Fashion trade fairs showed new trends, the guests liked the novelty of the Visitors Club and the pavilions‘ new arrangement

The 52^nd iteration of the STYL and KABO trade fairs offered a rich mixture of traditional brands, new exhibitors from 14 countries, designers‘ originals, as well as enticing fashion shows displaying collections of clothing, lingerie, and swimwear. The exhibitions of 209 companies and more than 500 fashion brands attracted approximately five thousand professional visitors, who could for the first time ever enter the STYL and KABO Visitors Club and make use of some of its many advantages. A half of the exhibitors consisted of manufacturers, a third of the companies present came to Brno from abroad. “The STYL and KABO trade fairs once again proved their worth. It’s a pleasure to know that we are the only contractual event of its kind in Central Europe,” said Jiří Kuliš, the CEO of Trade Fairs Brno Co.

The newest and the most state-of-the-art hall of the Brno Exhibition Ground – the pavilion P - became filled with clothing and fashion accessories. The first thing that attracted the attention of anyone coming there was the new look of the Programme centre and its catwalk, which has opened itself to the pavilion and tempted the passers-by to stop by. The fashion shows took place on the runway four times a day and alternated between womenswear, menswear, and collections of lingerie and swimwear. The section of designers who – alongside custom clothing design – also create small collections of clothing and deliver them to boutique has expanded in numbers. The traditional summer section of textiles and haberdashery with suppliers from the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland wasn’t absent either. A part of the area was taken up by the section of bijoux jewellery and fashion accessories.

 Focused on swimwear! An extraordinary amount of attention was placed on swimsuits – a small but very challenging to manufacture piece of clothing. This process was thoroughly explained at the unique exhibit La Manufacture – swimwear step by step or, from an idea to recycling. In the pavilion P, visitors could explore the dozens of necessary production processes and inspect the required machinery. They became familiar with the rules of their swimsuits’ proper maintenance and with the upcoming trends of the 2019 and 2020 seasons. The supporting exhibition of historical photographs mapping the hundred years of continuous evolution of swimsuits and beach fashion was well received by the audience.

The nearby pavilion F became the centre of footwear and leather haberdashery. Thanks to a new way of arranging the exhibition stands, the previously not fully utilised part of the pavilion could be reconditioned into a  space surrounded by expositions of premium footwear brands – KABO LOUNGE with a lecture space, a help centre, and a relax centre. The free-of-charge help centres were for the first time present at both of the trade fairs and enabled the exhibitioners and the visitors to consult their problems with recognised forensic experts as well as with experts from testing institutes and professional associations.

The supporting programme provided interesting information with its lectures about the trends in beach fashion, the realities of the process of returning goods, and the innovations in the Merino wool industry. For the first time, the programme included presentations dealing with advertising campaigns on social media, which can be a simple, free, and effective way for a businessperson to get in contact with new customers. All the presentations took place directly in the exhibition halls, within reach of all visitors. Two ceremonies were held in the area of the KABO LOUNGE. On Saturday, three Czech manufacturers and regular exhibitors at the trade fair received the awards Česká kvalita (Czech quality) and Žirafa – zdravotně nezávadná dětská obuv (healthy footwear). On Sunday, the winners of the 12^th annual competition for young designers of shoes and leather haberdashery for the Jan Pivečka Foundation Award were officially announced.

The STYL and KABO Visitors Club had a successful launch. The club membership brings a number of benefits to all registered professionals – not just the retailers. There is no more need for repeated registration, the membership card guarantees free entry to the trade fairs and parking to its holder. Other bonuses of the membership include snacks and a free entry to the unique exhibition of painter Alfons Mucha, which is currently talking place on the exhibition grounds. Almost four hundred visitors took advantage of the opportunity. The Visitors Club enjoyed a positive reaction and is seen as a potential road to establishing a community of experts in the fashion industry.

The 53^rd International Fashion and Footwear Trade Fairs STYL and KABO will take place from the 16^th to the 18^th of February 2019.

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What they said about the trade fairs

Judita Laszabová, Sales Representative for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Batz Hungary
Past year in the Czech Republic, we have built a network of approximately 45 business partners. Our exhibit at the KABO trade fair – this is our third time here - was a major help in achieving this. We have made contact with many of our business partners right here at our stand, which is why we keep coming back. Moreover, we are very satisfied with the trade fair’s organisers.

