The world's largest garment exhibition 'Magic'
will be held next February in Las Vegas, USA and
many Sri Lankan companies are expected to participate.
According to Sri Lanka's representative of
Magic Hiran Jayasinghe the event will be held
in August and February and no Sri Lankan company
has attended the event so far. He said that
in contrast over 30 exhibitors each from Bangladesh,
India and Pakistan have been attending this
event regularly. He said that at the last exhibition
in Las Vegas a Bangladesh buyer was able to
secure a trade deal to the value of $ 30 million.
"This is only one instance."
With the garment quota system being abolished
in 2005 Sri Lanka would face an uphill task
of finding new buyers. He said that China which
is offering cheaper garments, would be major
force and most of the Sri Lankan orders would
be snatched by them.
"This is why it is important for Sri Lanka
to find new buyers to market their products.
In the USA there is a purchasing power of $
180 billion. $ 120 billion of this is generated
from 39 top corporations we call the major retail
clusters. Of these clusters 37 of the top 39
are our honoured attendees and we provide a
President's Club for them to service their needs
for the marketplace. The president's club has
a membership of 4,600 top industry professions.
The Magic Marketplace is the world's most comprehensive,
largest and most influential apparel and textile
event in North America and the world. We are
70 years old and represent the entire Men's,
Women's, Children's, Active Apparel, and Fashion
Youth culture."
"We have over 3,250 exhibitors that produce
over 5,500 brand names. The Magic Marketplace
is an international apparel community and attracts
over 85,0000 industry professional twice a year
creating this phenomenal marketplace. We will
fill the two largest convention centres in Las
Vegas. Our show in general is over 850,000 square
feet and we have over 3,200 exhibitors. Our
buying community has grown to over 85,000 from
80 countries. They come to Las Vegas for the
Magic show," he said.
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He
said that they could be contacted on their e mail
Hiran@MAGICtradeshow.us Jayasinghe said that this
show is not only open to the garment industry
alone but also to other sectors especially in
the leather, and handicrafts area. "China
has taken over 300 booths this year and he advised
Sri Lankans to enrol soon.
Marking the most successful show
in recent years, over 84,000 people visited spring
'04 fashions at the Magic Marketplace this summer.
Attendance and business flourished at the Magic
Marketplace from August 25 to 28, exhibiting thousands
of innovative trends and emerging fashion lines
in men's, women's and children's apparel and accessories.
The successful show reaffirms
Magic's status as the must-attend fashion networking
and business bi-annual event where exhibitors
and buyers interact in a business setting and
explore the new, hottest trends of the upcoming
season.
Two of Magic's newest additions.
The Sourcing Zone and fabric@Magic, added to the
successful corporate dealings that took place
at the August 2003 show.
The Sourcing Zone provides a
convenient solution for private label buyers,
name brand designers and licensees to network
with offshore manufacturers and contract suppliers,
while fabric@Magic allows buyers the opportunity
to source everything in one place at the same
time.
These additions along with the
success of Magic, WWdMagic, Magic kids, and the
edge events proved that this marketplace is the
most comprehensive apparel event in the world,
with all aspects of business and fashion at the
fingertips of the attendees.
Based on the feedback from exhibitors,
the show was a resounding success on a business
front this year, the organisers said.
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