French fair with British twist

The textile trade fair Tissu Premier will be putting Great Britain in the spotlight this year. The French fair will take place on 7 and 8 September in the expositioncomplex Grand Palais in Lille, France. This year the fair resumes the old tradition of honouring a guest and 2005 is Great Britain's turn. British designer Zandra Rhodes has been invited to run the designers' exhibition. The founder of the London Fashion and Textile Museum, Rhodes is a well-established name in fashion. Together with her a number of young British designers will present their collections at Tissu Premier.

Currently, 371 participants have signed up for the fair. Together they will be presenting 390 collections. 69 per cent of them are European, of which 35 per cent French, 17 per cent Mediterranean, and 14 per cent are from Asia and Russia.

Tissu Premier will feature knitted textiles, prints, dyed materials and sportswear. Furthermore the fair will offer a variety of services in order to provide a complete range of solutions for the visitor: tendering confection, reseach facilities, prototypes, a textile library, quality control and logistics, to name but a few.