile of the apparel industry in eastern India has developed a lot. We are trying to accelarate the process of this development. We have already initiated a big step by changing the whole look and feel of the fair this time and many such other initiatives are in the pipeline," added R.K.Dugar, secretary and chief mentor, EIGMEF.
The fair concluded with an award function acknowledging the top three stall designs in menswear, womenswear and kidswear category.
