It has been four years, and 2023 China Int’l Sewing Machinery and Accessories (CISMA2023) show, the first CISMA event in a post-pandemic era, will take place from Sept 25 to 28 at Shanghai New Int’l Expo Center, where more than a thousand exhibitors will meet with down-stream end-users from sectors like textiles and apparel, footwear, cap and leather product, home textiles and furniture, automobile interior and aerospace, etc. against a backdrop of smart manufacturing, intelligence enabling and wisdom gathering.

Recently, the registration has come to an end. Your editor has interviewed Chen Ji, deputy director-general and general secretary of China Sewing Machinery Association, the top coordinator of CISMA2023, about issues like exhibition scale, eye-catching products, booth arrangement, visitor invitation, innovative services, etc.

Your editor: As the registration comes to an end, the preparation for CISMA2023 has moved on to a key stage, can you tell us how many exhibitors have submitted application as of March 31? How many foreign exhibitors among them? Any changes compared with CISMA2019?

Chen Ji: For more than two decades, CISMA has always attracted over a thousand major sewing machine exhibitors from all over the world. The pandemic has lingered on for three years only to find sewing machine companies’ enthusiasm for CISMA grow stronger. The latest data show that as of March 31 nearly 1,300 exhibitors have signed up for the event, and in aggregate applied for 106,000 square meters net. Among them, about 1,100 exhibitors have registered independently, applying for 99,000 square meters in total; 200 exhibitors signed up for the first time; the number of foreign exhibitors reaches 100.

At CISMA2021 held in Ningbo, nearly 400 exhibitors attended the event overcoming difficulties, which greatly consolidated the faith in Chinese market, and demonstrated its strong attraction and resilience. As the first global event for sewing machinery after the pandemic, this time the exhibitor number has exceeded that of CISMA2017 (1,200 or so exhibitors) though doesn’t recover to the highest level in CISMA2019 (about 1,400), which proves domestic and foreign exhibitors’ shared confidence in and expectations for the sector’s growth. Hopefully, CISMA2023 will be an occasion for fellow sewing machinery exhibitors to gather and project their burgeoning images.

Your editor: In terms of the potential exhibits for CISMA2023, any emerging trends? And what measures have the organizer taken accordingly?

Chen Ji: Taking into account the registration situations and the development of industrial chains, the organizer has made a series of adjustments to the exhibition sectors of CISMA2023. In general, the exhibitions space equals to that of CISMA2019, spanning 12 halls and occupying 138,000 square meters, which is divided into four sectors, i.e. sewing machines sector (hall W1-W5), supporting equipment (hall E1-E4), printing and embroidery sector (hall E5), parts and accessories (hall E6-E7).

Compared with earlier events, the most noticeable change to CISMA2023 exhibition areas is setting hall E1 to E4 as supporting equipment sector. As sewing machinery transitions into automation and intelligence rapidly, it has sped up its multi-disciplinary forays. As a result, the barriers between pre-sewing, sewing and post-sewing processes have been broken down, application scenarios have been kept expanding, and the demands for intelligent sewing technologies and solutions have become increasingly stronger. Judging from the registrations, sewing machine, pre- and post-sewing equipment are the most popular exhibits. Hence, the organization committee of CISMA2023 has decided to expand the originally planned supporting equipment sector from hall E1-E3 to hall E1-E4, which will serve as the extension of W halls, and extensively showcase the latest technological achievements and application scenarios throughout global industrial chains.

Generally speaking, the share of supporting equipment in all the exhibits has been increasing. To steer the growth of “specialized and sophisticated enterprises that produce new and unique products”, the organizer has further divided and reorganized some exhibition areas, such as setting up a special area for shoe-making equipment in the supporting equipment area. It has also taken into account the needs of sectors including industrial textiles, furniture, automobile interior, and medical care when arranging booth locations. Meanwhile, the organizer will design the overall images of the event for the purpose of publicity. It will also invite exhibitors and visitors on a targeted basis, so as to expand the industrial chains covered by the event.

Your editor: As the wind vane of global sewing machinery industry, CISMA is not only the largest display platform for the latest scientific and technological achievements in the sector, but also undertakes the role of leading the growth of the sector. The past two events’ themes were "smart sewing factory and solutions" and “smart manufacturing, intelligence enabling and wisdom gathering”, this time it’s "intelligent sewing tech and digitalization solutions". So, what does this evolution reveal regarding the technologies in this sector?

Chen Ji: Technological innovation and dissemination is an important drive for the development of CISMA. It undertakes the key task of transforming the latest research and development achievements in the field of sewing machinery into the productivity of downstream industries such as garments. At present, intelligent manufacturing has become the established direction for the transformation and upgrade of China's manufacturing industry and the realization of high-quality development. The theme of CISMA2023, "intelligent sewing tech and digitalization solutions", is the inheritance and continuation of the previous two themes, and it is more fine-tuned.

