George Little Management's SURTEX Asia Debuts in Shanghai
September 15, 2013
U.S.-based George Little Management’s first foray into Asia with the launch of its SURTEX brand Aug. 25- 27 in Shanghai scored a successful debut, according to Penny Sikalis, GLM vice president and manager of both SURTEX shows.
The show attracted nearly a dozen top European and U.S. design studios and close to 300 manufacturers and attendees to the 5-star Kerry Hotel Pudong, Sikalis said.
“We had an excellent showing of manufacturers eager to buyoriginal and trend-forward surface designs from a select group of the world’s top studios to use in a cross-section of industries, including home textiles, bedding, curtains, wall coverings, and floor coverings,” she added.
Sikalis said, “Some of the manufacturers were so eager they arrived while exhibitors were still setting up their booths!”
The market is fast-growing with strong demand across China and throughout Asia for good, quality original designs to keep up with the increasing consumer desire for more sophisticated, better-designed products.
Manufacturers arrived not only from several Chinese provinces, but also from Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam, as well as Colombia, Russia and Spain.
“Not coincidentally, manufacturers are beginning to understand the value of design to their businesses and are more willing to pay prices that are fair and acceptable to both the studios and the manufacturers,” Sikalis said.
With 11 exhibitors and hundreds of attendees, one studio sold more than 60 designs during the three-day event, she added.
“SURTEX Asia was about quality, not quantity,” Sikalis said. “We set the bar very high, based on the void in the marketplace.”
The Conference Program featured Warren Shoulberg, publisher/editor of Home Textiles Today, who addressed trends impacting the worldwide market for home textiles products. Sikalis also spoke on the profit potential of good, on-trend designs and presented a forecast of “Interior Trends for 2014-15” compiled by Milou Ket, the well-known forecaster from The Netherlands.
SURTEX Asia is an extension of the SURTEX brand, the global business-to-business marketplace for selling and licensing original art and design, now in its 28th year.
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