Decade glory,Stay true to the mission

by+Zhang+Zhenxiao

The 2016 CTAF Paris （China Textile and Apparel Trade Fair Paris） and Apparel Sourcing Paris （CTAF / APP Paris） （hereinafter referred to as “the Paris Autumn Fair”）， sponsored by China National Textile and Apparel Council（CNTAC）， co-organized by the sub-council of textile industry， CCPIT （CCPIT TEX） and Messe Frankfurt （France）， ） will be held at Paris Le Bourget exhibition Center from September 12 to 15， 2016 .

Based on a decade of exploration and accumulation， as a large self-running exhibition held in Europe， also the only state-level large-scale textile and apparel fair that Chinas textile industry held in Europe， the Paris Autumn Fair has become a choice second to none for Chinese companies to explore the European market， not only for the advantages in exhibition space and exhibitor number， but also thanks to such characteristics as its trade property， industry mission， and professional targets. Today， with maturer exhibition concept and firmer exhibition purposes， the Fair has been making great efforts to help the companies make exploration into the European market through such transnational integration of upstream and downstream industrial chains as co-location with Texworld.

Past – keep the faith and follow the situation

In 2007， on the basis of the first European exhibition successfully held in Germany， and in order to attract more outstanding textile and apparel manufacturers from China and more European trade customers， CNTAC made the decision to move the exhibition to Paris， with Messe Frankfurt Paris being a partner， which not only strengthened the long-cooperation between the two sides but also made full use of the global resources of Messe FranFrankfurt. Looking back at that time， during the interview with the responsible persons from CCPIT TEX， the most topics went to stress that the development of both enterprises and exhibitions must stay true to the mission and go with the flow.

Chinas official entry into the WTO in 2001 is a watershed in the development of Chinas textile industry. Getting rid of the shackle of quota， the industry witnessed a rapid growth in exports in order to adapt to new export markets and the pattern， resulting in the EU anti-dumping investigation on Chinese textile and apparel products， at the same time the European industrys protectionist became obvious， and at least the local mainstream professional exhibitions set up thresholds and obstacles for Chinese enterprises. Under such a context and based on the industry needs，“China Textile and Apparel Trade Fair （Europe）”came into being. At the very beginning of the fair， CNTAC and CCPIT TEX pinpointed the ex- hibition position and concept： to showcase Chinese enterprises competitive advantages， and to exploit the overseas markets as a group.endprint

After the first exhibition held in Karlsruhe， Germany in 2006， considering the geographical position， trade center， and fashion center positioning， the organizers decided to divert exhibition to Paris in the second year. On the one hand to implement France “fashion transformation” in the future， on the other hand to identify more partners locally.

After determining the location and partner， but also to find a way to cut into fast， the organizers chose to start from the industrial chain links： fabric + apparel is a good interactive mode. Furthermore， at the beginning of the fair， dependence on a relatively large-scale exhibition with much popularity will be helpful， thus Texworld as a partner. The choice of Texworld then was also under pressures because Texworld itself also exhibited garments and Chinese enterprises were considered as strong competitors. “But we share the same consensus with our partner： the development of the textile industry in China is an inevitable trend， independent of mans will.”

In such a consensus as “using Chinas self-running exhibition in overseas to promote Chinas overall brand apparel， to improve the comprehensive strength in the foreign customers， proposing a development route from OEM to ODM， and finally to OBM” – The Paris Autumn Fair was held with its clear role from the first edition. It is different from the current exhibitions Chinas textile industry hosts in the United States， Australia， Japan and other countries， seeing greater improvement. The Paris Autumn Fair has been given more diplomatic color， charged with communication task with foreign textile industry， in order to let foreign textile and apparel industry and consumers have a more intuitive and emotional understanding about Chinas brands.

Process - follow the market and remain the mind

During a decade development of the Paris Autumn Fair， the European economy sputtered in fits and starts， and the organizers deeply believed that it was the enterprises but not themselves that were facing the most difficulties， for the reason that all trade polices have an impact on export enterprises. Thus， for ten years， the organizers have been always following the market trends to guide enterprises for better development.

