Dispatch From Paris: China's European Textile Crusade

Increasing Chinese Presence At European Trade Shows Like Première Vision And TexWorld China's rise on the global stage isn't only being felt in Asia or North America -- far from it. This week, Jing Daily introduces our newest feature, "Dispatch from Paris", an ongoing series of posts by Paris-based fashion designer and Jing Daily correspondent Cliff Lee. In his dispatch on the textile trade shows taking place in Paris this week, Cliff looks at the increasing presence of Chinese manufacturers at these events, which until recently were closed to non-European mills. Anyone working in the luxury fashion market certainly knows what "PV" means to them. This biannual textile trade show Première Vision (PV) which takes place in Villepinte in the northern suburbs of Paris from September 14-16 will showcase the newest trends and technologies in the creative world of textiles for Fall/Winter 2011/2012. One of the world's top textile events, PV is a mammoth trade show that combines Expofil (for yarns), Première Vision (fabrics), Le Cuir à Paris (leather and fur), Indigo (textile prints), ModAmont (garment trims) and Zoom (garment manufacturers). Formerly known as the European Trade Show, PV finally opened up to non-European mills in 2002 following a decline in participation from European textile manufacturers. Jing Daily is in Paris this week for the event, and discovered at a preview that a small number of Chinese mills from Shenzhen and provinces like Shandong, Jiangsu, Fujian, and Hebei made it to this year's edition of PV, most of them specializing in suiting, cotton and technical fabrics. Although their presence is still very limited, we're likely to see an ever-increasing number of Chinese textile manufacturers continuing their "European textile crusade" as the Chinese economy continues to grow. Since most garments are currently still "made in China," textiles produced in China will certainly help to reduce transportation bills for their American and European clients and sidestep certain import/export taxes. In addition to the annual show in Paris, Première Vision has also organized shows in Shanghai and Beijing for several years now. Naturally, they are much smaller in scale, and generally attract participants from French and Italian mills. Also taking place alongside PV in the nearby Parisian suburb of Le Bourget is another textile trade show, TexWorld , which will run from September 13-16. Created in 2002 to attract non-European mills that were, at that time, not allowed at PV, TexWorld is known in the industry as the "Asian Trade Show," since the majority of participants hail from China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and India. Unlike PV, the presence of Chinese mills here is extremely high, with around 400 taking part this year from cities like Shanghai and provinces such as Shandong, Jiangsu, Hebei, Zhejiang, Hubei and Guangdong. At TexWorld, we see a much wider range of fabrics on show from Chinese mills, from suiting and shirting to sports, denim, technical, silk and knits. Despite the vastness of the selection on display, the minimum order at TexWorld tends to be higher than at Première Vision. The quality of textiles offered at TexWorld do have an industry reputation for lower quality than those at PV, though prices are decidedly more competitive. Tweet

Dispatch From Paris: China's European Textile Crusade

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Published September 13, 2010

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Dispatch From Paris: China's European Textile Crusade