Business picks up again at Mood 2012! Turkish exhibitors lead the way…
Three days, three halis… They were enough for everybody interested in original designs and innovation. The most significant difference betvveen this year’s and last year’s edition was the completely different atmosphere that could be felt throughout the halis. Most visitors and exhibitors clearly looked at the future in a positive way and were confident things are looking up agaın.
This optimism among both producers and distributors was interpreted into good business. Many exhibitors were able to match last year’s results, while several among them even consider the 2012 edition of the fair to ha ve been their best since 2008. A lot of visitors also expressed their satisfaction with
their contact.
All of these showed that despite the difficulties in recent years, the textile business önce again proves to be a sturdy one.
MOOD (Meet only Original Designs), the annual international trade fair for producers of upholstery, window and wall coverings, this year welcomed 7,000 visitors, according to the organisers.
This marked a slight drop compared to last year, but the majority of the exhibitors agreed the quality of these people was considerably higher than in 2011.
Just like last year, the foreign visitor’s top three was made up by Germany, France and the United Kingdom. Mood 2012 also saw a considerable rise in the number of Eastern Europeans, as more and more Russians find their way to the fair.
Now, the Scandinavian countries appear to experience economic growth again. This resulted in many Scandinavians making a trip to Brussels to visit Mood. The small drop in attendance can mostly be attributed to the countries in Southern Europe. Judging from Mood’s attendance numbers, a huge difference between the economies of Northern and Southern Europe shows.
When looking at the global attendance figures, Asia turns out to be the second most frequent continent of origin, thanks to the surge in Mood visitors from Far Eastern countries like China, Japan and Hong Kong (in that order of importance). The Middle East, on the other hand, is suffering from an insecure political climate, which had its effect on the number of visitors from this region.
The attendance from the United States remained about the same compared to last year. in this respect, the North African countries (among which Morocco and Tunisia) are clearly among the ‘grovvers’.
Mood has alıvays devoted a great deal of attention to the contract market. Virtually ali experts agree this choice is the right one, and contract again explicitly confirmed its growth potential. The presence and success of the exhibitors at the Trevira CS-square, along with 40 other contract specialists, is a clear sign of the contract market’s increasing significance.
One of the highlights was the ‘Discovery Zone’ in hail 7, which attracted large numbers of people. This zone can be considered as a symbol of what Mood wants to be ali about: to put innovation at the heart of everything and to use it as instigator for fütur e success. The ‘Blue Drop Exhibition’, ‘Mood Yarns’ or the ‘innovation Platform’, illustrated how innovation can make producers stand out among the competition.
The Blue Drop Awards heralded the best products on display at the fair. According to trend watcher Niek De Prest, the jury particularly focused on innovation this year, echoing the fair’s general theme.
“This Blue Drop Aıvard confirms the excellent reactions from the fair visitors”, said Bruno Lehmann of ‘Blue Drop for Contract’ winner Konrad Hornschuch AG. “it proves that we are on the right track by striving towards the finest quality. This is the best way for European companies to deal with the tough competition, particularly Far East “.
Thierry Van Damme of B&T Textilia, was clearly very proud of his company winning the ‘Blue Drop for Window Covering’. He considered the fact that B&T Textilia works with in-house designers to be the company’s greatest asset: “These designers give us the opportunity to be flexible. I believe that this ‘individual’ way of working is the solution to customer demands. This award is proof of that and it motivates us to keep working this way.”
