What is the function of fashion fairs and when are they held?

BACKGROUND – Trade shows are key events in the fashion industry, kickstarting the new season for brands and retailers.

In this article we explain everything you need to know about fashion fairs: what exactly are they? Who visits them and who exhibits there? And why are they so important? We also give you some examples of some of the biggest fairs in the global fashion industry.

1. What is a fashion fair? (What happens there and who visits them?)
   
2. Famous fashion fairs
   
3. timing of the fashion fairs
   
4. alternatives

A fashion fair is basically a fair where fashion professionals come together to do business. At the fair, fashion brands or suppliers present their range for the coming season, and buyers get an important overview of the upcoming collections and trends.

Exhibiting companies and their audience

Fashion brands present their new collections at the fair. At the booths in the exhibition area are people who represent the brands in sales or distribution. They show the new collections of their brands for the coming season – often for the first time.

The visitors to the fair are mainly from the retail trade, they represent fashion shops and large department stores. But other fashion professionals such as trend scouts and press as well as professionals from the wider retail industry also take part.

What are the advantages of participating in trade fairs?

Main reasons for retail companies to participate:

• Purchasing. Traditionally, orders are written at trade fairs. Nowadays, this happens less and less at the trade fair, but more and more often by appointment during the shopping/sales season, for example in the fashion brand’s showroom or in the store itself.
• Discover from [neuen] fashion brands
• Discovery of collections/trends
• gathering inspiration
• networking
• Stay up to date and hear/see what’s going on from other industry professionals. The relevance and usefulness of fashion fairs is sometimes questioned, but they remain one of the fashion industry’s most important meeting points

Key reasons for brands to participate:

• visibility of Fashion brand and collection. The fair should provide an opportunity to showcase the brand and products. Brands have their entire marketing story, consisting of the look book and other materials, ready before the show
• networking Personal meetings with potential and existing customers, partners, media, suppliers and industry contacts

At the fair, the fashion brands show their new collections for the next season based on their sample collections. They often have a selection of their best new fashion items, colors and fabrics on their stand. They also provide price information upon request. The purchase price and the selling price, i.e. the price that consumers will pay in the shops, are then already fixed. See Section 5 for more details on pricing this article

Attending a trade show is an excellent opportunity for brands to test the response and get feedback on their designs and/or their designs from the retailers who are in direct contact with the target audience in their stores on a day-to-day basis.

How long does a fashion fair last?

A trade fair usually lasts a few days.

What does participation cost?

Participating in a trade fair naturally has its price. Fashion brands have to rent a stand at the fair. How much this costs exactly is often not disclosed by the organizations. But the investment, which sometimes depends on the stand size (or the number of square meters a fashion brand rents in the exhibition space), is usually several thousand euros at a renowned fashion fair.

Visiting a trade fair is less expensive. The costs range from a few tens to a few hundred euros per person. Normally only professionals from the fashion industry attend these events.

The trade fairs Premium, Düsseldorf Fashion Days and ISPO Outdoor are three of the largest trade fairs for fashion and accessories in Germany. The Premium takes place in January during Fashion Week in Berlin, the Düsseldorf Fashion Days at the end of January in Düsseldorf and the ISPO Outdoor in June in Munich. Other leading European fairs are Who’s Next in France, Pitti Uomo in Italy, CIFF in Denmark and Modefabriek in the Netherlands. All of these fairs mainly focus on women’s and men’s fashion in the middle and upper segment.

Some fashion brands – especially the prestigious ones and bigger ones with bigger budgets – travel from one show to another during the show season. A brand like Lois Jeans, for example, can be at Modefabriek in Amsterdam and later at Revolver in Copenhagen.

There are also very specialized trade fairs that focus on a specific segment or niche. There is, for example, the denim fair Kingpins in Amsterdam or fairs that focus exclusively on lingerie and swimwear, such as Supreme Body & Beach. There are men’s fashion fairs (the most famous being perhaps the Pitti Uomo in Florence) and children’s fashion fairs (like Supreme Kids). There are also an increasing number of trade fairs that focus exclusively on more sustainable fashion, such as Innatex in Germany. There are also yarn fairs for fabric manufacturers and fabric fairs for apparel manufacturers.

fabric fairs

Fabric manufacturers present their latest materials at fabric fairs. Fabric manufacturer Workingmenblues (WMB) is a regular exhibitor at Première Vision in Paris, one of the most well-known fabric fairs in Europe. The owner of WMB, Aleks Kuijpers, explains that it usually works like this: “Brands come to the fair and ask for some prototypes [der Stoffe]that they like and take them to the drawing board with them.” When brands particularly like a fabric, they order it and design a sample garment to present at a fashion fair.

Then, based on the orders placed during the fair, the brand begins to buy large quantities of fabrics for the most sought-after garments. “We commission most of the fabric production when the time for wholesale fabric orders is over,” says Kuijpers. So the process of fabric development, sourcing/sales and production is similar to fashion collections (the garments) but the timing is a little different.

When is the fashion fair season?

Fashion fairs usher in the new season. Traditionally there are two seasons in the fashion industry: spring/summer and autumn/winter. Accordingly, the fashion fairs usually have two editions, a summer edition and a winter edition.

The fair season takes place in January/February (the winter edition) and July/August (the summer edition). After the trade fairs, the new sales season begins for fashion brands and the new shopping season for retailers.

In detail

Premium is one of the most important trade fairs in Germany. The Premium Group, which also includes the Seek trade fair and the FashionTech platform, has existed since 2003. They are major international business, information and networking platforms for menswear, womenswear, sportswear for all genders, outdoor, athleisure, footwear, accessories, beauty and lifestyle products. About 60 percent of the audience comes from abroad.

The upcoming edition of Premium in January 2023 will present the new autumn/winter collections. Specialists from the retail trade then order their range in the shopping period from January to March. After placing their orders with the fashion brands, the garments are sent to production before being shipped to stores between July and September. Retailers then sell these autumn/winter collections until December/January.

On the other hand, the second edition 2023, which is expected to take place in July, will show the new spring/summer collections. Retail sales of the S/S24 collections will take place from approximately June to August 2023 and will be delivered between January and April 2014. The stores then sell the collections to end customers by July/August.

Not all fashion brands exhibit at a fashion fair. Other alternative events often take place at the same time.

For example, ‘open days’ are organized in the brand’s own showrooms. A showroom, whether owned by a fashion brand or a distribution agency, is a commercial space where clothing is displayed. Retailers and buyers can come by on the open days, with or without an appointment. “We were at the trade fair with Ampere last season [Revolver]. Next season we will be in our distributor’s showroom in Paris,” Aleks Kuijpers, co-owner of the luxury menswear brand, recently told FashionUnited.

Alternatively, some brands might choose to showcase their collections in a smaller setting, such as at a dinner party.

There are several reasons why a brand might choose an alternative to attending a trade show. You might consider other alternatives that are more intimate, or simply to save on costs.