Kingpins China City Tour Returned with Expanded Exhibitor Roster + KP2C, A New Consumer-Focused Sister Show

NEW YORK (September 9, 2019) The Kingpins China City Tour has successfully completed its fourth edition, with stops in Guangzhou (September 4) and Hangzhou (September 6), to excellent reviews. The event showcased denim and related offerings from 40 global and Chinese denim mills, garment makers, technology and other denim supply chain resources. In Hangzhou, the Kingpins China City Tour debuted KP2C, a new consumer-facing denim festival.

Returning exhibitors include Candiani Denim (Italy), Calik Denim (Turkey), The Lycra Company (USA), Jeanologia (Spain), Cone Denim (Mexico/China), Tonello (Italy), Soorty (Pakistan), Prosperity Textile (China) and more. Lenzing Fibers (Austria), Absolute Denim (Thailand) and Noize Jeans (Spain) are among the seven new companies to join Kingpins China City Tour 2019.

“The Chinese denim market is a huge opportunity and inspiration for us,” said Vivian Wang, the Managing Director of Kingpins Show and the organizer of the Kingpins China City Tour and KP2C. “Each year we become more engaged with the local market and are able to introduce more of our global supply chain network to China. At the same time, we are able to bring innovations and ideas from the wider denim industry to China.”

Show Highlights Included:

Kingpins Trend F/W 2020 Garment Installation – a curated selection of garments designed by Kingpins exhibitors, inspired by the Kingpins Trend forecast developed by Amy Leverton and Sam Trotman of Denim Dudes. Designers visited the installation for design, fabric and styling inspiration.

Creatives Section – a collection of industry experts in diverse fields such as trend forecasting, vintage archives and inspiration, up-cycling, denim design and more. Participants this year include: Cicero Design, UseDem and Denim Dudes.

Seminar / Panel Programming – Kingpins focuses on education and inspiration. This year, the event’s seminar programming focused on two central topics: denim trends and circularity. A total of six panels featured speakers such as Sam Trotman of Denim Dudes, Yuki Hu of Lenzing Fibers, Gary You of House of Gold, Zennure Danisman of Orta, Alice Tonello of Tonello, Xenia Sidorenko of UseDem and more.

On September 6, KP2C made its debut as a day-long denim festival for consumers, which included interactive denim-themed installations, a retail concept, hands-on workshops, live music and DJs, and specialty coffee and food.

The event enjoyed strong support from the industry, including Cone Denim, Lenzing Fibers, Orta, Sportswear International, Prosperity Textile and more.

“One of our main goals was to create an event that celebrates denim and helps to bring the consumer and the supply chain closer together. Transparency, circularity, sustainability are all big issues that the denim industry is grappling with – and ones that we hope that consumers will also engage with and actively participate in with us,” Wang said.

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About Kingpins

The Kingpins Show is an invitation-only, boutique denim sourcing show featuring a highly-edited selection of vendors that include denim and sportswear fabric mills from the U.S., Japan, China, India, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, Thailand, Spain and Mexico; wash houses; full package manufacturers; trim providers; and makers of technology, wash chemicals and business solutions. Kingpins, which launched in 2004, produces biannual shows in New York and Amsterdam, as well as annual shows in Hong Kong and China.