Derek Miller’s 2024 Letter to the Houseware Industry

With just over four weeks before the opening of The Inspired Home Show, we are truly excited about the industry’s focus shifting to Chicago. More than 1,700 exhibitors from 40 countries and more than 30,000 attendees from over 125 countries are slated to participate.  The total number of exhibitors and exhibition space will exceed that of last year, and we continue to assign additional companies every day.

Importantly, over 200 companies will exhibit at the Show for the very first time, and over 150 companies will return to the Show after a brief absence.  A few notable names of those returning include:

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The Inspired Home Show: Three-Day Event in 2024

International Housewares Association Announces Exciting Changes to The Inspired Home Show 2024

The Inspired Home Show 2024, to be held next March in Chicago, will undergo several changes to Show length and layout, the International Housewares Association announced today. After carefully considering feedback received from two industry-wide surveys and four special committees made up of both exhibitors and retailers, the IHA Board of Directors has decided to reduce the overall length and optimize the Show layout to create the most vibrant, productive and efficient trade show experience possible for the industry.

The Show will now open on Sunday, March 17 and close on Tuesday, March 19.  The majority of exhibitors and retailers indicated on recent surveys and in discussions that three full days at the Show is sufficient with business being more concentrated over that timeframe, said Derek Miller, IHA president & CEO.

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The Inspired Home Show 2023 Has Nearly 30,000 Visitors

Increased exhibitor and retailer participation drives enhanced discovery, connections and commerce.

The Inspired Home Show 2023 ended on March 7 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois, after four highly productive days. As a follow-up to the initial return in 2022, the Show demonstrated significant year-over-year increases in both exhibitor and retailer participation. More than 1,600 exhibitors and nearly 30,000 home and housewares professionals from 125 countries came together to discover new products, reconnect with colleagues and advance the industry.

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2023 Global Innovation Awards for Excellence in Product Design Announced

Fourteen housewares suppliers ranging from well-established brands to first-time exhibitors were honored as Global Honorees of the IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) for Excellence in Product Design today. The Global Honorees in each of 14 categories were announced during the invitation-only gia dinner on the first evening of The Inspired Home Show 2023. The global honorees are:

  • Bath + Personal Care:  Stasher, Everyday Beauty Bag
  • Cleaning: simplehuman, paper towel pump
  • Cook + Bakeware: Gourmet Kitchen Works LLC, Genetti Fan Lid
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IHA Announces 2022 Honorees for gia Top Window Award

The Inspired Home Show® and the International Housewares Association (IHA), the global sponsors and organizers of the IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) program, announced the Global Honorees for the gia Top Window Awards during the “Enhance Your Visual Toolbox / gia Top Window Award” presentation by gia expert juror Anne Kong earlier today during Connect FALL. The Global Honorees are:

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Exhibitors Plan Return to The Inspired Home Show 2023

Top Brands Commit to the Premier Housewares Marketplace

Top housewares brands that were unable to participate in The Inspired Home Show 2022 are committing to returning to the Show in 2023, the International Housewares Association announced today. More than 100 exhibitors that sat out the 2022 Show have already submitted space applications for the 2023 Show, which is set for March 4-7, 2023, at Chicago’s McCormick Place Complex.

“We were one of the brands that sat out of The Inspired Home Show 2022,” says Rob Michelson, president and CCO, Bradshaw Home. “Although Covid concerns made our participation impossible this past year, we are very excited and enthusiastic to get back to the Show in 2023 and rebuild those face-to-face engagements that are critical to our success.”

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Derek Miller On The Inspired Home Show 2022

Inspired Home Show 2022 Saturday Opening

Inspired Home Show 2022 Saturday Opening

On behalf of the IHA Board of Directors and Staff, thank you to everyone who participated in The Inspired Home Show 2022.  Buyers from 84 countries came to Chicago to meet with 1,016 exhibitors from 40 countries. While the show was smaller than in previous years, the benefits for those attending were tremendous.

Best Show Ever – when you hear something once and then twice and then again, it begins to turn into a trendline, and while that may not have been everyone’s experience, it certainly was for many Show participants.  Many exhibitors expressed they connected with key retailers like never before – they received meetings, and those meetings lasted longer than anticipated.  Retailers expressed that they found new companies, brands and products not seen in the past.  Yes, 2022 was different, but different can be good – quality over quantity as they say.

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Home-Housewares Industry Letter from Derek Miller

When Coronavirus first surfaced in late January of 2020, no one could ever have predicted that we’d still be having conversations about the virus more than two years later, but here we are.  Although we’ve been a bit beaten and battered at times, we are still standing together as an industry and supplying desired products to consumers throughout the world – housewares are often necessities and many times luxuries, and as the world worked from home, we were there to meet the consumer need.

Our industry is resilient, and after the past two years, we are no doubt ready to take on the many opportunities that 2022 will offer, and I look to the coming month as a turning point when we will once again be able to come together to discover new products and supply chains, to learn from industry peers and experts and to connect with current and new partners.

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