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20 - 21 July 2023
Bengaluru, India
Bengaluru, India
Press Release 17 March 2019
Inaugural edition of ASW ends on very positive note; dates for next edition to be announced soon
| Bengaluru, March 16, 2019: The much-awaited inaugural edition of Apparel Sourcing Week (ASW) 2019 ended on a positive note here today. |
| The first-ever 2-day regional networking platform which aims to bring the manufacturing hubs of the subcontinent closer to India’s retail sector, received huge response from all the stakeholders, who thronged the event in large numbers to make it a grand success. If Day-1 of ASW witnessed participation of more than 2000 visitors, the final day surpassed the record of 2000 overwhelmingly to the great satisfaction of exhibitors as well as the organisers of the event. |
| “I am impressed with the collection displayed by Bangladeshi garment manufacturers and will try to focus more on sourcing from Bangladesh,” maintained Bipan Jain -MD of brand Madame, having more than 150 stores in Indian, while Wicrant Gambhir-Head Sourcing of Jockey India observed, “Indian retail industry is moving towards re-engineering sourcing, which is a very good sign for fashion retail sector of India.” |
| The sentiments of Jain and Gambhir, resonated with Sandeep Golam, Group Operation Director of Armana Group as well, who was more than happy with the number of brands and retailers that showed up at ASW to meet and finalise business deals with potential vendors. |
| “I met teams from Bestsellers, Ceilo and many more…,” said an elated Sandeep, while Md. Sajjadur Rahman, Director of Laila Styles Limited from Bangladesh on his part underlined, “We are quite happy with the ASW as we met few very good and big retailers. They were impressed with our collection and wish to start sourcing from us. I must say Apparel Resources should organise such events in other countries as well so that we can meet more global retailers to get bulk orders.” . |
| When asked about his observations on the inaugural edition of ASW, Abdul Wadud-Director of Team Scl Bangladesh was all praise for it. |
| “I have been to globally renowned sourcing fairs like Bread & Butter, ISPO and Magic but never witnessed such an organised and well-managed show before…In terms of business leads, ASW lived up to my expectations,” maintained Abdul Wadud-Director of Team Scl Bangladesh. |
| Team is one of the leading apparel manufacturers from Bangladesh. |
| In the knowledge sharing front, Day-2 of ASW witnessed several seminars and panel discussions unveiling new perspectives on the booming Indian fashion retail sector. |
| Aimed at answering all relevant queries, ASW conducted a very important session titled ‘Vendor Session-Requirements of Sourcing For Indian Retail by Myntra Jabong India’, Neetu Jotwani, Vice President (Sourcing and Product Development)-Myntra, who spoke on length on various aspects pertaining to sourcing parameters and other requirements specific to the Indian retail sector, and how a manufacturer could successfully meet the requirements of the brands/retailers. . |
| “Speed, Agility and Technology are the keys to serve today’s customers,” underlined Neetu Jotwani, Vice President-Sourcing and Product Development, Myntra, adding, “The main ingredients to a successful organisation are the Quality of the Products and a Clear Consumer Understanding.” |
| Apart from the combination of speed, technology and flexibility, manufacturers need to look carefully on the other aspects as well, she emphasised. |
| “The mindset of the manufacturers is what needs to be changed, as today the customers are striving for new products and want to stand out from the crowd every day,” explained Neetu to help the vendors/manufacturers grasp the emerging concepts in retail, and fine-tune and upgrade their capabilities to make a successful foray into the Indian fashion retail sector. |
| The next panel discussion revolved around products, quantities, sourcing strategies and delivery expectations of both Indian and International brands sourcing for Indian stores with focus on new challenges and also growth areas like Opportunity Buying. |
| Titled Re-engineering Sourcing-Sourcing Strategy for Indian & International Retailers and Brands in India, eminent names from the Indian fashion retail sector including Mohit Dhanjal (Director Retail-Raymond Limited), Wicrant Gambhir (Head of Sourcing-Jockey India), Mohit Mathur (Senior VP Sourcing-Landmark Group), Yogesh Choudhary (VP-Production/Sourcing- Gini and Jony Ltd.), Purvi Joshi (VP-Being Human Clothing/Mandhana, India), and Ramesh Ramalingam (AVP, Sourcing Operations-Arvind Lifestyle Brands), took part in the dialogue. |
| “In today’s market it is important for us to relook at our manufacturing practices to seed the potential that India has,” said Mohit Mathur, Senior VP Sourcing, Landmark Group, adding, “Making sure that the transformations are done within the length, breadth and depth of an organisation are what going to bring changes for the retailers.” |
| Moderating the session, Mohit Dhanjal stressed that since retail formats and way of working is changing fast, the back-end support in terms of sourcing also needs to keep pace by using new technologies to reduce time to market. |
| Last session of the show Driving smart retail and sourcing with new Technology in 2019 had eminent names like Robert Lobo-Consultant, AI, Applications, Venture Partner at Z Nation Lab; Vikas C. Raykar-Senior Researcher, IBM Research; Ankur Dinesh Garg, President & CEO, Hotify & Co; Gunish Jain- CEO, Blue Kaktus and Urvashi Gupta-Head of Account Management, WGSN, South Asia underlining the role and importance of technology in today’s retail perspective. |
| The fun highlight of the day was hands down the interactive and highly-engaging WGSN Fashion & Retail Quiz. Said Puneet Dudeja, Sales Director, WGSN South Asia: “This was the first time WGSN held a quiz in India. We generally do trend forecasting presentations, but being a great way to engage the audience we took this quiz at Apparel Sourcing Week as it had the correct audience for an industry-oriented theme like this. We are happy with the response.” . |
| The winners of the quiz competition were proud recipients of Amazon Alexa as well as a presentation by WGSN which are of tremendous value to the company. |
| Considering the huge success and the response the inaugural edition of ASW received, we promise to announce the dates for the next edition very soon! |
About Apparel Sourcing Week 2023
Apparel Sourcing Week 2023, a three-day Sourcing Show not only provides the Asian manufacturers a platform to showcase their products & manufacturing capabilities to the Brands & Retailers from all over the world including India, but also extends them a chance to attend the multiple seminars (headed by industry experts), workshops, open-house discussions and networking opportunities organised during these three days, which would help the manufacturers get a better understanding of Indian and International Retail and evolving dynamics of sourcing in various markets and retail formats.
About the Organiser
Apparel Resources is well known for its benchmark publications – Apparel Online, FashTech Journal and Resource Guide published from India, Bangladesh and Vietnam. These publications have been around in the industry for over 35 years, supporting, guiding and standing by garment exporters and the retail industry globally, providing them a platform to source better