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MoOD 2009: Lean And Creative

The numbers showed noticeable decline across the board this year for MoOD. But organiser and exhibitors nonetheless felt “very good”. Nicole Liang finds out why.

One of Europe’s most renowned fabrics and coverings shows is going on a lean mode. From Decosit to MoOD, organiser Textirama VWA has trimmed the exhibition name to focus less on upholstery but more on interior coverings – such as curtains, wall coverings, etc.

In terms of show space, MoOD 2009 consisted of four halls, one less than Decosit 2008. Exhibitor numbers dropped from approximately 500 to around 400 (Indigo and Expofil Déco included).

There were also noticeably fewer visitors at MoOD 2009. Throughout the four days, visitorship was 20 percent lower than past year. Said General Manager Patrick Geysels: “This fallback is mainly due to less visitation from Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia), the Middle East and the US”. He added that many companies are sending fewer attendees who stay for a shorter duration too.

Geysels and his team are also considering reducing the show period from four to three days. “But first, a thorough analysis must be made before we make a decision,” he said, adding that a decision will be announced before the end of October.

“Very Good” Nonetheless

Yet despite these less than favourable news that Geysels shared with candidness no less, he was “pleasantly surprised how convincingly both exhibitors and visitors backed MoOD up”. Internal surveys showed that the intention to participate in MoOD 2010 was as high as 90 percent. Both visitors and exhibitors rated each other’s overall quality at above 85 percent. Geysels added, “It strengthens my conviction and induces me and my team to keep on working hard on the development of MoOD, to the new impulse we give to the market”.

Geysels emphasised on the “very good feeling”, referring to a positive market sentiment sensed at the fair notwithstanding the quieter atmosphere.

Exhibitors, who fully understand current market conditions, were clearly satisfied, despite what they consider only a slight drop in visitors at the fair. One of them includes Deltracon, which manufactures linen fabrics for interior decoration. “This has always been a very good show. Even this year, it has been good. Day one was a busy day for us,” said Rudy Delchambre, founder of the 19-year-old company.

Much of this “very good feeling” comes from the focus on innovations and creativity displayed at MoOD. After all, the industry is there to Meet Only Original Designs (which MoOD stands for).

Oiginal, Cost-saving Creativity

Besides the usual Trends & Innovation Platform and seminar programmes, a new section was born – Flemish Masters. This new section is a cooperative project formed between MoOD, Optimo (innovation platform for the Belgian textile, woodworking and furniture industries) and Fedustria (Belgian Federation of the textile, woodworking and furniture industries). This project challenged textile manufacturers and furniture producers to find innovative ways to work together. The products of their partnerships were put on displayed at MoOD.

“Due to our high production costs, we sell more expensively. So we created Flemish Masters as another avenue to stimulate the industry to think and manufacture more creatively and cost-efficiently,” Geysels said.

Innovative cost-saving products were indeed in abundance at MoOD. Nachik Weberman, Managing Director of Israel-based Nachik, for example, launched a new line of vinyl fabric to simulate the look of leather. And this new product is 80 percent cheaper than the real stuff, he said. “People are always searching for innovative fabrics. A different product, great service, and a ready stock with no minimum order – these are what the market truly needs at this time”.

In addition, the awards this year was renamed Blue Drop and winners were announced before the fair opened. Many appreciated this initiative as this gave the crème de la crème an added platform to be seen – online. A website is created to host pictures of these winning products, so that those who did not visit the fair can also log on find out about MoOD’s best innovators.