Premium: Where trends are made – 20 years of evolution

For 20 years, Anita Tillmann, Jörg Arntz and their team have shone a spotlight on key trends and the future of the fashion industry. This has made Premium Europe’s no.1 industry get-together – and the company will be celebrating this success from 17-19 January 2023 with a major anniversary edition of the shows. The Premium and Seek B2B events, a Fashiontech area, plus an expanded version of the Conscious Club sustainability event, will all take place at the Messe Berlin premises in parallel with Berlin Fashion Week. Visitors can look forward to short walking distances, an improved layout, and optimised exhibitor segmentation, as well as events packed full of insightful content and a host of surprises – including free drinks! These are challenging times, and the industry must now come together to develop powerful strategies for the future – Now more than ever!

It was back in January 2003 that the first Premium kicked off in a subway tunnel at Potsdamer Platz, with the aim of revolutionising fashion trade shows and establishing Berlin’s permanent reputation as a city of fashion. This goal has been achieved over the past 20 years with huge success. The Premium Group initiated the first ever Fashion Week in Germany and were pioneers in putting topics like sustainability and digitalisation centre-stage early on. Even today, the Premium Group is still the only organiser in Europe to bring together womenswear, menswear, footwear and accessories in one place over three days. Big personalities like Katharine Hamnett, Imran Amed (Business of Fashion), David Fischer (Highsnobiety), Michael Kliger (Mytheresa), David Schneider (Zalando), Holger Blecker (Breuninger), André Maeder (KaDeWe) and other fashion professionals have already been part of the Premium Group events. Many successful brands got their big break at Premium, from top-ranking Scandinavian labels like Ganni and Filippa K to the international denim elite.

Anyone not heading to Berlin in January is missing out!

For the Group’s 20th anniversary, visitors can look forward to a concentrated Premium Group experience. The focus will be on the key retail trends, the latest innovations in sustainability, and the emotionalisation of stores. The restart this July went smoothly, and January will be better still. Alongside Premium and Seek, the Conscious Club will be significantly expanded. Nobody can bypass the topic of sustainability in today’s world, and the Premium Group showcases a comprehensive range of options to help businesses to position themselves more sustainably. A new programme will be set up for this purpose, in partnership with established experts in sustainability Max Gilgenmann and Magdalena Schaffrin from studio MM04. Further highlights will include the next generation of booth presentations and brand activations at Seek, as well as innovative retail pop-ups. The trade show premises will be laid out in a more effective way and involve less walking between areas: Premium is moving to the South Entrance and will occupy connected halls – making it compact, appealing and clear. Following overwhelmingly positive feedback, Seek will stay in Hall 9. Style and culture festival The Ground will not take place again in a larger format until next summer. Finally, exhibitor segmentation will be optimised for all events.

“You are Premium!” – Anita Tillmann

The achievements of the last few years have only been possible thanks to countless fantastic brands, buyers, retailers, creative talents and, not least, the large community that has flocked to the Premium Group’s events for many years. As part of the company’s 20th anniversary, Anita Tillmann, Jörg Arntz and their team want to thank this community and go bold in January – with free drinks, spacious catering areas, a legendary party and lots of other surprises! After all, for the Premium Group, fun and success are forever interlinked. Get on board!