Diversity could easily have been the theme behind this year’s Sydney Fashion Exposed fair. The event saw 1500 labels showcase their collections for upcoming spring/summer season and buyers were spoiled for choice with the addition of free business seminars, half-hour skills workshops by the ARA Retail Institute and the co-location of the Bags and Accessories Fair.
The return of the “Who’s Next Premiere Class Paris” section, which debuted last year, also added an international touch to the selection on show, displaying popular French brands including Charlie Joe, Fil De Joie, Emaux’tion, Little Marcel, Lotta & Djossou, Pygmees, Sans-Arcidet, Skalli Paris, Tahitian Move, Twins & Co and Inoui et Compagnie.
The biggest buzz, however, was around the launch of Premiere, a new boutique trade show for selected labels. Although the exclusive exhibition was separate from Fashion Exposed, both events were held at the Sydney Exhibition Centre.
Premiere hosted 108 exhibitors, including labels Arabella Ramsey, By Marlene Birger, Cylk, Fresh Laundry, Isabel de Pedro, Little Joe and Rebecca Thompson.
This precinct was a success, with most orders taken on-site and exhibitors reporting excellent sales across the board. The decision to host the first Premiere exhibition under the same roof as Fashion Exposed is a strategy which also worked well, according to Marie Kinsella, managing director of Australian Exhibitions & Conferences, responsible for both trade fairs.
“They are two separate events and will remain so going forward, however for the first one it made sense to have them closely located,” Kinsella says. “As a result, we saw buyers visiting Premiere to place orders before moving over to Fashion Exposed to top those orders, particularly with accessories and basics, as required.”
Jodie Rogers, PR manager for International Fashion Group, which stocks brands such as True Religion, Not Your Daughter’s Jeans and Doma Leather, says the event was the missing piece in the Fashion Exposed offering.
“Premiere has filled a niche that was needed. There’s a lot of choice, it was well laid out and the environment was stylish, relaxed and sophisticated, which is conducive to buying.”
Christine Cassebohm, fashion agent for Roberto Sarto Australia, which imports European labels such as Bandolera and Tuzzi, agrees.
“Having been to some of the fairs overseas, I think Premiere is equally on par, if not better,” she says. “The calibre of the Australian labels on show was amazing and certainly all the top-end international collections were also here.”
The success of Premiere, however, could be bittersweet for Kinsella, with Fashion Exposed in comparison suffering under a soft retail environment and the impact of recent natural disasters on both the Queensland and New Zealand markets.
“As far as trends overall, there was certainly more cautious buying at the fair by retailers,” she says. “They were ordering more of the offerings where they were assured better sell-through, and this simply reflects the tighter economy and softer retail conditions.”
These tough retail conditions were also visible in visitor numbers for Fashion Expose, with AEC recording 7000 visitors for the long-running event this year, down from last year’s foot traffic total of 8446.
The figure includes international buyers, with the majority hailing from the US, Asia and New Zealand, but Kinsella says the number of New Zealand buyers, 131, was also down from the 250 who attended in 2010. On a local level, most exhibitors reported an increase in the number of buyers from Western Australia, but the usually large contingent of Queensland retailers were noticeably absent from the fair.
“There were a range of factors which affected visitor numbers this year,” Kinsella says. “We were well down on our Queensland retailers, due to the Queensland floods and we were also down on our New Zealand visitors because of the earthquake in Christchurch.”
Boris Ristevski, managing director of Warrant Brands, who stocks womenswear labels Bella Bleu and Crisp, marks 2011 as his fifth showing at Sydney Fashion Exposed and says he was hard hit by the reduction in Queensland buyers and let down by this year’s event.
“It’s actually the worst one that we’ve been to because they haven’t promoted it right,” he says. “Customers that we spoke to never got the phone calls or brochures that were meant to be sent out and on top of that the Queensland market wasn’t here.
“We count the Queensland market as about 40 per cent of our business, and we’ve seen a big impact because of the floods. This year, on the Sunday we were down 80 per cent from orders that we would usually do on the Sunday. Monday was better, but we’re probably at least 30 per cent down overall.”
The sentiment was echoed by Angela Babatsias, owner of Melbourne-based bag and accessories label Vintage Princess. A first time exhibitor at the Bags and Accessories fair, Babatsias signed up to exhibit in an attempt to attract Sydney stockists, but says she was disappointed by the turn-out.
“We call it the ghost town, because there’s just nobody coming through, it was empty,” she says. “So, for us it’s been a waste of money and I actually feel like it’s been worse for my brand. I know there’s an economic crisis, but it also just feels like they’ve let anyone in – my product is of a particular standard, but some of the labels here aren’t of the same quality and that reflects badly on my product.”
Unisex streetwear label Hot Tuna, however, reported a completely different experience. The label recently relaunched into the Australian market and according to chief executive Geoff O’Connell, the exposure from the event has helped his label enormously.
“We’ve had an exceptionally good run, it was definitely worth the investment,” he says.
Kinsella admits feedback was mixed in regards to this year’s Fashion Exposed, but says there is always room for improvement and there are currently initiatives underway to enhance both the Premiere and Fashion Exposed exhibitions in future.
This will include catwalks in the Premiere exhibition and a concierge concept at Fashion Exposed, which will be trialled at the Melbourne event in August. The service will allow buyers to communicate the labels and price points they seek in particular sections and a staff member will direct them to the appropriate stands.
“We have changed so much over time in our effort to continue to stay relevant and we will continue to do so,” Kinsella says.