Karl-Heinz Müller says Bread & Butter January Edition will go on
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After nearly two days of speculation surrounding the future of Bread & Butter, the trade fair's CEO Karl-Heinz Müller has finally stepped forward and responded to the numerous claims that the January edition was canceled and sent a letter to the remaining exhibitors.
Bread & Butter winter edition to continue with remaining exhibitors
The Bread & Butter team forwarded this announcement to Sportswear International Friday afternoon, which reads as followed:“The plans that Bread & Butter could not realise in the last seasons (consumer days, Barcelona) have led to a drastic decline in bookings for the event of the upcoming season in January 2015."
"The radical structural change in the fashion industry and the intensified competition in Berlin, Germany and Europe contributed to the fact that Bread & Butter has not been able to gather the number of exhibitors necessary to realise a significant event."
"Apart from that, the coverage of the trade press within the last days has led to numerous cancellations from further exhibitors who had already registered, so that in the end there is only a small number of exhibitors left."
"Therefore, we would now like to leave it up to you to book another event, so that you have no damage at the season start."
"If you want to stick to your booking at Berlin-Tempelhof despite the current circumstances, we ask you to please reconfirm your booking. However at this moment we cannot predict how many exhibitors will attend the event in the end. Therefore, please inform us of your decision as soon as possible."
"Thank you and Best Regards, Karl-Heinz Müller"
The letter comes a day after Sportswear International published an article stating that Bread & Butter's upcoming winter edition had been canceled, following the news that the event has drastically downsized from five halls to one. The German news source based its claim on anonymous exhibitors who claim to have been contacted by the sales team at Bread & Butter and told the event would not go through.
Earlier today, FashionUnited spoke with a regular exhibitor at Bread & Butter, Von Dutch, who had also understood the fair at Tempelhof would not go through. “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," said Olivier Mercier, CEO of Von Dutch.
However, now Müller has nullified any rumours that the fair would fall through, and aims to remain true to the plan for Bread & Butter's January edition he revealed earlier this week.