LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL TEXTILE SHOW, SPRING/SUMMER 2013 – MARCH 26-28, 2012

The Spring/Summer 2013 Los Angeles International Textile Show (a.k.a. LA Textile) had the California Market Center (CalMart) in the downtown Fashion District jumpin’ last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. LA Textile is the largest textile, trim, design and production resource trade show in the United States in both size and variety of resources. The Spring/Summer show is held in March. The Fall/Winter show is in October.

My bestie and pbc colleague, Tracy Engelien (owner of the brilliant Boxie) and I had planned one of regular LA store scouting excursions for the Monday. We spent the first half of the day on the Westside in Venice and Santa Monica before heading downtown to walk the show and take advantage of the excellent seminar program that is presented by the show participants and the leading trade associations. This was my first time attending.

Tracy was particularly interested in the “Creative Vision: Spring/Summer 13 Trend Seminar” by highly regarded UK trend forecaster, Mudpie. Unfortunately, it was canceled. We are supposed be getting the presentation emailed to us.

I had signed up for Fashion Business Incorporated‘s (FBI) “LA State of the Apparel Industry Report” seminar. The research report which was sponsored by Los Angeles Department of Water & Power was presented by the supervising researcher, Peter Kilduff, Professor and Chair of the Apparel Merchandising and Management Program at Cal Poly Pomona. It sounded like a fascinating seminar, and it didn’t disappoint. The room was full, and the Q&A could have gone on all night. Sorry for the tease but I’m working on an extensive blog on the report and the seminar. I’ll try and get it out before I leave for the Mercedes Benz Australia Fashion Week in Sydney at the end of the month.

I like FBI. FBI is a non-profit organization that been around since ’99. It provides an excellent range of services to the fashion industry including entrepreneurial development, resources and training. Their seminars and panel discussions are well worthwhile – knowledgeable and insightful speakers, relevant and practical topics and the programs move along at a good pace.

Other seminars included topics like trends and directions for Spring/Summer 13 and Fall/Winter 13/14, purchasing, design, brand building, fabric development and innovation, and legal issues presented by partner organizations such as California Fashion Association, trend forecaster WGSN, fashion law specialists Fox Rothschild, LLP, and fabric innovator Lenzing.

Why attend LA Textile? As I said above, it is the largest, most diverse textile trade show in the US. It attracts more than 200 exhibitors from around the world showcasing fabric, textile, accessories and trim products, design and decoration resources, production tools, technology and sourcing, and the very important fabric, color and style trend forecasting resources. If you are a manufacturer, fashion or textile designer, interior decorator, architect, material supplier, trim or home textile retailer, distributor, fashion trend follower or a fashion student, LA Textile is for you.

The aforementioned seminars are a great value-add to the show. There are invaluable networking drinks at the end of each day. I never miss these because I always make new contacts, such as Jim Wallis, President of Montgomery Fashion Group from Australia. Jim was quoted in the official press release as saying, “We have seen many apparel makers and brands from the Western United States, Texas, and Florida. We’ve had great exposure at this Show and are very happy with the turn out.”

Registration is on the ground floor atrium, as was the Korea Pavilion in the Exhibit Hall. The rest of the show is held in the 13th floor Penthouse. The seminars are also held on the 13th floor. FBI held seminars in their 7th floor offices.

There was plenty of foot traffic, lots to see, the seminars were full, and best of all, it was a real learning experience. I would recommend checking out the next LA Textile show in October.

Paul Brindley
paulbrindleyconsults.com