Vast visitor rise at Pure

An optimistic light is shining on the fashion industry. This February Pure London increased its visitor numbers with 42,5%. In addition to the attendance, exhibitors confirmed that they were seeing quality buyers who were writing strong orders at the show.

Morten Roed Simonsen, export manager at Danish brand B. Young said: “There has been a big change in the type of retailers attending trade fairs. In the past there were 50% browsers and 50% of visitors were seriously looking for new brands. Now I would say about 90% of the people here today are here to be active and just 10% are browsers for trends, this shift means there is potentially more business here. It is important to exhibit so your customers know you are a strong company that will be able to deliver orders in tough times.”

UK attendance was up by 8.7%, offering buyers over 900 labels including a wide variety of British accessories and footwear brands. Further more, Pure London presented established brands as well as 312 new collections for next season. Albeit the international attendance was slightly down, Pure London received good attendance from†overseas countries such as Ireland, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey as well as the USA and Japan. Attended British buyers included from Fenwick, Harvey Nichols, Harrods, ASOS, Selfridges, Topshop, House of Fraser, John Lewis and key independent retailers such as Sunday Best, Flow, Psyche, Stone and Matches.

One of the new areas this season at Pure London were the menswear collections on offer in Spirit. Also new to Pure London was Ethical Pure, where 37 accessory, footwear and womenswear brands showcased their collections. Ethical Seminars were held over the three days, which offered advice on buying ethical fashion. The dates for next season’s Pure London are 2, 3, 4 August 2009 at Olympia in London.

Image: B. Young