Press Release

Meetings, contracts, discussions: the INTERFABRIC-2023.Autumn’ exhibition ended in Moscow

The main Russian exhibition of fabrics and textile materials has come to an end, turning the Expocentre Fairgrounds into a large-scale showcase of the country's textile market for three days. The number of visitors - more than 19 thousand people - exceeded the figures for the spring exhibition, which were called a record in March 2023. The result is concluded contracts within the first few hours after the opening, good reviews from the professional audience, serious results of the business program events.

Recall: 800 companies from more than 40 regions of Russia and 12 countries of the world, national expositions of Uzbekistan, Belarus, Turkey, China, India; more than 28,000 sq. meters of exhibition space; more than 20 sessions, discussions, round tables and master classes per day - the exhibition life of INTERFABRICS has become the epicenter of the most significant events in the Russian light industry.

Representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the State Duma and the Federation Council took part in the opening ceremony of the exhibition. “I would like to thank all our honored guests for finding the time to attend and say very kind words to our industry,” said SOYUZLEGPROM President Andrey Razbrodin. – One of the objectives of today’s exhibition is to draw even more attention from our government and the state to the industry. We can grow independently, but we can make dramatic progress only if there is a joint program that takes into account modern trends.”

At the opening, the winners of the Interfabric Awards competition were awarded the “Interfabric Award 2023 – Autumn”. In the nomination “Structure and Surface” the leader was the company Shaoxing Bahong Textile (China), in the nomination “Sustainable Development” – Sverdlovsk Worsted Mill (Ekaterinburg), in the nomination “Finishing and Decoration” – “Mogotex” (Republic of Belarus), in nomination "Drawing" - AVANT textile agency, in the nomination "Import substitution" - "TechTex", in the nomination "Innovation" - "Alpha K".

At the opening plenary session, experts considered the possibilities for the development of Russian light industry in the new economic system. “We need to recapture our market,” said Oleg Bocharov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, in his speech. “To do this, the government needs to have complete reliable information about the industry and enterprises. We need to understand what support is needed from us now. I expect that SOYUZLEGPROM will formulate a task for us in the near future.”

Also, one of the main topics of the first day of the exhibition was the participation of industry public organizations in industry management. As the professor of the Department of Sociology and Advertising Communications of the Russian State University named after A.N. Kosygina Oleg Kashcheev, the further development of not only the textile light industry, the fashion industry, but also, in principle, the entire industrial economy of Russia should follow the European principle, when “industrial unions will carry out a certain regulatory function within their community”: “It is not for nothing that unions initiate all measures of state support , identify the most painful points and suggest what needs to be done to develop this industry. The most important and pressing issues are discussed and often resolved precisely on the initiative of industry unions,” he emphasized.

The topic of digital transformation of the industry also attracted a lot of attention from the expert community. According to Andrey Razbrodin, Industry 5.0 provides for massive customization of business for the client: “Business focuses on the external environment, on the place where there are both clients and money. And due to the gradual integration of Industry 5.0 into our reality, the client is being transformed, his needs and requests are changing. And from the economy of impressions, we are moving towards the beginning of the transition to the economy of transformations,” says the president of SOYUZLEGPROM.

The topic of digital transformation of the industry also attracted a lot of attention from the expert community. According to Andrey Razbrodin, Industry 5.0 provides for massive customization of business for the client: “Business focuses on the external environment, on the place where there are both clients and money. And due to the gradual integration of Industry 5.0 into our reality, the client is being transformed, his needs and requests are changing. And from the economy of impressions, we are moving towards the beginning of the transition to the economy of transformations,” says the president of SOYUZLEGPROM.

One of the immersive technologies that allows you to completely immerse yourself in the professional environment of textile and garment workers for several hours is a business game - a new interactive format implemented as part of the business program of the INTERFABRIC-2023.Autumn exhibition. The format of gamification and engaging edutainment technologies in business education is now at the peak of popularity and is in great demand, and the organizers of the exhibition could not ignore this trend. At the “Sewing Verdict” conference, the founders of Russia’s only business academy in the clothing industry “Proshyu Business”, Ekaterina Nepochatykh and Anna Taran, with the participation of the “Sewing Syndicate” moderators Evgenia Khoruzhey and Nikolai Grechkin, the business game “Sewing Way” became a real discovery of the second day of the exhibition and the center of attraction for professional visitors to the Forum pavilion. Participants in the business game - representatives of various regions and enterprises and businesses of various sizes - according to the game scenario, the presenters tried on the roles of seamstresses, technologists, designers, customers and production owners, which gave the action even greater dynamics.

