German fashion trade shows gaining momentum

(AFP/PIERRE VERDY)

Berlin-based fashion trade events Premium and Bread & Butter -- running concurrently to Berlin Fashion Week January 20 - 23 -- recorded a rise in visitor figures, leaving organizers in a euphoric mood.

Berlin-based fashion trade events Premium and Bread & Butter - running concurrently to Berlin Fashion Week January 20 - 23 - recorded a rise in visitor figures, leaving organizers in a euphoric mood.

Urban trade fair Bread & Butter, in its second Berlin season since its return from Barcelona, welcomed visitors from more than a hundred countries, according to its organizers, stating that "a considerably greater number of professional visitors found their way to Berlin, the internationality could once again be increased."

Managing director Karl-Heinz Mueller, who even went as far as calling the event a "masterpiece," said that his team would "not rest on our laurels. We will continue to stick to the overall concept and will improve the result once again in summer 2010 [July 7 - 9]."

Concurrently-running Premium's visitor figures rose from 31,000 last summer to 41,000 with more than half of them from abroad - mainly from Italy, the Benelux countries, and the UK, according to the fair's organizers.

Meanwhile, French media report that the mood at Paris-based trade fairs remained rather calm: according to French fashion site fashionmag.com, the general ambiance at the Tranoi and Rendez-Vous fairs during men's fashion week was far from euphoric with most buyers sticking to the brands they already knew.

The actual runway shows, however, didn't fail to impress, reports Women's Wear Daily: the combination of practicality and innovation at shows such as the ones by Lanvin, Raf Simons, or Rick Owens, prompted a rise in men's wear sales of up to 15 percent compared to last season.