Bread & Butter cancellation rumors conflict

UPDATE_ As other media outlets continue to debate the future of Bread & Butter following the publication of an article on German news source Sportswear International on Thursday which claimed the trade show has been canceled, the original piece has now altered.

The title which first stated that the January edition of the trade fair has been canceled now states that Bread & Butter has canceled its exhibitors, rather than the event itself. “As Sportswear International was informed last night, Bread & Butter’s sales staff has called the fair’s planned exhibitors to tell them the trade will not take place this winter,” reads the article.

FashionUnited spoke with men's ready-to-wear brand Von Dutch, who has had a steady presence at the event for the past few years, and was told the January edition of Bread & Butter has been canceled.

“It's confirmed. It's not going to happen. We were in touch with them for the past month and we knew that there were more than just rumours going round,” said Olivier Mercier, chief executive officer of Von Dutch/Royer International Brands.

“I think the whole story came from their back and forward decision about Barcelona, that they announced the move there and then under pressure from all the German retailers, Karl-Heinz decided to withdraw and remain in Berlin, which left a bad impression on everybody. 'Look they don't even know what to do, that's bad,' which led to everyone starting to get cold feet.”

“And our European licensing, Newtex, had applied for a second booth for the next edition, because Von Dutch was there in July and we enjoyed it as we were in the center of the central hall with our Air stream caravan, so we really wanted to return to Bread & Butter. But they told us, 'well let's see what we will do, maybe we will regroup everything into one hall,' and we thought 'oh no, from five halls to one? It smells bad.'"

“Everyone is saying its closed and that it is not going to happen in January, which is really sad news because we used to attend for years. My first time attending Bread & Butter was in 2003, in Berlin, before they moved to Barcelona. I really hope they will revive. I hope the best for them, so we will see. It's really sad because it means that there isn't a big major European trade fair any more. Even though there is still Panorama, Premium and Seek, which are cool shows, but they are not the same as Bread & Butter.”

“I am really sad for these guys because they had a good run for the last ten years. I hope it's not the definite end for Bread & Butter and I hope they will survive, as we have.”

An official statement from Bread & Butter is still expected and current trade fair contacts were not available for commentary at the time of publication.

The future of fashion trade fair Bread & Butter remains unclear

On Thursday morning Sportswear International claimed that the upcoming winter edition of the Berlin event had been canceled. However, Drapers came forward and stated that the event is not canceled. According to the former news outlet, two anonymous sources claimed that Bread & Butter's sales staff had contacted the remaining exhibitors to tell them that next season's event would not occur.

But the latter British platform has countered this claim and states that a spokeswoman for Bread & Butter confirmed the event will still take place from January 19 to 21, 2015 at Berlin Tempelhof Airport in a single hall.

Andreas Åhrman, Global Sales and Marketing Director for Nudie Jeans, long term partners with Bread & Butter told German news source Schuhkurier that he was contacted by the Bread & Butter team last night and given the final no. “We have been in close contact with Bread & Butter over the past few turbulent weeks and they told us yesterday on the phone that the trade fair is over,” said Åhrman.

“It is a great pity for Bread & Butter. We must not forget what Karl-Heinz Müller has done for the industry over the past few years. We are grateful and more sad than angry about the trade fair's cancellation.”