Paris Fashion Week confirms the upswing expressed in June with an impressive number of creative designs for Spring/Summer 2024, the concentrated power of the celebrity business and the return of Asian players, especially Chinese, who want to build a bridge to the European market . This means that Paris’ status as the international capital of the fashion business is certainly justified.
While the official calendar of Paris Fashion Week included 140 brands, a total of around 1,260 other brands presented themselves in showrooms, at trade fairs and in privately organized shows from September 28th to October 4th. This means that Paris’ status as the international capital of the fashion business is certainly justified.
The much-attended Paris fashion shows have now become quite inaccessible for some industry representatives. After the journalists, the buyers are now relegated to the second or even third row to make room for celebrities, celebrities or influencers. A strategy that is expressed in the formula “celebrities are the new business”.
Another factor in the marketing buzz of the spring/summer 2024 collections is well-known fashion designers coming on board with the big fashion houses. After the low-profile wave that has been observed in recent seasons, the arrival of Louise Trotter at Carven is now causing excitement among buyers.
However, this fashion week comes late. “The June and January periods (normally reserved for men’s ready-to-wear collections, editor’s note) are much more dynamic because of the presentation of the pre-collections. Many buyers regret that they are no longer able to “arrive twice” in the same season due to higher prices (transport, accommodation, etc.), says Chaco Abou-Jaoude, manager of the Romeo showroom.
Paris Fashion Week welcomes the return of Asian guests
A sentiment shared by Cindy Gout, co-founder of the Likewise Showroom: “Almost 80% of the purchasing decision is made during the pre-collections in June. Asian buyers don’t stay as long due to the high travel costs. However, with the exception of Asia, the global market is complicated.”
Founded a year ago, Likewise meets increased demand for emerging designers – this season 8on8 from China and Yomi, a Belgian designer based in London – as well as more established designers such as Germanier and Valentine Gauthier. “South Korea, Japan, China are the most important markets for luxury goods,” says Gout. “We see that Japanese buyers are coming to Paris again. They have left their cautious Covid phase behind them and are again looking for creative and sophisticated products. They work a lot with buying offices in Paris, but come in twos or threes to see the new collections.”
Franco-Chinese relations
However, those who shaped the spring-summer 2024 season were the Chinese visitors. Not just the buyers, but also the institutions: be it the city of Guangzhou or the China Fashion Association, which was highlighted with six exhibitors at the Paris Fashion Week partner fair, Tranoï. At the press launch, Robin Fang, general manager of Shenzhen Oriental Fashion, a strategic hub for high-end fashion, told FashionUnited that he wants to build relations between France and China.
He is targeting the European market, looking for a year-round showroom to establish himself there and opening his country’s door wide to welcome French brands. Those brands that lack business opportunities because they are limited to the West. In his opinion, the young generation is tired of the big luxury names and is looking for alternatives.
Another emerging event was the Sino-French Fashion and Culture Festival. Held at the Chinese Cultural Center under the auspices of the Chinese state, it not only brought together Chinese brands, but also enabled young French brand Theunissen to stage a fashion show – a concrete sign of the evolving connection between the two nations. Chinese authorities plan to continue the festival twice a year during Paris Fashion Week.
The Spring/Summer 2024 fashion market is leaning towards global, conceptual and marketable brands
Another phenomenon set the tone for the Spring/Summer 2024 season: brands are leaving their preferred territory and offering a total offer grouped around different items. This new trend in the fashion market follows the evolution from specialized multi-brands to concept stores.
It’s a risky strategy unless you set a real stylistic line so that buyers understand what’s on offer, warns Coach Patricia Lerat, CEO of Plc Consulting Paris. She also notes that business is returning at trade fairs, which have repositioned themselves since the pandemic in terms of staging and interpretation of the offer.
An energy that needs to be maintained at a time when many buyers are worried about the 2024 Olympics. Travel costs are already enormous and “the prevailing uncertainty that comes with a trend towards conceptual, commercially focused labels that know how to produce and deliver on time” reinforces the concerns, according to Xavier Latapie & Giulietta Canu, the duo behind B2B -Platform Moddity, which lists many of the events during Fashion Week.
This is all the more true since, contrary to expectations, the temperatures prevailing at the end of September and beginning of October – at least 24 degrees in major European cities – do not play into the hands of the shops. The stores have already lined up the fall and winter collections, which are not selling due to the heat.
In this context, the role of buyers is more difficult than ever. Today they come with their cell phones, take photos of the models they like, have the look book sent to them and write down the quantities at home.
“The buyers are so busy that it’s a miracle if they respond to our emails, even if they say no,” one agent said confidentially. “If it is a well-known luxury brand, the orders are completed in two days, but if it is a lesser-known label that needs to start production, the negotiations can take weeks.” Against this background, the question arises: how can young designers :put the spotlight on those who are not on the official calendar but are considered the pride of the fashion capital Paris? How do you give them a permanent place in the international business world?
This translated article previously appeared on FashionUnited.fr