A review of past Gallleria Intima in New Delhi
The 4th Edition of Galleria Intima was held on August 26 – 27, 2015 at Crowne Plaza, New Delhi, India, hosted by Intimate Apparel Association of India (IAAI)
The event was mainly focussed on creating a platform for industry stakeholders where they could gather, trade ideas, network and develop a detailed insight on the Indian Intimate Wear Market. The event seeks to renovate the intimate apparel sector of India to ensure its emergence as an opportune centre of intimate wear manufacturing. The show can be marked as a unique acting as a huge meeting place for all types of people associated with the intimate wear industry, namely-leading brands, intimate wear manufacturers & designers, buying & sourcing houses and other industry contributors. Everything related to the intimate apparel industry including fibres, laces, accessories, machines, packaging, etc. were put on display for the visitors.
Aimed at creating a flourishing collaboration between raw material suppliers (both local and international) and intimate wear brands, the trade fair proved to be a huge success experiencing visits from more than 1500 brand manufacturers. This was enough to testify fact the Association’s wise decision to move the venue of the event from Goa to Delhi worked wonders for everyone associated with the industry. The event witnessed the presence of domestic as well as foreign exhibitors, who participated with equal enthusiasm.
The fair was inaugurated by Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State for Textiles) who spent over four hours at the venue and praised the efforts of the association significantly. This was the very first instance when a link was established between the textile ministry and intimate apparel industry. The minister opinionated as, “I got to know more about this particular sector for the first time today after attending this event. I find this industry as an employment generating vehicle and highly capable of exporting more quality products to European, American and Japanese markets. To cope with the rising domestic demands it is also important to manufacture superior quality products in India itself to substitute imports. I am confident about the fact that in the coming days India will remain ahead of China as the leading cotton manufacturer. I warmly welcome all the members of the industry and association to approach the textile ministry for any type of help required for growth and expansion.” He also observed and appreciated the working of the machinery involved in manufacturing intimate apparels. He also released a white paper on “Make in India, Make for the World: Developing India as a quality intimate supplier for global markets”at the event.
Commenting on the success of the show, Yusuf Dohadwala, the CEO of Intimate Apparel Associations of India pointed out that, “The response to the show was beyond our expectations and was glorified by a huge crowd of buyers from different countries including European nations. The event welcomed 80 exhibitors hailing from 10+ countries and 18 Exhibitors from China only. We had interesting panel discussion on the ‘Make in India’ campaign followed by a gala dinner & networking event consisting of amazing dance performances, which highlighted the diversities in Indian culture beautifully.”
The show proved to gain recognition of the international exhibitors who found it to be very helpful. They expressed their interest in coming back to India and continuing trade here. The event had been covered by a number of Chinese journalists as well. The fair resurfaced the fact that more Chinese participation in our country’s intimate apparel trading structure should certainly be encouraged as it will help greatly in the growth of the industry. The dependence of India’s country’s intimate apparel industry on China for raw materials to be imported regularly, backs up the need of the above detail.
The trade fair was followed by visit to different factories to closely examine the manufacturing process of intimate apparel in India where close to 40 International Exhibitors took part. The exhibitors were also honoured by a cocktail dinner hosted by ‘Bodycare’ held on August 28, 2015. The exhibitors were also taken for visiting different malls of Delhi to have a fair idea of the standard of living of the people of India currently and the developments the city has experienced in the last few years. The guests were given a glimpse of our cultural heritage in the form of tours to historical monuments like Taj Mahal, Qutub Minar and India Gate.
One of the highly satisfied exhibitors from the event was heard saying, “The show was extremely informative and beneficial and has been excellently organised. It gave us an in-depth idea about the intimate apparel industry of India and highlighted its huge potential to grow in the future. The series of workshops and seminars and the trade talks, enquiries as well as business meetings between buyers and sellers yielded out exceptional results and have encouraged us to expand our business here and import products made in India. The exposure to the country’s culture through the tour in and around the city was extremely educative and a one of a kind experience.”
The scheduled meeting with exhibitors are sure to drive India’s intimate apparel industry towards more growth and expansion, and it can be certainly expected that the legacy of success of this fair will be passed on to the successor to be held next year.
Intimate Apparel Association of India (IAAI) was founded to look after the interests and the development of the Indian intimate apparel sector. Established on 30th May, 2010, the aim of this venerable body is to promote and develop the Indian intimate wear sector and transform the sector as well as the country into a global production hub. To make their vision a reality, the august body utilises a mixture of innovation and effective marketing strategies for bringing about a long-term and sustainable growth.