Denim boom at CPM in Russia

The 17th edition of international fashion fair Collection Première Moscow (CPM) is a fact with numerous catwalk shows, presentations, seminars and master-classes that took place at the Expocenter Fairgrounds. The leading trade show of Eastern

 Europe attracted over 1400 brands from 32 countries and presented their collections to 17,500 visitors.

New at CPM was the Denim&Fashion segment. “Russia is on the threshold of a jeans boom,” commented Reinhard E. Döpfer, Executive Director of European Fashion & Textile Export Council (EFTEC). To Döpfer, Russia is experiencing an increasing demand in denim as Russia was in 2007. Four years ago there was a peak in the Russian denim sales, and the import volume of jeans clothes from European countries made 1 billion Euros. By that time, denim production at least doubled in comparison to 2004. Döpfer says: “Back then 35% of jeans were bought by men, and 65% by women. In 90s the picture was inverse, as not so many women in Russia wanted to wear jeans. Foreign producers launched jeans for Russian women in 2000, and now the market is expecting another phase of high demand.”

Some say the denim demand growth is quite natural. "There has always been a boom in some sense,” says Igor Krapukhin, Development Director of LTB in Russia. “Sales volume are growing, the crisis is over. Although, I should say that during these recession year we opened 20 shops, and entered 30 cities where we work with multiband stores.”

According to experts, the Russian denim market will grow with 12-15% in 2011, and this tendency will continue until 2013. Russian consumers see denim as something more then ‘work wear’ these days, hence the increasing sales numbers. The denim is imported from the authentic labels in America, then Turkey is actively entering the market, and jeans from China represent the lowest price segment.

Not all participants of the denim market presented their collections at the new Denim&Fashion area. Several large jeans brands presented their collections at their own stands to see how the new format will develop. The atmosphere at CPM was positive on a whole with more new clients, although there were
fewer visitors and less orders than before.

For other exhibitors showcasing at CPM was more of a brand image move. “Orders are not our aim here," says Sofia Kofman, Director of Tom Tailor's representative in CIS and Asia, and CPM newcomer. “Our target is marketing, getting interest and attention of new clients. We expected a certain interest from wholesalers, but also found some potential franchisees.”

FashionUnited was also present at CPM to introduce its new working format Fashion Career Center. Besides searching online at FashionUnited’s Career Center, the CPM visitors had the opportunity to be interviewed for various positions at companies in Russia such as apparel manufacturer and retailer company SELA and InCity; and Esprit and River Island distributor Maratex.

Image: Tom Tailor