Indian organization plans visits to U.S. marketplace

Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 7/8/2002 12:00:00 AM

NEW YORK —

With American buyer traffic off because of U.S. government advisories cautioning against travel to India, the India Trade Promotion Organisation will organize travel to the U.S. market for its home textiles manufacturers.

"Times are bad — we accept that. Yet [the United States] is still the largest market for our products. And the product innovation is carried on at a pretty good pace," said P. Laroia, senior general manager of the organization. "If they don't come to us, then we come here."

The coordinating counsel, along with the country's Handloom Promotion Council, is looking for showroom space for the October market and plans to bring several companies.

The Council may also create a series of annual regional shows in the United States to expose U.S. buyers to Indian textiles suppliers. It started a similar program in Japan more than a decade ago and brings roughly 60 Indian companies to that country annually to meet with Japanese retailers. In the United States, the Council would probably launch such a program first on the West Coast and in the South.

Companies attending the October market under the Council's aegis will largely be handloom producers. The Council plans to bring a broader representation of textiles producers in the future.