MATERIAL WORLD BACKS DOWN ON N.Y. SHOW
NEW YORK — Material World, a new trade show on the textile scene, has decided not to go head-to-head with the International Fashion Fabric Exhibition.
On Friday, officials with Atlanta-based Urban Exhibitions, organizers of the Material World show, said they will not stage their planned April event, which was to be held at New York’s Pier 94. The event was scheduled to run a month before IFFE’s scheduled May show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, a mile down the road.
As reported, last week IFFE threw down the gauntlet, announcing it was pushing its dates up to April 2-4 — the same time Material World New York set. IFFE officials said at the time that their decision was not related to the newcomer show, which was targeting many of the same exhibitors and buyers as IFFE.
Urban Exhibitions officials were less cagey in explaining why they decided to pull back.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” said executive vice president Tim Von Gal. “But really, I don’t think the market in New York is strong enough to support two shows going on simultaneously.”
He said Urban Exhibitions is still exploring opportunities for a New York textile show, but has no firm plans at this time. The New York textile show scene has heated up lately. Next week, in addition to the traditional print shows, textile buyers are expected to turn out for the second edition of European PreView, a fair focusing on high-end imported fabrics.
The next Miami edition of Material World is scheduled for Sept. 10-12.