29 March 2021

APLF introduces sampleroom

Starts connecting buyers and suppliers on 19 April 2021

APLF will launch sampleroom, a brand-new B2B social networking marketplace for suppliers to unveil their collections, connect with buyers and accelerate business. The platform provides year-round product sourcing and business matching services to both suppliers and buyers.


sampleroom will bring together international suppliers of leather, hides and skins, machinery, chemicals, materials, components, manufacturing supplies, garments, fashion items, and services.

Birth of sampleroom

The sourcing behaviour of buyers has been reshaped. The exchange between buyers and suppliers has been extended beyond physical events to online. Thus, even the leather and fashion industries, which are regarded as traditional markets, are adapting to the change. They are taking advantage of online platforms to stay connected to maximise business opportunities all year-round. Driven by the changes in trading and sourcing behaviour, sampleroom is created to provide the industry with an easy-to-use sourcing and social networking online tool.

Network

Co-creation

sampleroom is an open network that brings all stakeholders – suppliers, buyers, associations, and media together, where users can discover potential business partners, grow their network and create more business opportunities.

sampleroom aims to thrive on the networking effect to bring creativity and innovation closer than ever. Users can utilise sampleroom as a creative digital space to generate new ideas and projects as well as to get inspiration from showrooms, newsroom and educational materials available in sampleroom.

Sustainability

Innovation

Responsible trading in the leather and fashion industries is more important than ever. sampleroom allows buyers to look for the right sustainable partners for their business through filtering over 40 recognised certificates.

sampleroom is a platform tailor-made for the whole industry to launch new products and showcase their concepts. Each month, the platform highlights the suppliers with innovative and sustainable products or services to encourage co-creation between suppliers and designers within the community.

Quality

Touch

sampleroom will set the bar for the industry by gathering the best leather and fashion goods producers. In sampleroom, buyers can discover over 2,000 product showcases which increase daily, search according to the product types, applications, seasonal collections, sustainability credentials, and more.

sampleroom is a pioneering networking site that allows people-to-people connection. The in-platform social tools are designed to create an engaging and interactive environment for suppliers and buyers. Users will be able to customise their company and personal profile pages to enhance their social presence. Through connection requests, meeting scheduling, private messages and video calls, and also the community feed and blog column, users will be fully integrated into the platform to communicate and stay in touch with the industry.
“The name of the platform is a homage to sample room, an important place where design and innovation come to life,” said Grace Lee, APLF’s Director, “every fashion house, material or component producer, chemicals or machinery manufacturer has their own sample room. It is the go-to place where designers, specifiers and producers gather to develop the next collection, and review their prototypes. With this core concept in mind, APLF aims at re-creating this experience online through our new sourcing platform – sampleroom.”
sampleroom Launching Event

The much-anticipated platform will officially be live on 19 April, along with a one-week launching event from April 19 to 23. Over 30 webinars will be held during the launching week with industry experts and professionals sharing their knowledge and insights on topics on trends, sustainability, retail and innovations. Buyers can start pre-registering for the launching week by clicking here.