Focus on Specialty Beverage Movement, Expanded IHA Smart Home Pavilion Highlight Show
ROSEMONT, Ill. (Jan. 31, 2019)—The 2019 International Home + Housewares Show is sold out with more than 2,200 exhibitors, according to the International Housewares Association, the Show’s owner and operator. The Show begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 2 and closes at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5.
“The high demand to be a part of our world-class marketplace continues for our IHA member suppliers,” said Derek Miller, IHA president. “We look forward to bringing the industry together at the premier global housewares industry event.”
Show exhibitors come from more than 50 countries and include 400 new companies exhibiting for the first time.
Among the first-time companies and well-known suppliers returning after an absence are:
- Dine + Décor Expo: Blue Sky Clayworks; Boker USA Inc.; Cookduo; Dutch Deluxes; Foreside Home and Garden; Inspired Generations; Lenox Corporation; LifeStraw; Sobremesa by Greenheart; Stoelzle Lausitz Glassware; and tote + able.
- Discover Design Expo: A Packing Solution dba Culcreate; Constructive Eating; Darto; Devco LLC; Manual + Iron Cookware; Paddywax; Paladone; The Perfect Pint; Purpose Built dba Prepdeck; SoYoung; Strand Design; and Time Concept
- Wired + Well Expo: Admiral Corporation of America Inc.; Anova Culinary LLC; Canavac/RhinoVac; CLK Coproration; GREE Electric Appliances, Inc. of Zhuhai; Home Easy U.S.A.; Intex Recreation Corp.; IQAir North America, Inc.; Kenmore® Floorcare/Cleva North America, Inc.; MyPillow; and TAO Clean.
- Clean + Contain Expo: Addis Housewares, Ltd; American Crafts; Ann Clark Cookie Cutters; Charlie’s Soap; DishFish; Georgia Pacific; Hangman Products; Quickshine; So Simple Solutions; WALKWHIZ; and WM Barr & Company.
This year the Show will feature a focus on the growing specialty beverage movement, increased educational opportunities in the IHA Smart Home Pavilion and a continued emphasis on building careers in the housewares industry through the Experience Day program for college students.
The specialty beverage movement will be spotlighted in two events and exhibits at the Show. First, it will be the theme of the Trending Today Preview: A Marketplace for Specialty Beverage on Saturday, March 2 before the Show opens. This pre-Show event will feature 60 exhibitors highlighting the various types of craft beverage trends, including coffee, beer, cocktails, tea and water, along with specialty glassware and accessories, craft beer, cocktail kits and more. The Trending Today Preview is open exclusively to buyers and news media and will run concurrently with the New Exhibitor Preview from 8 to 10 a.m. in the Grand Ballroom/Room S100, just inside the entrance of the South Building.
Specialty coffee products and education will be featured in Celebration of Coffee, a special booth in the Wired + Well Expo. Today’s coffee-loving consumers are enjoying the specialty coffee movement that emphasizes increased quality and resists traditional brewing methods. The Show features a variety of exhibitors who have embraced specialty coffee with innovative products designed to enhance the at-home brewing experience. Attendees can learn more about preparation, brewing temperatures and how to make the perfect cup of coffee with Counter Culture in Booth L12313.
The IHA Smart Home Pavilion expands to more than 30 exhibitors presenting the future of housewares and offers increased education opportunities. The Smart Talks stage will feature presentations from established experts discussing the rapidly evolving Internet of Things technologies and how these developments impact the housewares industry. Programs run Saturday through Monday with sessions beginning every half hour. New this year will be a display by b8ta, a retail store and platform that helps bring innovative, smart and highly designed products to market in a new retail-as-a-service model. b8ta will provide the newest ideas in smart-related products for the home, housewares and more. In addition, exhibitors with smart and connected products throughout the Show will have booth signage indicating their smart home products.
The Discover Design Expo in the North Building will feature nearly 200 companies and brands from all Show categories, along with Design Debut, which allows 12 new-to-the-Show exhibitors whose product demonstrates high-design and innovation to come and experience the International Home + Housewares Show without having to create an entire display. A Toast to Trends reception on Sunday from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. will give buyers and news media attendees an opportunity to mingle with Discover Design exhibitors in the Grand Concourse Lobby near the 23rd Street Bistro.
Exhibitors can vie for the IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) for Booth Design, which honors exhibitors for their booth presentation. The awards are based on creativity in design, merchandising and messaging, and will be divided into two categories — exhibitors with booths over 300 sq. ft. and exhibitors with booths 300 sq. ft. or less. Eight gia finalists will be named, two from each expo, with two Global Honorees announced on Sunday, March 3.
IHA is helping to encourage the next generation of housewares suppliers by bringing college students to the industry’s premier event with an Experience Day. Through Experience Day, the students are exposed to the housewares industry by seeing the industry marketplace and meeting executives. This year, Experience Day will be Sunday, March 3, and 150 students are expected to participate. They will walk the Show floor and have breakfast roundtables with members of IHA’s Young Professionals Advisory Council (YPAC). Last year, about 100 students from colleges nationwide participated in the inaugural event.
Other Show highlights include the New Exhibitor Preview with 90 first-time exhibitors on Saturday morning before the Show opens; the Hall of Global Innovation featuring the Show’s special exhibits, including Pantone ColorWatch, the IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) and the IHA Student Design Competition, celebrating its 26th year in 2019; the Innovation Theater with 21 presentations exploring important issues including the connected home, global lifestyle trends and omnichannel marketing; and the standing-room-only educational seminars led by IHA’s color expert Leatrice Eiseman and lifestyle guru Tom Mirabile. A Power Hour from 5:30-6:30 p.m. on Saturday through Monday offers exhibitors and buyers an opportunity to extend their meetings for an additional hour after the 5:30 Show close. Appointments for Power Hour are encouraged.
To register for a Show badge, visit www.housewares.org. To view the entire Show lineup, download the Show’s mobile app, IH+HS 2019 from m.housewares.org, or visit www.housewares.org and search Housewares Connect 365 for exhibitors as well as to view floor plans, product catalogs, new product photos and videos and complete company contact information for each exhibitor.