The organizer of CISMA will, as always, incentivize innovations, explain the essence of the theme, hold exemplary exhibit selections during the exhibition, encourage and support exhibitors to display highly sophisticated new products with independent intellectual property rights, and satisfying economic efficiency that fit the theme, so as to further promote technological progress and industrial upgrading. It is estimated that the incentive will exceed 2 million yuan, and companies are expected to receive space-based discounts if the same have exhibits included into the exemplary products.

Your editor: For a successful exhibition, the exhibition effect draws the most attention from the exhibitors and visitors. What measures has the organizer taken to attract exhibitors and visitors?

Chen Ji: In order to encourage the sewing machinery clusters to participate in the exhibition as pavilions, CISMA organization committee extensively looks for pavilion organizers, in the principles of burnishing the overall image of the industrial clusters and providing satisfactory services for the pavilion members. Altogether, nine industrial bodies and exhibition companies at home and abroad have been selected to organize the delegations from Guangdong, Shenzhen, Changli, Taiwan, Taipei, Hong Kong, German and Korean.

Rooted in China, CISMA strives to serve the world. To expand its international influence and attract professional visitors and end-users from all over the world, the organizer has taken a series of measures accordingly: continue to hold the theme forum, open to exhibitors free of charge, and invite relevant enterprises and experts to deliver speeches; hold the international development and cooperation forum, and invite fellow associations from Japan, Germany, the United States, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and heads of well-known Chinese and foreign companies to attend the forum sharing their ideas about the current situation and emerging trends of sewing machinery industry around the world; launch "CISMA2023 strategic overseas distributors" activity, provide free media publicity and amenities like on-site meetings, catering, transportation, so as to attract more foreign distributors to visit the trade fair.

In terms of promoting the event, on the one hand, the organizer strengthens three-dimensional publicity cooperating with influencers, and on the other hand, closely interacts with various professional media to disseminate CISMA2023 information. In terms of inviting professional visitors, the exhibition is committed to expanding the service fields, cooperating with industrial associations from downstream sectors such as clothing, home textiles, leather, and industrial textiles, and inviting end-users of sewing machinery with the help of professional organizations. At that time, relevant industry organizations and downstream users from all over the world will bring large crowds of visitors, such as industrial users in clothing, home textiles, embroidery, sofas, automobiles and others, and exchange with equipment manufacturers face to face. It is expected that the interaction of upstream sectors with downstream ones throughout the industrial chain will inspire product development in future.

Your editor: As the most influential professional sewing machinery exhibition in the world, what are the highlights of CISMA in terms of organization, supporting activities and relevant services?

Chen Ji: In order to enhance the cohesion of the industry and reduce the burden on exhibitors, the exhibition will continue the early bird discount on the basis of the existing preferential measures such as raw space discounts, membership discounts, and pavilion discounts. It is anticipated that the total discount rate of CISMA2023 will reach a record high.

In terms of event planning and organization, in addition to the selection of exemplary products as mentioned above, there will also be a series of sideline activities such as the selection of outstanding overseas dealers, the selection of cutting-edge brands, and industrial vocational skills contests.

In order to encourage exchanges and communications, the organizer will hold a number of forums based on the theme of the exhibition, such as the international economy and trade cooperation forum, technology forum, important product areas, product promotion meetings and so on.

In terms of information dissemination, CISMA2023 will once again launch the live streaming platform, which will provide exhibitors with free access. Such platform, with input from CISMA website, can deliver real-time display of products and technologies, facilitate the interaction between exhibitors and visitors to the most extent, and thus present a CISMA that never draws its curtain.

Your editor: The exhibition space in CISMA2023 remains in short supply as it was in past events. What principles does the organizer stick to while arranging booth location? How to make sure that the needs of most exhibitors are met?

Chen Ji: For many years, the organizer, China Sewing Machinery Association, has always urged the exhibitors to apply for space based on their actual needs on the basis of "effectiveness, frugality, and greenness". In terms of arranging booth locations, the organizer has a time-proven mechanism and process. It will first conduct a comprehensive assessment of the needs of all qualified exhibitors, preliminarily ascertain the sequence of booth allocation and relevant size and location, and then come up with a draft allocation plan. After internal discussion and meticulously collecting the exhibitor’s requests, the draft will be fine-tuned. It will not be implemented until reviewed and approved by the director-general work conference of CSMA. During this period, staff from CSMA exhibition center will keep in touch with all exhibitors, and booth arrangement will not be completed before both sides confirm the size and location. Nevertheless, for an exhibition larger than 100,000 square meters and attracting above 1,200 exhibitors, it is still difficult to completely meet the needs of everyone. Since the exhibitor’s demands far exceed the space available, it is inevitable that the booth size will be reduced to a certain extent. The organizer will try its best to come up with a plan that suits most of the exhibitors taking into account their requests and needs. And the exhibitor’s support and understanding will be much appreciated.