A conversation with Anita Tillmann about the return of her trade fairs to Berlin is also one about the changing fashion landscape. The pandemic has accelerated developments that Tillmann, Managing Partner of the Premium Group, wants to reflect through the structure of their upcoming event. In the interview, she gives an insight into her plans and the number of visitors she expects.
The planning for the fashion fairs Premium and Seek, which take place at the beginning of July, are in the hot phase. The days July 7th to 9th are already written on the blackboard in the meeting room of the Premium Group, colorful post-its with the names of well-known brands and streetwear retailers are stuck under the dates. During the conversation, Anita Tillmann’s cell phone rings and she remembers meetings that still need to be blocked. On the last day of Berlin Fashion Week, she is in a good mood and full of energy as she talks about the new beginning in Berlin.
Her enthusiasm is contagious as she clicks through a presentation of the event, explaining the grounds and buildings. Have you ever been to Messe Berlin? This is where scenes from the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit were filmed, this is where you get off the subway, this is where a band will be playing. “Mega location, architecturally sensational,” she exclaims. “Everything comes together in one location. The industry is meeting again for the first time in two years.”
How is the trade fair going after the outbreak of the pandemic?
Her trade fairs did not take place for two years, in between there was a move to Frankfurt and a retreat to Berlin, the reasons for which she no longer wants to talk about. Investments have been sunk, the press releases have already been made, the topic is ticked off. Instead, she directs her gaze and energy forward.
And this focus, their open-mindedness and fearlessness in the face of new things is what is needed now. The pandemic has reduced encounters between people to the bare minimum and calls the business model of the trade fairs into question. Fashion brands have learned how to process orders with retailers digitally, some brands prefer to sell to end customers themselves – online.
Anita Tillmann is reacting to all these changes in the fashion ecosystem with her upcoming event, which she has dubbed “Premium Group Kosmos”. At the request of the industry, the contemporary fashion fair Premium and Seek, which specializes in streetwear, are taking place on one site – instead of two locations as in the past. Because physical meetings such as trade fairs will have to be more concentrated in the future.
For the first time, the Premium Group invites to the event “The Ground” and with it end consumers. There will be music, sport and well-being sessions and a vintage area. The main target group are Gen Y and Gen Z. How to attract the young generation to a site with B2B events? With trendy names from the Berlin fashion scene. “At The Ground we are talking to Highsnobiety, Gate194, Reference Studios, Overkill, Voo Store, among others,” says Tillmann.
This is where the strength of the tireless entrepreneur lies – she is networked with the various sides of the industry like hardly anyone in Germany, talks to the trendsetters from Berlin as well as to long-established German fashion companies.
She now wants to bring the different scenes of the fashion industry together in Berlin. “The event wants to appeal to all people with an interest in fashion – in Berlin that means both the cool kids from Marzahn and the fashion and style enthusiasts from bilingual international schools,” says Tillmann. “We bring the bubbles together.”
A cosmos that encompasses the entire fashion industry
With the new event “The Ground” Anita Tillmann has come full circle. Because the classic separation between brands, trading companies and customers no longer exists, and this separation should not exist at your event either.
The fashion system used to be quite linear, explains Tillmann. She grabs a napkin that is lying on the table and starts to draw: At that time, the brands were still called producers, between them and retail there was distribution or agencies, and retail ultimately sold to consumers.
But those times are over.
“H&M is a brand, Prada is a brand too. The fire cosmos has changed completely. And right in the middle, end consumers have become co-creators. So you don’t have a linear relationship anymore, everything is linked,” she says, drawing a circular diagram with arrows between end customers, retail, brands, their own distribution and e-commerce. “Everyone is connected to everyone else, so we have a cycle that goes in all directions. It’s about the whole ecosystem.”
Outdated terms, outdated thinking
A lot is happening in the fashion industry and Anita Tillmann is counting. There are direct-to-consumer brands and brands that sell their collections to fashion retailers twice a year, but there are also brands that sell weekly or monthly. Stores run cafés and fashion retailers work with brands on limited-edition capsules. “At a time when retailers make their own labels and even produce collaborations with brands – are they retailers or industry?” ask her.
But when the boundaries become blurred and the terms no longer apply, is trade fair still the right word?
“Exactly, we are no longer a traditional trade fair platform,” exclaims Tillmann. It used to be called Order Fair, then “Marketplace of Product,” she says, crossing out the words on the napkin one by one.
“I would say we are a pitch platform,” explains Tillmann. “Some pitch to the retailer, others pitch to the consumer.” The part of the fashion event that is aimed directly at end customers should take place and be shown at “The Ground”. But how can the Premium Group Kosmos as a trade fair be relevant at all for brands that do not do wholesale and want to sell directly to end consumers?
“As a direct-to-consumer brand, you only get to a certain point and then you stagnate. In order to reach the next sales limit, you have to measure yourself against other brands in retail,” explains Tillmann. A good example is the Danish fashion label Ganni, which started as a direct-to-consumer brand and then turned back to wholesale. The idea of ”The Ground” is that fashion brands show themselves in a context with others and increase awareness and desirability through local actions. “It’s an interaction, you have to constantly evolve as a brand and be visible,” she says.
Tillmann has understood how to show relevant new products ever since Premium began in 2003 in a Berlin subway shaft. Not just up-and-coming labels that went on to become best-sellers; She also looks back fondly on the workshops at which fashion bloggers, who were still new to them at the time, were introduced. July will show how the combination of a trade fair and an event will be received by end consumers.
For the coming event, Anita Tillmann is initially expecting fewer guests than in the past, when around 50,000 people visited her trade fairs each season: “We expect that we will have around 20,000 visitors in three days. I assume that – as of today – based on the feedback, there will be more rather than less.”
questions at the end
What do these estimates mean for Premium Group earnings – i.e. when could pre-pandemic sales levels be reached? “I don’t think we’ll make it this summer. But I’m assuming that we’ll catch up quickly,” says Anita Tillmann.
The Premium Group held its own well during the pandemic, did not need any government support and was able to finance everything from its own coffers. The wages of the employees were also paid 100 percent. Tillmann himself has only held a minority of the company since 2017, the majority belongs to Clarion. And the British event organizer is majority owned by Blackstone, one of the largest private equity firms in the world, which provided funds to Clarion during the pandemic. “Fortunately, we are doing well financially,” says Tillmann.
After returning to Berlin, there is still a question about a date for the future. Before its move, Premium was a pillar of Berlin Fashion Week. Now the first Premium takes place in July, the Berlin Fashion Week since moving away in March and September.
The topic is clear for Anita Tillmann, she looks at the collection rhythms and the dates of fashion fairs such as the Pitti Uomo in Florence. “Our timing is very clearly defined by the industry. It’s not one that we choose at random.”
“Berlin Fashion Week is a completely different topic, it also has a different target group,” she points out. “We always talk about data, but you have to think about what is actually relevant for which target group.”