All along， the most important thing for market is profit， but during the Paris Autumn Fair， the organizers encourage enterprises to recognize the information resources of the fair instead of obtaining orders for the sole purpose. This is mainly because the fair has a clear roadmap： Chinese enterprises will not always do OEM， which is only a stage and will be extended to ODM. Based on this clear thinking， the mens wear and formal wear became the first transition point in the Paris Autumn Fair， considering that in spite of changes in style， the changes are mainly reflected in details and show certain rules； meanwhile， fine workmanship is a must in such wear which is in line with the “artisan spirit” that the European people are in pursuit of.endprint

In addition， the organizers have been always mastering the development concept and keeping the enterprises difficulty in mind. In the early days of the fair， a number of Chinese exhibitors suffered losses owing to the unscientific booth arrangement； therefore， the organizers decided to help companies optimize booth images and simplify the complicated booths with different styles. On an open platform for competition， every details adjustment the organizers made play an important role for exhibitors in promoting overall standard. Every exhibition would cost the organizers lot to cooperate with designers and professional institutions to publish the trends of the exhibition based on the changes in culture， market， and fashion trends and combined with the product highlights of the exhibitors， offering a great help for enterprises to understand the market. In addition， the organizers also guide enterprises to have their own， truly original products.

In the development of the Paris Autumn Fair， the organizers made two relatively large adjustments. Chinas textile and apparel industry has lost its obvious advantages in costs， and restructuring and upgrading is a must to enhance the industrial value. As a result， creating “Apparel Sourcing”（APP）， together with partners， to enhance the attractiveness of the buyers and the market while still maintaining an independent brand image of CTAF， not only conveying that it is an open international platform， but also opening the doors in North Africa and the Mediterranean to Chinese textile and apparel enterprises. Furthermore， in order to change the conventional orders-based fair， the Paris Autumn Fair presented the idea to open the diversification of the situation， and “fashion” is not separated with“orders” to better connect suppliers with buyers， and to promote the exhibitors ODM and products bargaining power.

Prospect - face the pressure and upgrade the service

Under the pressure of competition from Southeast Asian countries， in recent years， Chinese textile exports have decreased from 40.8% in 2010 to 35% in 2015. From January to May 2016， Chinas textile and garment exports to the Europe amounted to $20.65956 billion， a year-on-year decrease of 2.04%； while the exports of textile were $ 6，117，301，000， an increase of 4.83% year on year. Textile saw more exports than apparel， for the reason that textiles have more advantages in technology content and fineness than the laborintensive garment industry. And compared with textiles， garments suffer greater pressures in exports to the EU.endprint

Facing such pressures， the industries and enterprises are still obliged to continue to support the Paris Autumn Fair. There are over 400 Chinese exhibitors 200 foreign exhibitors in the Paris Autumn Fair. The exhibition area from Chinese exhibitors rises nearly 50% than last year， while the frequent exhibitor rate is as high as 40%. A series of numbers can express Chinese apparel export enterprises recognition of the exhibition， and the urgent desire for“close contact” with the European market.

This year is the first year of the “13th Five-Year Program”， also an important year in which the textile industry in China is to be powerful from big through speeding up the “Go Global” strategy， and even a year to deepen the national “Belt and Road Initiative” strategy. Chinas textile industry has entered a new stage of transnational layout， and the overseas investment has presneted an accelerated multi-regional， multi-industry and multi-form trend. In addition， aiming to pull the European economy， “Junker investment plan”was also put into implementation in 2016. China and the EU should take this opportunity to continue to promote integrating the “Junker plan” and the national “Belt and Road Initiative” strategy， to achieve mutual and win-win benefits， and tap the potential of multilateral trade to create favorable environment for enterprises internationally.

CTAF has enjoyed 10 years in Paris， and the exhibition has become the leading platform for overseas exhibitions. The trends that the fair presented fully reflects the current stage that Chinese apparel enterprises had experienced. In the upcoming fair， 200 high-end product manufacturing enterprises come from China， accounting for 47%； 370 middle-end ones for 87%； 156 mass ones for 37%. As can be seen， many apparel enterprises have begun to be engaged in high-end products. Upgrading to high-end product is a general trend. Meanwhile， there are 332 OEM enterprises， accounting for 78%； there are 224 enterprises to provide ODM services， accounting for 53%； and 185 enterprises have their own brands， accounting for 43%. Goals established in the exhibition at the beginning - from OEM to ODM， has been increasingly showing a clear context. It is worth mentioning that among all Chinese exhibitors， 209 enterprises have obtained environmental certifications， accounting for about 50%. Enterprises pay more and more attention to environmental protection， and their development concept conform more to the European market.endprint

In addition， among the exhibitors， 25 will accept orders less than 50 pieces， accounting for about 6%； 54 will accept 50 - 100 pieces of apparel orders， accounting for 13%； 113 will accept 100 - 500 pieces， accounting for 27%； 270 will accept 500 - 1，500 pieces， accounting for about 63%. In the European market highlighting “artisan spirit” and “excellent workmanship”， small-order enterprises are more popular， also fully showing that the efforts around rapid response over the years have borne fruits.

