Saturday, September 19, 2020 - 12:57English

 

A much higher frequency than expected at Germany’s first fashion tradeshow of the season in Düsseldorf 

After a total of five days (including the Showroom Concept), the first fashion trade fair to take place after Germany’s lockdown – a special combined format for fashion, shoes and accessories – is drawing to a close at the Areal Böhler in Düsseldorf. “There was a much higher frequency than expected,” says Ulrike Kähler, Project Director and Managing Director of Igedo Company. This was also confirmed by reports from Germany’s trade press during the show. The platform showcased 40% fashion and accessories and 60% shoes from around 300 exhibitors with approx. 550 brands, 54% of which came from abroad and 46% from Germany. 

“People have a lot of trust in us.” 

According to Ulrike Kähler, holding an event in March 2020 meant that the organisation team already had plenty of practice in fulfilling the official health and safety requirements and was extremely well prepared. 

“Over the past few months, we further developed, adapted and perfected this concept so we could guarantee that our visitors would feel safe and very much at ease in September 2020.” 

The safety and hygiene concept in the halls, as well as their optimum ventilation with fresh air, was developed in cooperation with the Areal Böhler. And the guest management, which was adapted to the unprecedented situation and provided an exact overview of the visitor frequency within each hall and strictly monitored the numbers of visitors entering and exiting each hall, was carried out with an external specialist. “As well as the actual business and customer meetings, that is what my team and I invested the most time in. In addition to the official requirements, it was incredibly important to us because we are so emotionally committed to our professional partnerships,” continues Ulrike Kähler. 

Meeting up in person is a must for the industry 

This was underlined by Manfred Junkert, General Manager of the Bundesverband der Schuh- und Lederwarenindustrie e.V. (Federal Association of the German Footwear and Leather Goods Industry), at the event’s HDS/L press conference. He congratulated the organiser on their successful industry event, outstanding safety concept and excellent organisation, adding: “Who dares, wins!”. Innovation, unfiltered feedback, acquiring new customers and direct interaction can only really happen at trade fairs, he said. 

And this need for face-to-face interaction wasn’t only palpable among the 300 exhibitors, but also international tennis legend Boris Becker, who was in attendance to present his new collection, the German Fashion Institute, DMI, which hosted the DMI FASHION DAY LIVE in the ‘Altes Kesselhaus’ event hall over two afternoons and TextilWirtschaft magazine, which traditionally opened the industry event with its TW Order-Info, a preview of the trends for spring/summer 2021. And also the Fashion Trend Pool with its forecast for autumn/winter 2021/22 and Season’s Best Summer 2021, not to mention WMS with their presentation of the results of the current report on German children’s feet. 

Formats will also be merged in the future 

This special format with the joint presentation of fashion, shoes and accessories on one date served as blueprint: for the future, Igedo Company is planning to apply this concept to the four usual tradeshow dates per year in Düsseldorf, “with the corresponding weighting for each date,” says Ulrike Kähler. “This event has proven to us that the professional buyers are drawing inspiration from our complete overview of fashion, shoes and accessories, even amid the current circumstances.” This also applies to the integrated Comfort and Kids’ segments. “The fact that brands are now being presented in an overall context and not just within their own segment has also generated a lot of positive feedback.” 

New dates for 2021 

Subject to possible restrictions caused by COVID-19, Igedo Company is planning the following dates for 2021: 

Gallery FASHION & SHOES 31 January – 2 February 2021 

Showroom Concept 29 January – 2 February 2021 

Gallery SHOES & FASHION 7 – 9 March 2021 

Possible Showroom Concept dates 5 – 9 March 2021 

Pressemitteiling

Gallery SHOES

2 september 2020