The opening of the national exposition of India, which became possible thanks to the assistance and active support of the Synthetic and Artificial Fabric Export Promotion Council of India (SRTEPC), aroused great interest among visitors. India's exposition at INTERFABRICS was opened by Ambassador Pawan Kapoor, who emphasized that his country supports exporters at the highest government level, and artificial fibers and textiles are being comprehensively promoted to Russia.

The exposition of Uzbekistan was no less interesting. Advisor to the Chairman of Uztekstilprom Dilbar Mukhamedova noted that trade relations between the countries are actively developing. “If in previous years we were just guests of the exhibition, now we are becoming full partners. The number of companies from Uzbekistan is increasing every year. Now our activities are aimed at developing cooperative ties. We see that the world is changing, and we understand that only the cooperation of textile workers will allow the textile industry to develop.”

I was pleased with the Turkish exposition - it should be noted that this season all the permanent exhibitors of INTERFABRICS took part in the exhibition, but many of them already had exclusive stands, and most of them had stands of a larger area than in previous years, which indicates the demand for the project and the presence of a target professional audience.

The real exhibition within the exhibition was a large-scale Chinese exposition with its own special atmosphere. The exhibitors almost unanimously expressed satisfaction with their participation and noted the good results of the work at the exhibition. “I am very glad that we came to participate in this exhibition in Russia. On the first day we found several new clients. We will definitely take part in it again next season,” says Tony Han, a representative of Beijing VVE Zipper Technology. The business program events were also dedicated to the relationship between textile workers in Russia and China, as well as cooperation with Belarus.

And Belarus traditionally presented a collective stand organized by the BelLegProm concern. As Anzhelika Lashkevich, the chief specialist of foreign economic activity with the CIS countries of the BelLegProm concern, noted, the INTERFABRIC exhibition gives great returns to all companies involved in the work at the stand, so participation in the exhibition for Belarusian enterprises is a kind of constant that goes into the distant future of cooperation .

“The exhibition turned out to be big, all the declared participants were confirmed and arrived; there were more visitors compared to both the spring and autumn seasons of last year,” says exhibition director Elena Pishcheva. – Participants in all four pavilions are satisfied with the exhibition. For example, Chinese exhibitors have already confirmed 80% of their participation in the INTERFABRIC-2024.Spring exhibition. Those who cooperate with us on an ongoing basis note that we have a good professional team. That is why Russian companies are also actively confirming their participation in the spring exhibition, literally attacking us with their desire to exhibit in the spring, and they are increasing their exhibition space, emphasizing that they are very pleased with the results.”

The exhibition received no less response from visitors - this season the organizers call another record figure for themselves - 19,763 people. There were no random people or “pedestrians” here – only the business community, only textile market professionals. “We sell fabrics, make women’s clothing, clothes for the home,” say Ulyana and Maria, from the Fabric Shop company. – We visited this exhibition for the first time, it was very interesting: there are really a lot of suppliers, we found something for ourselves, established contacts, and will continue to interact with new partners. Interesting suppliers from Asia, we are committed to looking for ways to cooperate.”

“This is not the first time we come to this exhibition to meet new people, look at fabric samples, and understand the pricing policy,” says Anna, an individual entrepreneur from Chelyabinsk. “The assortment here is, as always, excellent, there are a lot of contacts, we got everything we came here for.”

“Everything is just great! – Natalya, Baby Artichoke (home textiles) company, shares her impressions. – As at previous exhibitions, everything is perfectly organized, everything is clear, I walk around and just enjoy the atmosphere and the beauty of the exhibition. I am looking for new fabrics for my production, new contacts, alternative commercial offers. The INTERFABRIC exhibition has it all.”

Victor, an aspiring entrepreneur from St. Petersburg, noted that the exhibition has many opportunities to study the peculiarities of market development and understand the algorithms by which one could easily integrate into the trade and production chain: “I’m just going to open own production, came to the exhibition to find partners. But the main thing for me is that here you can not only conclude contracts, for example, for supplies, but also learn how to properly build and develop a business - many thanks to the organizers of the workshops for their practical advice and recommendations to businessmen. I'm very glad I came here."

Read more about the events of the INTERFABRIC-2023.Autumn exhibition on the website in the “Exhibition News” section. We will be waiting for you next spring at the INTERFABRIC-2024.Spring exhibition.

See you at Expocentre on March 11–13, 2024!