Looking ahead based on the current achievements， the related responsible person of CCPIT TEX stressed that CNTAC and CCPIT TEX are not commercial organizations， but to provide enterprises with services. Whether the exhibition can bring a better-value platform depends on constant understanding of the market demands. “None of the exhibitions can solve all of the requirements， and what we can do is to have a better understanding of the enterprise position as well as the enterprises as accurate as possible to further improve the oriented services based on the actual demands of enterprises.”

Decade memorabilia of CTAF

2007 – With the experience of first exhibitions at Germany， the Council cooperated with Messe Frankfurt and transferred the exhibition to Paris. The exhibition was held parallel to the famous Texworld at same period and location. The high-grade visitor not only made the CTAF become a superb trading platform for domestic enterprises of exporting， but also provided a great opportunity for those enterprises to achieve a better understanding of European market.

2008 – At the foundation of commercial and professional， CTAF focused on the promotion of Chinas valuable original brand and the communication and collaboration between China and EUs textile industries， emboldened enterprises with self-renovation attending the exhibition. The item on display gave priority to with apparel and home textiles， and included apparel and fabric.

2009 – Enterprises began to put in the long run， no longer simply positioning on the orders. It can be seen from the show that the enterprise had been completely different from the past chief OEM processing stage， highlighting the study and development ability. Changing from OEM to ODM has been an inevitable road for the Chinese textile and garment enterprises to enhance competitiveness and master the right of speech over the market.

2010 – The exhibition continually aimed at mid-level export company， to build a “one stop sourcing” platform to meet European purchasing habits. China Council for the Promotion of International Trade （CCPIT） Ningbo Committee combined with CCPIT TEX organized more than 20 companies to the Fair， making a record of CTAF cluster exhibiting.endprint

2011 – As one of the most important national groups， CTAF embedded into a new sourcing fair “Apparel sourcing Paris” which is organized by three contractors. The Apparel sourcing Paris shared the same period and location with the Texworld.

2012 – The spring exhibition is held for the first time. Exhibitors met up with high-grade European buyers， accessed the information of Eu- ropean market through static display and symposium， and discussed fashion trend with cutting-edge fashion designers. The DaLang participated in as DaLang Woolen fabrics exhibition group.

2013 – On the spring exhibition， the ratio of abroad exhibitors increased about 60%， including nearly 80 enterprises from 36 countries. The internationalization of the exhibitions was improved significantly. The region of trend is settled for the first time at the autumn fair. The item is selected from 195 exhibitors from 14 countries by two artistic directors of Les Garcons， including Dalian FanRuiKe Apparel Co.， Ltd. and Sichuan Golden-Flute Fashion Co.， Ltd.

2014 – Organizers provided handbook of trends for spring/summer 2015 to download and settled up ‘the award of booth arrangement selected by artistic director from Messe Frankfurt （France） to urge exhibitors to value the importance of arrangements.

The Made to Measure （MTM） was introduced， and more than 10 Chinese exhibitors provided this service to consumers.

2015 – Domestic enterprises staged the show for the first time in spring fair and Shaoxing exhibitor group held a special Catwalk stage in autumn fair which was one of the complimentary value-added services provided by organizers.

The scarf area was added into general exhibition area plan.

The display scale and the number of exhibitors were the biggest in history. The APP Paris became the most professional apparel sourcing and the most openness to Chinese exhibitors by having 500 companies from China.

2016 – Many value-added services will be provided. The exhibitors are able to showcase company image by instructions， badges， application of exhibition， eco-friendly bag， Facebook， etc.

The Myanmar exhibition group appeared first time in the spring fair. In autumn fair， the denim clothing enterprises will be exhibited side-by-side with denim fabric enterprises in Texworld， combining the upstream and downstream of supply chain. Jiangxi companies will join as exhibition group for the first time.endprint