• Home
  • News
  • Fairs
  • In Pictures: Jacket Required, Spring/Summer 2018

In Pictures: Jacket Required, Spring/Summer 2018

By Georgie Lillington

loading...

Scroll down to read more

Fairs

Jacket Required opened the doors of their 13th edition at The Old Truman Brewery on Wednesday July 26. Showcasing contemporary fashion, 300 streetwear brands prepared their collections for the two days of flocking press and buyers from retailers such as Selfridges, Mr Porter and Urban Outfitters.

FashionUnited have rounded up the highlights so that you can get a feel for what happened at the growing contemporary trade fair’s Spring/Summer 2018 edition, which closed yesterday afternoon.

Jacket Required Woman

Established as a hub for menswear brands, this season’s Jacket Required saw the addition of 60 selected womenswear brands, showcased alongside their menswear counterparts with brands including Kappa and Dickies benefitting from this change, able to show their prevalent designs to unisex retailers.

“Bringing a selection of womenswear to Jacket Required has been something under discussion with brands and buyers for a number of seasons, and it now feels like the time is right,” said Alice Elliott, Event Director in a press statement. “We have a number of labels that are extremely relevant to the women’s market as they stand, and we are keen to provide them with a platform to showcase a strong womenswear edit of spring/summer 2018 collections to targeted retailers.’

The two day fair, spread over two floors at the trendy Shoreditch location also showcased footwear, accessories and lifestyle products from big name brands such as Clarks Originals as well as smaller independent brands.Launched in 2011 with only 30 exhibitors, Jacket Required has always been about “quality not quantity” according to co-founders Mark Batista, and Craig Ford who pride themselves on their ‘carefully edited international line-up’ of brands.

To guarantee space for new exhibitors and visitors, the layout was changed and an additional area was added to the floor plan, where ‘key brands’ were located as well as newly opened sneaker store Presented By, who offered rare and luxury products to buyers.

Sex Skateboards also added an interesting installation to the simplistic layout of the fair, with a spray painted wall that reaffirmed the contemporary streetwear theme of the show.

⚽ #jacketrequired

A post shared by Dhruv Upadhya (@dhruvupadhya) on

The Art of the Football Shirt

Growth has been steady since the trade fair’s inception, contributed to by the popular exhibitions that Jacket Required puts on alongside the fair. Open to general public as well as visitors to the fair, exhibitions such as last season’s homage to the late Massimo Osti, streetwear pioneer and founder of Stone Island has resulted in good press for the show and encouraged growth over the years.

Exploring streetwear further, Jacket Required presented a ‘selection of sartorially sound, obscure, vintage football shirts which travel through history, design and popular culture’ at this season’s event. Curated by Neal Heard who was on hand for visitors on both days, ‘The Art of the Football Shirt’, comprising 150 rare examples proved a popular attraction, exploring ‘the many links between team kits of previous generations which have gained rarity and iconic status, and how they fuse or collide with the worlds of music, fashion and politics.’

In talks with industry professionals

In addition to the exhibition, British journalist James Brown hosted a panel discussion with curator Neal Heard and fellow football shirt collector Jesse Rabbeljee as well as Juergen Rank & Inigo Turner, designers at Adidas Football - the panel looked further into the significance of the football shirt in the sport and fashion.

Photos courtesy of Jacket Required

The trade fair season kicked off. During the month of July FashionUnited will focus on trade shows. For all reads on tradefairs, click here.

Jacket Required
Old Truman Brewery
TRADEFAIRSEASON