The event, created by entrepreneur Thibaud Cau-Cecile who also founded the Life Instyle and Kids Instyle trade shows, is aimed at the creative designer ready-to-wear market. However, according to key exhibitors, the fair had poor traffic, timing and ambience, despite good organisation and strong marketing.
Citizen Deconstructed creative director Robert Rigutto said he had high hopes for the trade fair, believing it had a strong point of difference in the market.
“I was looking to test the water for trade shows in Australia and TWR was being touted as one that could change everything, but from my viewpoint, it didn’t,” he said. “While organisation was good, energy was low and continued to be like that throughout the show, the traffic was minimal for the duration and most people commented on the fact. The atmosphere was also lackluster with few actual orders. At times there were only 80 people in one day, which is pretty dismal.”
According to Lyna Ty, design and creative director of label Song for The Mute, heavy promotion of the event with a strong emphasis on creating a point of difference and catering to niche, edgy labels may have also contributed to high expectations which weren’t met.
“There was quite a lot of hype in the industry leading up to the event but it fell short which created even more severe disappointments,” she said. “The majority of brands were not able to pick up new stockists, perhaps caused by the timing of the event, so maybe the event was done too late into the buying season. Participants were also not given a ‘delegates list’ and were left with the responsibility to organise all the appointments themselves without knowing which buyers/media had registered to attend the event, and there were more ‘stylists’/students than buyers or media.”
However, fashion agent Phoebe Garland of Garland & Garland said that while the debut event may have left a bitter taste for exhibitors, TWR provided a new experience for visitors.
“One of the reasons I attended TWR was to see how it compared with both the Fashion Exposed and Premiere trade fairs,” she said. “There was a point of difference. We found it was probably a bit younger and more street wear than Fashion Exposed and a little bit less polished than the garments at Premiere. However, my first impression was that maybe it was a little bit too niche, so I would like to see more varied price points from the exhibitors and a few more mainstream exhibitors to attract larger crowds.”
Daniela Aroche