The deafening sound of silence

The McEldowney House of Porter has not been a pleasant place to be of late.

And for once it has nothing to do with dirty, half-chewed cushions courtesy of Dog or grotesque morning ablutions thanks to Scottish-extracted husband in training (SHIT).

In fact I have never known the house to be so peaceful, to shine so readily nor smell so, err, uncontaminated.
For the first time in at least three years I have been roused from my sleep by the birds in the trees outside my window rather than by a cold, wet nose licking the sole of my foot. Equally it is the first time in almost a decade I have been able to enjoy my meals in peace without a certain someone's fork hovering around my plate ready to engage.

To the uninitiated it would appear that this is life as God intended it. Quiet, sedate, calm, orderly.
But the truth of the matter is that with SHIT waking up his one-legged Argentinean housemate half a world away in viva-la-France and Dog busy barking at the moon from canine kennels in south Sydney, I have never been so miserable.

It seems I've actually gotten pretty used to my bunch of merry misfits raising unholy hell as they stampede through my life.
But it would appear I was not the only one despondent following a distinct lack of foot traffic in recent weeks.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on which side of the fence you sit, the House of Fashion Exposed (FEX) seems to be similarly plagued.

While the numbers of exhibitors at its latest event seemed down slightly they still appeared healthy enough. But one could not fail to notice the overwhelming number of nervous sales assistants and agents in contrast to the underwhelming number of buyers.

While traditionally numbers at the Melbourne installment have always been below those of Sydney - owing largely to the absence of Queenslanders and West Australians who for obvious reasons prefer the spring/summer version - it seems this year their absence was felt more keenly than usual.

Usually when this type of situation arises organisers will scratch their heads and inevitably blame it on conflicting events, poor promotion or lousy timing..

But in this particular case I would suggest it was none of the above.
For mine, it is the ongoing drought plaguing country Victoria and New South Wales that was primarily responsible for the lack of visitors through the doors at this month's event.

While the orders they write may not be large in number this determined group have the potential to be big in dollar value with many independent retailers doing their principal buying for the season at fairs such as this. With most agents unwilling to travel too far off the beaten track, FEX allows these buyers the chance to keep tabs on what's new to the market while also re-ordering from labels they know they can shift.

Each year starry-eyed new exhibitors tell me about how they are hoping to be picked up by department stores. They have yet to realise it will be the inde retailers that will provide their bread and butter.

In outlining its new strategic direction, Pac Brands - a permanent fixture at FEX - has already acknowledged how important these retailers are to the future success of the company.

Perhaps it takes circumstances such as these to remind us the contribution of the inde retailers should not be under-estimated.

By Tracey McEldowney