CMAI’s Maiden FAB Show 2022 Receives Overwhelming Response at Jio WCC, Mumbai
13 April 2022: Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) successfully organized their maiden 3-day CMAI FAB show on 11-13 April 2022 Jio World Convention Centre, Mumbai. The show was inaugurated by the Union Minister of States for Textiles Smt. Darshana Jardosh. In her address, the Minister complimented the CMAI for organizing this first of its kind Show bringing the entire Supply Chain under one roof and applauded the efforts of CMAI to serve the Domestic Garment Industry and its members. Besides India, there were buyers/visitors from 8 countries including UAE, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Ecuador, Turkey, etc. CMAI FAB SHOW was been supported by Two Associations in the Fabric Supply Chain, viz, the FABEXA (Ahmedabad) and SGCCI (Surat).
The show had two major segments, viz, Fabric Souring and Accessories and Beyond Section. The Show facilitated apparel manufacturers to source all inputs required – from fabrics to accessories, services, machinery and beyond. While the Fabric section had around 150 exhibitors, the Accessories segment had around 50 exhibitors. The accessories segment exhibitors included: garment tags and heat transfer labels suppliers, garment packaging, shopping bags, buttons, etc. Some of the leading garment accessories suppliers included Screen Art & Graphics, Fashion Accessories India, Anil Labels, Sapna Packaging, etc.
Never before has there been a show like this in India. The FAB format was designed to suit not only corporates – big and small – but also dealers, distributors and businesses of all sizes from the entire supply chain for apparel manufacturers,” said Naveen Sainani, Jt. Hon. Gen Secretary and Chairman of CMAI FAB Show Sub Committee.
Commenting on the success of the Show, Sainani, said that in garment/apparel, the element of ‘sourcing’ is as important as the ‘sales’ of end products. “There are many fairs happening across India for fabric manufacturing, machinery, printing and finishing etc. This is the first Sourcing Fair for fabric and accessories. CMAI’s National Garment Fairs are for sales of apparel and CMAI Fab show is for Sourcing of fabric and accessories platform for apparel manufacturers.”
He adds “For the Sourcing segment, the CMAI Fab was the first show. Amazingly at the last moment, as we have been promoting the show online for the global audience, over a dozen buyers from overseas markets visited the show. There were visitors from around 10 countries.”
Revealing CMAI’s future plans for the sourcing fair, Sainani said “Based on our success in the maiden show, our next event would be even bigger in terms of visitors and exhibitors numbers. This time we had around 100,000 sq.ft and probably for the next show we may have to look for 300,000 sq. ft. floor space. Initially, we will hold this show in Mumbai once in two years and later we may think of holding it in other regions. CMAI is an expert in organizing Fairs related to the garment industry and there is trust in what we do. We understand the requirement of both exhibitors and visitors. Since we have 4,000+ members, the visitors’ footfall is guaranteed for our shows. And hundreds of non-members from the industry also visit our show. We have reached out to over 1,00,000 manufacturers all over India and it will also help us to increase our membership.”
Sainani explained that Fashion cannot go without ‘print’ or other value addition. However, the trend is shifting towards the fabric. “The innovation in fabric – colours and patterns, is taking over printing. In future, we wish to have the printing sector come on board and also have a print forum during the show for the benefit of our members so that they get accustomed to various printing techniques and technologies such as screen, digital, sublimation etc.”
Commenting on the export scenario, he said Owing to the pandemic, for the last two years, India’s dependency on garment export has gone down nearly 15%, however, the domestic market is booming. God forbidden, if the Covid does not come back, even the export will boom.”
