The Fashion Trade Fairs Have Confirmed a Positive Development of the Field

The 43^rd trade fairs STYL and KABO prove the stabilization of the fashion industry as well as an improving situation in retail. In between the years the number of presented brands has risen and thirty companies had their exhibition premiere at this trade fair. The biggest B2B gathering of textile, fashion, footwear, and leatherwear industry for the Czech and Slovak market attracted more than five thousand trade visitors, businessmen, and buyers. The collections presented were mainly fashion collections for the autumn and winter of 2014/2015.

Expositions of two hundred and fifty-eight exhibiting companies from seventeen countries were gathered in the pavilions P and F. Overall, five hundred and fifty-eight fashion brands presented themselves and a section of young and independent fashion Fresh Fashion was again a part of the trade fairs. The share of foreign visitors was 32% and most of them came from Poland, Slovakia, and Germany. The biggest exhibitor of this year’s trade fair was the Polish company Ptak Moda, which runs the largest clothing wholesale in Central Europe in Łódź and encompasses the offerings of two hundred and fifty Polish manufacturers and designers. Sixty-seven media representatives from the Czech Republic, France, and Slovakia were accredited in the Press centre.

Although the local manufacturing specializes and focuses mainly on export, fifty-nine Czech manufacturers presented themselves on this year’s trade fair. The impact of the economic crisis was best handled by the textile industry, which has been continuing to grow for four years now. The results, provided by ATOK (Association of Textile-Clothing-Leather Industry), show that the profit of the textile and clothing industry has risen by 2,5% in the year 2013. That is a positive result when compared with the yearly growth of profits in the year 2011 and the year 2012’s keeping of the trend.

Exhibition presenters have showed their new items and trends during contract oriented exhibitions, which took place at multiple times during the day on the P pavilion’s catwalk. The participants of this year’s STYL SHOW fashion show for ladies and men were DDP Paris, Dromedar, Emoi, E-Bound, Geisha, Moděva, Pause Cafe, Sanu Babu, and Tonak. The fashion show of lingerie, nightwear and hosiery LINGERIE SHOW introduced the offerings of companies Annes, Felina, Lisca, Pleas, Sassa, and Schiesser.

An exquisite happening was an evening fashion show LUXURY STYLE with a massive attendance of VIP guests. Topical collections of exclusive brands Corneliani and John Richmond and luxurious jewelry by Bvlgari came together on the P pavilion’s catwalk.

A part of the supporting programme was prepared by the trade fairs’ expert sponsors, the ATOK and ČOKA (Czech Footwear and Leather Association). Seminars and panel discussions were focused on retirement reforms, changes in the civil code, professional training, and possible avoiding of complaints through more thorough marking of the products.

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 2013 in the Textile and Clothing Industry award went to Oldřich Glogar, the owner of the company 2G Lipov, which has one hundred and twenty employees and is the biggest manufacturer of blankets, pillows, and upholstery paddings in the area of the former Czechoslovakia. The Personality of the Year 2013 in the Footwear Industry award went to Pavel Kubina, a researcher and developer of unique footwear materials from Zlín.

The Czech Footwear and Leather Association ČOKA celebrated twenty years of existence, because it was founded in February 1994 at the KABO trade fair. On this occasion, ČOKA awarded all the former presidents and also the former and the present managers of the Brno Trade Fairs, who looked after the development of footwear trade fairs for long periods of time.

What they said about the trade fairs:

 Vlasta Mayerová, Secretary of the Czech Footwear and Leather Association:
When it comes to the size of the KABO trade fair, it is the same as last year, which I think is a success. Last year was very difficult both for manufacturers and for traders. Footwear selling has been influenced both by the results of the economic crisis, when people want to save their money and buy only what they really need, and by the whims of weather. Our association was founded twenty years ago during the KABO trade fair, so its whole history is closely connected to the fair. To commemorate this occasion, we have decided to appraise our partners who made the development of the KABO trade fair possible, closely cooperated with us, and organised a number of accompanying events.

