A smart kick-off, along with market instability. A positive start for Lineapelle New York, which opened its stands yesterday, at the Metropolitan Pavilion, to present and show summer 2020 trends (mostly summarized in the Co-Natural main theme). The exhibition is going to close today. Talking about attendance, quite several visitors turned up to get in touch with participating exhibitors, 132 in total (101 tanneries, 13 manufacturers of accessories and components, 18 specialized in fabrics and synthetics). In contrast, a difficult economic scenario does not prompt much enthusiasm, while stressing problems related to prospective investments: consequently, American buyers tend to look for the best option in terms of quality and price. Quite typical of them. Such trend is being confirmed by Vikram Sekhri, an Indian buyer, who’s the owner of Kabir Leather (a subcontractor that manufactures leather goods for US brands and currently hires over 400 employees): “We make medium/high price accessories, and 20% of leather we use comes from Italy”, namely for top product lines. Other than that, “I am interested in basic materials, whose price is more competitive. However, as a matter of fact Italy’s tanneries are the best as to creativity and quality”. According to Julianna Cassata, a fashion designer from Boston, who’s attending Lineapelle New York for the very first time, after recently joining the leather goods business, “vegetable leather, alongside its flexibility, further persuade to base my manufacturing in Italy”, in the premium segment. Amy Frieberthauser, from California, has come over to Lineapelle New York looking for suitable leather and materials to create hard luxury product lines, while Vanessa Greco, account executive at Pelle Valore (a leather wholesale company based in Hicksville), emphasizes, once again, that US market is rather stagnant: therefore, it is of paramount importance to diversify our clientele, both for sectors and quality segments.
Smart kick-off for Lineapelle New York, but despite US instability. Buyers like products supply, while paying (close) attention to prices
