Trade fair operators

It was charitable for your columnist Sam Setter to give our industry a full page in your February edition. However, I would like to take issue with him on the subject of who should or should not be allowed to exhibit in a particular event. Firstly one has to appreciate that there are essentially two types of trade fair operators - trade associations and commercial companies who are often subsidiaries of multi-media companies. I think it is fair to say that the former became involved in the business to provide a promotion vehicle for their companies and then found it to be a rather lucrative way to earn money for the benefit of the association. Obviously the commercial organiser is doing it for profit - but stating the obvious, if we, and CMP Asia which is a division of a multi-media group, do not provide what our clients want, our fairs fail and they cease to exist. This is what happened with PAL. Many Italian fairs, and American ones for that matter, are organised by trade associations and understandably their first concern must be for their members. Lineapelle is partially owned by the Italian Tanners Association and that surely gives them the right to decide who they want in their fair. As a private organiser we would not turn business away but again we reserve the right to refuse admission should we consider a company's presence to be inappropriate in a particular fair. Another example is the newly resurrected Paris fair which restricts to only the higher-grade finished leather producers. This fair is owned ultimately by the French National Council of Leather and presumable they consider it correct to maintain a certain standard of product in what is now a niche event. So far as the demise of PAL is concerned your writer put an unusual twist on the story which I would like to correct. He states that non-American exhibitors were invited exclusively for the organisers gain. The contrary is the fact: PAL stands for Panamerican Leather and our aim was to bring together all involved in, or interested in selling to or buying from the industry from the furthest South American country up to Canada. Unfortunately this concept only worked for a limited time and market forces determined that the suppliers and buyers from South America preferred to stay in the South even though Miami is the meeting point of choice in the USA for South Americans. The second factor which finally put an end to PAL was, sadly, the diminishing American tanning industry. PAL was great while it lasted but when it no longer offered its customers what they wanted it disappeared. Fairs are no different from any other business in that respect. Thank you Mr Setter for drawing attention to our industry which many believe, when the fairs are good, offers the best return on any promotional investment (with all respect to the journal that hopefully will print this letter). As for being refused entry to Lineapelle - how can that possibly happen - the organisers do not know who you are!! Derek Dickins CMP Asia Dear Derek Thanks for your letter which I have read with great interest. I fully understand that you don't agree with me but I appreciate your constructive contribution to a subject that is an issue for a certain number of people in the leather industry. Of course, I see the abstract term 'fair' differently from you as we sit on different sides of the table. I can relate to your separation of specific fairs such as Le Cuir à Paris or any similar event since you would not invite plumbers to a dentists' convention. However, I continue to have difficulty in accepting blank refusals to participate from operators in the industry because would-be exhibitors participate in other such, competing, events. Despite understanding your point of view I'd still like to think that a fair by definition is an open invitation to everybody. Sam