Fashion Trade Fairs in August the Biggest in Five Years

The biggest number of exhibiting companies in the last ten years, two pavilions filled with up-to-date fashion trends and novelties for the next spring and summer, collections of 666 brands, fashion shows, and interesting accompanying program. This is the menu of the 48^th fashion trade fairs STYL & KABO, which begin in the Brno Exhibition Centre on Saturday the 27^th of August and end on Monday the 29^th of August. There will be more than eighty exhibitions of solely Czech manufacturers, who are more sought out year after year, and almost seventy of them will present their collections in Brno for the first time.

The STYL trade fair takes place in the largest pavilion – the P pavilion, as usual. There, exhibitioners from 14 countries will present 411 collections of fashion for women, men, and children, as well as leisurewear, underwear, accessories and bijouterie. The Czech Republic is represented by the record-breaking number of 66 local manufacturers, which makes STYL the undoubtedly largest exhibition of the Czech fashion industry. The well-known companies like Anita Moravia, Donet, Doppler CZ, H & D, Karpet, Modela, Moděva, and Pleas will attend, while the smaller alternative manufacturers will be presented in the Fresh zone with their independent fashion designs.

Reinvigorating fashion with Southern temperament is represented by Greek brands Depolo, Haris Cotton, or Vamp. Among newcomers to the trade fair are the German brand Gattina, which has for over 40 years specialized in luxurious, silk-made night-wear for women, and the Italian-founded and now Hungary-located company Devergo Jeans, which focuses on fresh denim fashion. Another interesting premiere will be the stand of the German company Calao, specializing in swimwear which is successfully being sold in Europe and USA alike. The Slovak company Mercato d´Italia, will premiere with the high-end brand of underwear and swimwear Guess, and another interesting addition to the trade fair will be the Polish brand Anabel Arto, also focusing on underwear and swimwear. Several companies will present their textiles and haberdashery. These companies include the Slovak company Floraprint, focusing on digital printing of textiles, and Midar from Poland, a company with 25 years of history and services ranging from embroideries to screen-printing. Chinese companies like Jinjiang Haoshou Garments or Quanzhou Xiamei Fiber are trying to find their way onto European markets with fibers for the production of suits, including linings. Changle Jialun Textile Industry will present their sewing needles and other materials.

Four times a day, fashion models will walk down the catwalk in pavilion P to show off the most interesting collections of the exhibitioners. Contractile fashion shows of female and male fashion STYL SHOW always begin at 10.30 and 13.30. The presentations of underwear, nightwear, and lingerie will be presented during LINGERIE SHOW everyday at 11.30 and at 11.45 it will be followed by the exhibitions of swimwear, beachwear, and accessories titled BEACHWEAR SHOW. On Monday the 29^th of August, this will be followed by this year’s novelty – a seminar dedicated to the trends in underwear, beachwear, and accessories. Mr Martin Kárych from the company ALTRA will present for the exhibitioners and tradespeople the new trends for next seasons.

In addition to this, there will be a special event on the catwalk in pavilion P – during Sunday, the presentation LUXURY MATERIALS will connect together four interesting collections. The winner of TOP STYL DESIGNER 2011, a young Czech fashion designer Mirka Horká, will present her collection. She is among the very few Czech designers who focus solely on men’s fashion and she was the only Czech designer nominated for this year’s prestigeous International Woolmark Prize. The frosting on the cake will comprise of collections by ELLIE SAAB – a haute couture collection borrowed from the fashion designer in Libanon; evening collection of OSCAR DE LA RENTA, and women oriented collection of ROBERTO CAVALLI, all presented in the Czech Republic for the first time. The presentation LUXURY MATERIALS will begin on Sunday at 18.00 and will be hosted by Iva Kubelková.

Neighboring is the F pavilion, which will be dedicated to the trade fair KABO and new trends in footwear and leather haberdashery. The largest contractile exhibition will welcome back the well-known brands of Ara Shoes, Arteddy, Caprice, Gabor, Josef Seibel, Romika, Gerry Weber, Doca, Hujo, JG Shoes, Lanson, Marco Tozzi, Rieker, Salamander, Sendi Design, Unidax, V + J obuv, Tamaris, Verde, Volum Bags, and many more. The premiere of the Italian brand of Inblu, which focuses on modern women’s, men’s, and children’s footwear, should be very interesting, as should be the premiere of the brand Bruni Diamonds, specializing in ladies’ sandals, and handbags, or of healthy and stylish children footwear Pediped, a brand, which is the most popular in its segment in USA. A first time exhibitioner from the Czech Republic named Spanish Shoes will present the high quality products from the companies Slowwalk, Vaquetillas, Roobin’s, and Coronel Tapiocca. New exhibitioners also include the well-known German brands Birkenstock and Peter Kaiser. All together, there will be 100 exhibitioners from 10 countries (including 17 Czech manufacturers), who will present collections and models of 255 brands. The visitors will have a chance to see the production of students of technical schools during the accompanying exposition KABO FORUM in the Relax Zone. These students will continue in the Czech footwear making tradition in the future years.

The top Czech manufacturers and the original Czech design will be highlighted by the accompanying program of the KABO trade fair. During Saturday, the awards “Žirafa” and “Česká kvalita” will be delivered, and on Sunday, in the P pavilion, the anniversary tenth year of the competition for young designers of footwear and leather haberdashery, the Jan Pivečka Foundation Award, will be given. There will be a trade fair seminar dedicated to the question of barefoot or ultrathin footwear. Orthopedic specialists will hold it at 13.00 on Sunday.

A great amount of additional value of the trade fair is the only trend-oriented seminar in the Czech Republic lead in part by a renowned foreign lecturer. Tradespeople and other people interested in the fashion industry are invited to the P pavilion, where on Saturday 27^th August at 14.00  they will learn all the details of the latest trends in women’s and men’s clothing, accessories, footwear; including the analysis of styles, shapes, colors, and textiles which will become the trailblazers for the next season. In addition to that, the tradespeople will get to know what the triggering factor for consumers is nowadays and where the retail business is going to. The presentation will be lead by the versatile expert from the Netherlands, Ellen Haeser, who has worked in the fashion industry for over thirty years. A novelty this year is that, as a part of the seminar, there will be a fashion show of outfits commented on by the lecturer and simultaneously interpreted to Czech. There will be time for the listeners’ questions after the seminar.

The visitor’s orientation around the pavilions will be facilitated by the traditional printout MAP OF COMPANIES AND BRANDS, which will be handed to visitors upon entering the trade fair or at the cashiers. During the whole of the trade fair, the entrance will be admitted only based on the compulsory registration or pre-registration. The setting of the trade fair are the F and P pavilions located in the western part of the exhibition area. The entrances at the Main entrance, Pavilion E entrance, and Pavilion P entrance will be at the visitors’ disposal. There will be STYL-KABO buses put in place for the sake of convenient transport around the trade fair. Their route will go from the Main entrance and from the E pavilion entrance to pavilions P and F and back. These buses will be free of charge and will depart in periodic intervals. The bus stops are made plainly visible and are impossible to miss. STYL-KABO buses are available even for visitors, who come to the trade fair in their own cars. They can leave their cars in the parking building named EXPOPARKING, which can be found directly in the vicinity of the fourth gate, next to the E pavilion. In addition to this parking space, there will be a large capacity parking lot available near the P pavilion (entry through the eight or ninth gate).