Rafet Haydaroğlu, the owner of the company Denimland:
We have been exhibiting at the Brno trade fair since 1994. For many years, we have been presenting here mostly the brand Stress Jeans and afterwards the brand Strom Jeans. We have a headquarters in Brno, as well as regular customers, but I try to introduce new brands and exhibitors from Turkey at the trade fair. The quality of Turkish goods has vastly improved. We have been convinced that this is true this year as well, when we brought here several brands of elegant ladies’ fashion such as Espineti, Luizza, and Lady Elite, which attracted great interest. Our partners were glad that such goods from Turkey are here. We had many people visit our stand mainly on the first day, and in general I think that the trade fair has had more visitors than in previous years.

Ljuba Sojková, the owner of the company Aivelli:
We came back to Brno to the STYL trade fair after six years. This is the same amount of time which it took us to come back to the Czech Market, which we left because of bad payment discipline of Czech customers. We were a bit worried about coming back, but when I heard that our goods had been lacking from the market, we gained the courage to exhibit again and to present a ladies’ collection for the summer of 2014, which is made from Italian materials: 90% linen and 10% polyamide. The reaction is completely unbelievable; we are pleasantly surprised and very content. It gave us courage to sell in the Czech Republic again.

Sylvie Vaněčková, Head of Representation for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Tonak:
Tonak introduces a new collection for the year 2014/2015, which is slightly more minimalistic compared to other years. We use less ornaments and we focus on more traditional shapes. That leads to the possibility of enhancement of overall elegance. Once again we participate in the STYL SHOW, which is a fashion show where we introduce our collection of hats, for both female and male audience. This portion includes knitted berets and a sewn collection. Concerning the attendance, we do not have precise numbers yet, but when we look at what is happening at our stand during these first two days, we have been visited by more business partners and visitors alike in greater numbers than last year.

Iva Macháčková, Managing Director of the company Afeli (the brand Tamaris):
This year, we in Tamaris, came up with a great new innovation for our customers. That is, we made a new downloadable application for iPads, iPhones and other smartphones, which enables the browsing of our shoe collections from the comfort of your home. We provided our models for the fashion show. This we do on yearly basis. The attendance of the trade fair this year is good, I believe. The attendance has spread nicely throughout the fair so we have not had an empty stand this year yet.

Kateřina Hanko Pletichová, the owner of the company Lovemusic and organizer of the Fresh Fashion zone:
This year’s STYL is even better than the one in August for us. We participated for the first time in August so we are satisfied very much. The last time was a great experience for us and it has taken us even further. Taking part in this trade fair really does matter to us because we found new purchasers and we ourselves came out with new requisitions. All in all, we have a great feeling concerning the trade fair and the whole Fresh Fashion zone.

Tom Hoyer, the owner of the company Friday 13 Production (the brand Spookid):
We have our exposition in the Fresh Fashion zone. The company was founded two years ago and now we still have only direct sales to our customers in a few stores in Prague, but we also have an e-shop. This is why we came here: to find new business partners who will help us with distribution. It is a first time experience with B2B trade fairs for us and we like it here, it has been a very fruitful visit here. We have gathered great panoply of business contacts, so we will see what comes from them. All in all, our participation here has fulfilled what we wished it would.

Petr Vykoukal, Sales Manager for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the company Felina ČR:
We have returned to the STYL trade fair after some time with the goal to address our customers in one place, to remind them of our novelties for the spring and summer and to introduced them to novelties for the autumn and winter 2014/2015. A lot of customers from Slovakia visit this trade fair, which is interesting for us, and I have also had meetings with clients from Poland and Austria. We are pleased that the customers’ reactions to our offer are very positive. We also welcomed the opportunity to present ourselves at fashion shows where the professional public can view our lingerie live. I am content with the fashion shows, they were professionally prepared. We had a similar show in Paris at the end of January and some models were presented here the same way as they were in Paris.

The 44^th International Fashion and Footwear Trade Fairs STYL and KABO will take place from the 24^th to the 26^th of August 2014.