Apparel

National Garment Fair


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The National Garment Fair (NGF) is an important event in the calendar of the apparel industry as it brings together suppliers, clients, Business-to-Business (B2B) platforms and thought leaders of the industry on one platform.

A sought-after trade shows, NGF is usually the time when there are new brand launches and this year saw over 1160 participating brands and several thousands of retailers visiting the Fair. The four-day 69th National garment fair was held in Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai from 15th to 18th July, 2019. NGF aims to help the growth of the domestic garment industry across the world and features products manufactured domestically. It is a platform that displays the strength of the Indian domestic apparel industry across menswear, womenswear, kids wear and accessories. This year incidentally, the kids segment has done extremely well as it has seen a spate of bookings beyond expectations. Started way back in 1982, the concept of the fair and what it brings to the table has changed tremendously over the years.

The B2B Connection

Rahul Mehta, President, CMAI has been quoted saying that the association has been the pioneer of the Indian apparel industry for over four decades. The association has 20000 members including readymade garment manufacturers, exporters, retailers and ancillary industry and is headquartered in Mumbai with branches in New Delhi, Bengaluru and Pune. Participants have acknowledged that these kind of fairs have helped them to diversify their distribution base, learn new trends, have a better product-mix, ensure they have stylized products and have better designs all of which help increase domestic business. To drive its clothing and fashion category, Udaan was the title sponsor of the Fair this year. Organised by CMAI (Clothing Manufacturers Association of India), the largest trade association with over 1 lakh + members, this is the biggest fair held in the country in terms of footfalls, number of stalls as well as the amount of orders placed. Udaan had tied up with 45 of its premium brands and created videos of their latest catalogue to be displayed over 13 LED screens across six halls at CMAI. The 1200 square feet Udaan zone right outside the registration had 12 information desks ensuring interaction with a minimum of 25000 people over four days. In fact over 200 Udaan representatives, part of Udaan’s 3000 member strong on-ground team, interacted with 25000+ visitors to ensure consistent messaging. With a visitor turnover exceeding 42000 and 1000+ stalls, NGF is the largest trade fair in the country creating immense visibility and credibility for Udaan in the industry.  The bi annual event is popular with the fraternity for the fact that it attracts a lot of relevant footfalls for the industry and to be fair to applicants the stalls are allotted by a draw of lots. The fair itself was spread over 700000 square feet, with 882 exhibitors showcasing 1062 brands making it India’s largest ever garment fair held so far. CMAI also published the ‘Show Directory’ or the Fair Guide at the event.

Taking Flight

Udaan is a Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce platform designed for small, medium and large businesses in India. It is the largest distribution network in India enabling retailers anywhere in the country to source products for their stores from manufacturers, brands and distributors and wholesalers from anywhere in the country across multiple categories. Udaan’s marketplace facilitates efficient and convenient transactions across the country by offering low and best price, good quality and best selection to its retailers. The platform acts as a catalyst to enable transparency, accessibility, affordability and national reach to 15 million manufacturers, 25 – 30 million retailers, 10 – 12 million institutional businesses like office, school, HoReCa present in India. Udaan platform handles all logistical and infrastructure needs for all types of transactions on the platform. It even offers short term and long term credit facility to retailers as well as manufacturers. For brands and manufacturers, Udaan gives access to new regions and customers as well as marketing and sales support. It brings to its users the power of technology to grow their business, thus building a sustainable ecosystem. Udaan’s vision is to be the destination app for traders across all categories to source products for their businesses. The fair also had business networking sessions between exhibitors, agents and distributors as well.

Advantage Udaan

Udaan as a B2B platform accords several advantages. Retailers for instance can buy from 16000+ Traders and Manufactures from 25+ cities. Retailers can also directly buy from 600+ Brands in India and this is why at least 1.3 Lakh retailers buy on Udaan every month. There is a lot of choice as well and retailers can choose from a whopping 11 lakh + designs every day. Incidentally there are 20,000+ new designs added daily on Udaan and over 25000+ orders are delivered to 900+ cities every day. There are 80000+ retailers who have been extended credit in India. There are new brands launched every week and 1.4 lakh app visits per day. The cumulative time spent on the app every day is over 50000+ hours which speaks volumes for the kind of reach and business that happens on the platform. The other plus point is that retailers, traders, manufacturers and brands can connect with 3000+ Udaan representatives in 300+ cities. Udaan has over 600+ brands on its platform including the likes of Sparky, Mafatlal, Moonwalker, Dollar, Dixcy, Technosport, Zola, Anora, Vala’s, Lakshmipati, Rama’s, Aks, Kessi, Kayan Sarees, UFO, Cucumber, 612 League, Nauti Nati, Mini World, S Nawaz, Trident, Bella Casa, Killer reaching out to more than 3 lakh+ retailer base in India. With Udaan, retailers can buy latest designs directly from brands at competitive prices. Udaan offers strong distribution for brands promising growth across India with distribution in 900+ cities. Hence the connection with NGF as title sponsor has been a great addition for the brand as the access to a platform as large has mutually benefited all the industry stakeholders. The success of the fair is certainly another plus for CMAI.

This story first appeared in Apparel August 2019 issue here:

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