Fashion trade fairs were bigger: they introduced new collections of 760 brands

Sales in the fashion industry are growing and the trade fairs STYL and KABO thrive as well. “They are the only contractual trade fairs of their kind in Central Europe. That this year’s February edition has again grown by new exhibitors is gratifying,” said the CEO of the Brno Trade Fairs company, Jiří Kuliš. After five years, the footwear and leatherwear trade fair KABO “grew” out of pavilion F and moved to a more spacious pavilion V. Novelties for the Autumn and Winter 2017/2018 season were, according to a first estimate, viewed by five thousand professional visitors, traders, and buyers, including a delegation of sixty businessmen and buyers in the textile and clothing industry from Iraq and Kurdistan.

In total, 283 exhibitors from a record number of 20 countries presented their collections of textile, clothing, footwear, and leatherwear. The number of represented brands increased significantly as well: to 760. The transfer of the trade fair KABO to a bigger pavilion V was appreciated mainly by exhibitors of handbags, who gained a full and unrestricted exhibition area.

The Brno trade fairs are traditionally the biggest exhibition of domestic production. There is no other event where Czech exhibitors would present themselves in such large numbers; this year it was 75, out of which 59 were a part of the trade fair STYL and the remaining 16 of the trade fair KABO. The section of young and independent fashion Fresh Fashion, where six young fashion designers from the Czech Republic were given an opportunity to present themselves, was again a part of the trade fairs. The biggest number of foreign exhibitors came from Poland, Germany, and Slovakia. 49 companies presented themselves at the trade fairs for the very first time; 33 at the trade fair STYL and 16 at the trade fair KABO. 51 media representatives were accredited in the Press Centre.

Like in previous years, the Brno Exhibition Centre hosted a trend seminar with a foreign expert. Traders, exhibitors, and other interested visitors could attend an engaging lecture on the key trends in women’s and men’s fashion for the Autumn and Winter 2017/2018 season, hosted on Saturday by the Dutch expert Ellen Haeser. The lecture, again, took place directly on the catwalk in the pavilion P, and a commented fashion show of trendy outfits selected from the collection of exhibitors was a part of the seminar. Supporting programme included two lectures on the topic of health risks connected to wrongly chosen lingerie and a seminar on electronic evidence of sales.

On the occasion of the fashion trade fairs the magazine Svět textilu & obuvi (The World of Textile and Footwear) gave a prestigious award to two important personalities of the field. The Personality of the Year 2016 in the Textile and Clothing Industry award went to the Managing director of the Brno Textile Testing Institute, who greatly contributed to the development of domestic textile testing recognised both in the Czech Republic and abroad. The Personality of the Year 2016 in Footwear Industry award went to the headmistress of Střední škola odborně technická in Zlín (the Zlín Secondary vocational school), who, after a twelve-year pause, was instrumental in the opening of the shoemaker daily study programme.

What they said about the trade fairs

Adolf Nytra, owner of the company ANYTRA:
We’ve been going to the trade fair since the beginning; since we started doing business after the revolution. We have never missed a year, so we serve as a kind of inventory here. Brno is located in the relative centre of the country and we say to ourselves, where else to show our products than right here. So far we have always been satisfied and we hope that this year will be no different.

Simona Spoustová, Managing Director of the company Simmy s.r.o:
We present our current collection of umbrellas and other accessories at the trade fair. We have been to STYL for at least twenty times now. Our expectations are similar to what we expected in the previous years; we would like traders to come to us, not be afraid of the electronic evidence of sales, and further continue with our cooperation.

Ján Bendík, Managing Director of the company BENESPORT, Slovakia:
We know the STYL and KABO trade fairs – we have been coming as visitors and this is the first time we decided to come as exhibitors. We primarily focus on outdoor clothing but we’re here mainly to present our city fashion.

Julia Allert, fashion designer, Moldavia:
We would like to extend our brand to the Czech Republic and neighbouring countries. That’s why we’re here at the Brno fashion trade fairs, to meet representatives of multi-brand stores and prospective customers. This is our first time here, so we don’t know this market well yet; we’re meeting people and gaining first contacts.

Jana Prchalová, Product Manager of the company PLEAS a.s.:
We traditionally present the brands PLEAS and SCHIESSER at our stand. When compared with the summer edition of the trade fair, this February STYL is stronger for us. We were busy on both days of the weekend; from morning to afternoon hours our stand was literally flooded with people who almost had no place to sit.

Jeny Marusičová, Head of Sales of the company SANU BABU, spol. s.r.o.:
We returned to the trade fair after a few seasons and this time we see the result in a very positive way. On both Saturday and Sunday we gained several new customers who didn’t know us, want to try our fashion, and placed their first orders.

Romana Novotná, CEO of the company LERROS Fashion CZ spol. s.r.o.:
We used to exhibit at the STYL trade fair but this is our first time at KABO, because our new offer includes men’s accessories, and we also became a distributor of two brands of women’s handbags. The goal of our participation in the event is to investigate the market, which we don’t know that well, as we were a part of the clothing market for a long time. We would like to break into the segment of accessories as well and gain new customers – business partners from specialised stores with leather haberdashery.

Petr Exnar, the company Bosoboty:
This is our first time at the KABO trade fair. We offer customers the entire range of barefoot shoes of the German brand Leguano. We would like to find new customers here: even a general footwear shop can have a corner with barefoot shoes. But we’re not only here to sell, we mainly wanted to present this alternative and we’re glad that people see it in a positive way. Whoever put our shoes on was satisfied, so our participation was successful for us.

Jiří Zdražil, CEO of the company Tylex Letovice, a.s.:
We exhibit here every winter and we perceive our participation in the STYL trade fair as important. It’s a tradition, and we also want to show that we still exist and make our products. And it’s still about contacting business partners, a large number of who exhibit here as well.

Petra Horáčková, Sales Manager of the company Linia:
We have physical stores all over the Czech Republic but we contact wholesalers, who we also work with, at the STYL trade fair. For us, our participation is advertising and an opportunity to reach new customers. Of course, our regular customers come here as well, to see our new goods in detail, which is not really possible over the Internet. It’s important to be here.

Elena Macková, General Manager, LASKARA group:
We’ve been exhibiting at the KABO trade fair twice a year since 2004. I think that the level of quality of exhibitors is high; there are new and interesting goods to see here. And every time a new customer who doesn’t know us yet reaches to us here.

Jiří Souček, the company Naboso:
We came to KABO to show that shoes can be both nice-looking and healthy. Our barefoot shoes replace walking barefoot; people are intrigued and amazed by them. The most common customers were owners of children’s footwear stores, because healthy shoes are essential for children. We’re very happy with our participation.

The 50^th International Fashion
and Footwear Trade Fairs
STYL and KABO will take place
from the 19^th to the 21^st of August 2017.