In addition to the presence of international buyers and press throughout Paris Fashion Week in January, there is also a renewed enthusiasm among foreign brands to come to Paris for Fashion Week. The Tranoï Men, which took place from 19th to 22nd January 2023, provides proof of this.
The fashion fair Tranoï Men, which has chosen Garage Amelot in Paris’s Marais district as its venue – which is also where most of the designer showrooms are located – coincides with the large-scale strike against the planned French pension reform. Nevertheless, the fair seems to be well received. The stands are all occupied and the party, organized in collaboration with the London showrooms, showcases the ‘it looks’ of Fashion Week Paris.
“best place for aspiring designers”
The stand of Isnurh, a sustainability-oriented brand founded by Oliver Abrenica and Kasper Juhl-Todbjerg, is well attended. Her collections, which rely on stocks of old fabrics and Tencel viscose, are sold in 22 boutiques, 18 of which are in Scandinavia. “Tranoï is the best place for up-and-coming designers. The organizers are helpful and support us in contacting international buyers from sophisticated multi-brand boutiques and department stores in France, Italy, Germany, China and Japan. Those who come here are really interested and, above all, looking for novelties,” say the two exhibitors.
“Paris has always been the hotspot for creative brands looking to showcase their collections. Exhibiting here gives us the opportunity to expand our target audience,” they add. “In Paris, people from all over the world connect around fashion and we had to be here to show what we can do. Copenhagen is too small for that.”
“This is the second time that we are exhibiting at Tranoï. Previously we had an unsatisfactory experience in a private showroom. Sometimes it’s better to take matters into your own hands and be physically present at the show, especially since we have a good network of contacts,” explains Markantoine Lynh-Boisvert, the Canadian designer of the Mkntn brand. “We knew some people who were already at the fair. We got along very well with the organizing team and we felt like offering a fashion show for the fall/winter 2023/2024 season. The team told us that our models would get more attention if they were worn. We organized a lot of fashion shows in Montreal, so we had a background.”
Label Mkntn, which embraces the skate couture aesthetic, recently appeared on Amazon Prime reality show Making the Cut with Heidi Klum. “She helped us become known. The presentation in Paris was the logical consequence”, says the designer. It’s like our second home as we speak the same language as Francophone Canadians. Paris is also known as the city with the biggest fashion week in the world.”
“Paris is the place to be”
“Paris is the epicenter of fashion. I’ve attended many fairs around the world, but this is the ‘place to be’, people come from all over the world,” says Carla Montenegro, who represents Portugal Fashion at the Portuguese brands stand. We chose Tranoï because it is the trade fair that best suits our brands, especially those that manufacture men’s clothing. Also, the fact that there is a partnership with the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode is an added plus.”
“We used to exhibit at the Capsule and Man fairs, but in the last three years we haven’t been to Paris because of Covid,” says Gaku Tsuyoshi, Japanese designer of Fndmtl, a brand between Japanese traditions and contemporary elements. “We heard that the Tranoï had changed, so we wanted to exhibit here. I liked the fact that the organizers chose Garage Amelot, a place that is a bit ruined and more modern. We met the buyers from Le Bon Marché, L’Éclaireur, Monsieur Renomma. Paris is definitely the fashion capital.”
International flair at the London Showroom
After presenting the Spring/Summer 2023 women’s collections in their own showroom on rue de Turenne, the organizers of the London showrooms have decided to present the Fall/Winter 2023-2024 collections at Tranoï Men. An international presence because, contrary to all expectations, the 18 designers brought together by the British Fashion Council at Tranoï Men are not all British. Although their trademarks are subject to UK registration, their designers are also of Greek (Charlie Constantinou), French, Korean and Spanish origin, among others. Producing their items all over the world, they reinforce the idea of a Paris Fashion Week that unites cultures.
“Exhibiting in Paris in January allows us to keep up with the menswear sales season,” said Caroline Rush of the British Fashion Council (BFC). BFC’s partnership with Tranoï began in 2017. “Garage Amelot is a prime location, a privileged place that the press and buyers know well. The Tranoï fair is the official partner of Fashion Week Paris and offers invaluable value and visibility to the BFC. In return, the BFC offers a selection of emerging designers, including several participants in London Fashion Week in February 2023, and thus a high level of buyers and press. Attending this season are representatives from French department store Galeries Lafayette, Italian stores Sugar, Antonioli and Penelope, and US stores H. Lorenzo, Bergorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus.”
One of the BFC exhibitors was Jasper Toron, who worked as a designer for Givenchy, Burberry, Brioni and Tom Ford and then founded his own label a year ago. “I design garments to be printed at Ratti, the leading Italian silk dye specialist. Like a kind of pajamas you wear during the day: they are comfortable, inclusive and allow freedom of movement.”
Brit Helen Kirkum recycles used sneakers from various brands such as Adidas, Nike, and Veja. She cleans the material and then upcycles it. She is in Paris because she hopes to expand her wholesale business. Also present were Golan Frydman and Eddie Gavriilidis from the House of Jaffa label, who split their time between Greece, Tel Aviv and England.
This article was similarly published on FashionUnited.fr. Translation and editing: Barbara Russ