Kingpins – A denim fair with a difference

Imagine exhibiting in  denim/textile fair with an assurance that every visitor there is a serious  buyer from a reputed brand/company , food and bar is free (!) and you work in a relaxed atmosphere and party late till night . Sounds like it is a utopia for those tired with the regular textile fairs where sitting on uncomfortable chairs, under glazing lights and streams of visitors – most of whom may not be really interested in your products.

 

There are a number of different textile shows around the world which are good for Denim exhibitors and include fairs like Texworld, Denim by Premier Vision, Munich Fabric Start,many more Interstoffs and the list goes on..

However, there does exist a fair – the Kingpins (US)- which provides the ambience  I mentioned above. It is a textile/denim fair with a difference and has become the single best source of information about the next big thing in premium denim.

1. Very limited number of exhibitors – usually around 12-15 ; all of them are pre-vetted for quality .
2. Entry is by INVITATION ONLY..
3. Show is specialized for “Casual Wear” and concentrated on  jeans, denim, garment dyeing, cotton and fibers
4. Only serious buyers are invited .
5. An open kitchen and bar – no need to pay for eatables
6. Work in a really relaxed atmosphere – free from all deadweight visitors..
7. Held twice a year in NY and twice in L.A.
8. Sample of exhibitors

 

Where did the idea for such a textie fair come ?

 

The owner ‘Andrew Olah’ got really fed up visiting the Interstoff, Premier Vision and other textile fairs of the world for the lack of right ambience and quality. He says of his experience of visiting fairs

“I found the environment cold, stark. I worked in an exhibitor’s booth, but I felt mercenary and excessively detached from normal life.  The chairs where I sat all day were uncomfortable, the acoustics horrendous.  There was no music, or proper food.  The show was basically being run within an airport type atmosphere, zillions of attendees running and roaming around like lost travelers.  I never felt in any meeting that anyone was paying attention to anything specific”…

 

and

“My major complaint was that a show that charged an entry fee encouraged "anyone" and "everyone" to visit the show.  Subsequently the booth where I worked was open grounds for clients who had no intention to buy from us, or unbelievably available even to competitors of ours allowing them to come in and browse.   It always seemed absurd and peculiar to me that I would have to show my collection of new, proprietary products to these kinds of non-clients, or that our general product range was available to anyone to see”.

 

Thus he went on to create his own show where none of these disadvantages of traditional fairs would be there and launched the first show in 2004. And since then, it has gone from strength to strength.

Since this post has become a bit long and I am little tired, I shall post the recent trends noticed in Kingpins in the next post..Till then, think about getting into Kingpins !

 

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Tags: denim fairs