Apparel Online India 16-31 July' 17 | Page 28

TEXTILES INDIA Textiles India 2017 The show must go on, but not in Gandhinagar… A big let-down for Indian apparel exporters A buyer taking the support of a wooden plank due to rainwater logging W ith high hopes, nearly 300 apparel exporters participated at Textiles India 2017 event, only to end up with serious disappointment in the absence of good number of buyers and decent basic amenities. No doubt, rain also played a spoilsport but many other controllable issues too created a mess for these exporters as well as overseas buyers. Apparel Online interacted with some of them and they were loud and clear about their bad experiences about this event. Some of the exporters even insisted Rajat Agarwal, Partner, DS Exports 28 Apparel Online India | WHAT WENT WRONG • No proper and timely distribution of badges • Unavailability of quality hotels • Opening of the fair for public on the last day • Kids selling tea in the fair Garbage on day 1, at the back gate of Hall No. 6. It was removed on 2nd day about not participating any more in this event if it occurs again at Gandhinagar. Even many overseas buyers were miffed over such anomalies. To explain a few of the failures that were evident, there was no proper and timely distribution of badges and no requisite infrastructure available, both at the fair and in the city (such as unavailability of quality hotels, poor connectivity with Ahmedabad where exporters were staying, lack of convenient food court at the event, etc.). To add fuel to the fire, Harish Dua, (R) MD, KG Exports, Ludhiana with his team member Vinay JULY 16-31, 2017 | www.apparelresources.com the opening of the fair for public on the last day additionally created a sense of commotion. Exporters were also very irritated seeing some kids selling tea in the fair and near the booths when the Indian apparel export industry is highly concerned and committed to follow compliance norms. Mumbai-based Adiba Fashions closed its booth in the afternoon on the second day itself. Mohammed Shaikh, Director of the company informed AOI, “Our industry friends pushed us to participate and assured Jaya Bachwani (L), Merchandiser and Aastha Kapoor, Creative Director, Affordable Exports