Zdeněk Koblic, marketing,  WADIMA
We have been satisfied with the trade fair every year so far. Our stand was at its busiest during the weekend, we haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary and we had about the same number of customers as in the past. Our clients were pleased that they could come at the weekend and didn’t have to limit the opening hours of their shops. Our fashion show also sparked positive reactions, after its end, people were coming to our stand and wanted specific models because they saw them on the runway.

Simona Maděrová, back office, Jopess Fashion
For us, the STYL trade fair is the most important contractual event of the year. The customers can look at our new pieces of clothing and cuts up close, they can touch and feel the new fabrics. Our dresses were the biggest success as they had a good marketing campaign, be it the posters or the mannequins. We are satisfied with the amount of the orders as well as the interest in our stand demonstrated by the visitors.

Blanka Javůrková, Head of Sales, BLAKAR trading
This is our first time at the STYL trade fair. We have chosen a few “top” models for this opportunity as well as a couple of convenient French clothes steamers SteamOne. The STYL is the right exhibition for us when it comes to the B2B visitors. We are satisfied and glad to have been here.

Agnesa Schillerová, PRAKTIK MÓDA, Žilina, Slovakia
We’ve been exhibiting womenswear for women of all sizes in Brno for twelve years now. We came here to once again present our offers to the kind of people who look for something else than what they can find in large retail chains. The kind of people who want timeless fashion pieces from our high-quality, certified materials, that won’t end up in the back of the wardrobe two years later. 

Zuzanna de la Fotta, Director of Sales and Marketing, De La Fotta, Poland
My first impression of the dealings at our stand and of our first appearance at the STYL trade fair as a whole is positive. Since day one, I have noticed an interest of Slovak traders in very colourful models.

Bohdana Mychko, Export Specialist, Ennywear, Polsko
This is the first time we are at the trade fair. We found out about it on the Internet when we were looking for places where we could potentially exhibit. We sell a broad range of goods, the visitors at our stand liked our trousers, blouses, and dresses the most. We are pleased with the trade fair, although we expected a little higher number of attendees, but there is still one more day ahead of us.

Iva Macháčková, Executive, Tamaris
Despite the hot weather and other issues like the D1 highway repairs, we saw high attendance during the weekend. One thing that I really like about this year – and we tried to let our clients know beforehand as well – is the fact that the customers who become members of the Visitors Club get a free parking spot. I think that the creation of the club was a step in the right direction and that in the future it might evolve into a community of experts. The trade fair also enjoyed a larger marketing campaign on Facebook and other social networks.

Rút Jagošová, Sales Manager, TORUMIA
We were visited by our usual clients, but many new ones came, too. I really like that there are competitions for young designers and lectures given by the industry experts on various topics that contain a lot of information for the customers as well as the end consumers – for example the topic of returning goods was very useful. I was glad to come back to the pavilion F.

Vítězslav Ryšavý, CEO, Geneze
The market is changing. Today we compete for business with online shops and although the people in the Czech Republic are getting economically better off and can afford more and more as time goes on, some of them still put buying proper shoes at the very end of their list of priorities. At this trade fair, we are aiming for a different group of traders and their customers – the group that understands that shoes play an important role in their lives. Regarding the number of visitors, we had the most success on Saturday, people liked our shoes and we spent the whole day scheduling new orders.

Jakub Závorka, Manager, UNIDAX
We exhibit at the trade fair twice a year and we see it as an opportunity to introduce new products, whether it be the handbags that we make here in the Czech Republic, or the handbags of famous brands that we bring here from Italy. We know that the customers of the trade fair value innovativeness and variety so we presented new types of leather as well as “2 in 1” handbags.

Aleš Pavelka, Director of Sales, Gabor
We are one of the regular exhibitors, this year we brought our traditional products and also presented trendy casual shoes. On Saturday, our stand welcomed large numbers of visitors and we think that the total attendance will be about the same as in the past years. Some of our clients expressed their desire for the trade fair to be moved to the end of August.