Pret à Porter attracts more French buyers

The Parisian fashion trade fair Pret à Porter, which concluded its 101st edition last week, saw the number of French visitors increase by 2 percent. With a total of 41.085 visitors during the four days, 59.1 percent of visitors were French. The number of foreign visitors dropped 2.1 percent, with the biggest decrease concentrated in Spain and Germany . The PAPP attributes this to the coinciding CPD and Bread and Butter fairs.

This may be a disappointment for the PAPP's organisation, whose goal is to increase the international character of the event and attract an ever-increasing amount of foreign buyers. The fair's presence in New York and Tokyo with The Train and Livingroom respectively did prove a very effective marketing instrument. The attendance in Paris of US buyers increased by a whopping 21 percent and 5.6 percent more Japanese returned to the PAPP.

La Boutique Performante, a forum where buyers could be educated on issues such as buying strategies, was a great success with more than 1000 participants. The premiere of Autre Monde - Autre Mode, the newly introduced ethical fashion segment, also proved successful.