Attire Accessories - Jan/Feb 2020 (Issue 80)

SPRING FAIR 35 Melissa Range, head of Fashion at Spring Fair, talks to Louise Prance about the upcoming show and the changes afoot What can visitors expect from the fashion section at Spring Fair? We’re really excited to be welcoming visitors to what will be a refreshed Fashion hall at Spring Fair 2020. We’ll have over 180 exhibitors bringing the very latest lines in clothing, socks, gifting, jewellery, accessories, luggage and more – anything you can wear, we have it. It’s a fashion buyer’s one-stop shop for everything fresh and on-trend that can make a retailer’s 2020. Has there been any changes to this section since the last show? Since the last show we’ve had a complete re-edit of the show floor to create two dedicated sourcing destinations – Gift and Home & Living. Across these destinations will be 16 carefully curated show sectors, delivering only the newest, profit- driving products. The new layout will maximise cross-buying opportunities across the show so whilst you might come looking for fashion, your attention could be drawn to other products, such as the latest organic beauty products, that will help drive sales. The fashion hall itself will now be located in Hall 1. We’re keen to embrace our new surroundings with plenty of new exhibitors, trends, products and insight. On the exhibitor front, we’ll be welcoming a new set of exciting start-ups to our FashionFirst showcase. Here, small and independent suppliers can show off their wares to buyers from some of the UK’s biggest and most recognisable high street brands. From your perspective, why is this sector a must- visit on the buying show circuit? Spring Fair is the season’s best opportunity to source fashion and fashion gift products with Who: Spring Fair, springfair.com Where: NEC, Birmingham When: 2 nd -6 th February, 2020 A BREATH OF FRESH AIR around 2,500 exhibitors across all sectors. We’ll also have the most exciting speakers who’ll be able to take visitors through the trends forecast for digital, logistics, colour, product development, consumer behaviour and much more for the coming 24 months. We’ll have insider insights from keynote brands including John Lewis, Selfridges, Oliver Bonas, Harrods as well as a few celebrities. Who are the must-see new companies showing for the first time? Newness is central to everything we do at Spring Fair. For this show we’ve been absolutely focused on bringing in as many new and exciting suppliers as possible. Amongst the new class of 2020 will be the likes of personalised jewellery supplier Lily Belle, exclusive leather goods maker Saddler, luxury sheepskin footwear brand Snowpaw and ethically-minded waxed backpack crafters Cora & Spink. Who are the must-see returning brands? With so many of our visitors using Spring Fair as their yearly opportunity to properly catch-up with suppliers face-to-face, it’s always encouraging to see our visitor favourite suppliers coming back to the show year-on-year. 2020 will be no different in that regard, with the likes of Rock Luggage, Brakeburn, Tilley & Grace, Ashwood Leather, Lisa Angel, The British Bag Company and many, many more, joining us for the show. Are you introducing any new concepts to the show this year? We have a whole new hall! Fresh from its success of Autumn Fair 2019, we’ll be launching the Sourcing sector at Spring Fair – bringing the best of the world’s key sourcing locations within reach for the UK retail market. Until now, many international sourcing regions have been well and truly out of reach for UK retailers with the cost of souring trips being too much for many. Now, visitors to Spring Fair will have the opportunity to explore what these regions have to offer without hurdles. Following a successful partnership at Autumn Fair 2019, we’ll also be teaming up again with trend consultants Colour Hive. They’ll be on hand throughout the show to deliver insights into the key drivers of consumer behaviour. They’ll be highlighting the colours that will catch consumers’ eyes and drive profit across all sectors in 2020 and beyond. Their vibrant trends installation will be hosted in hall 6, fuelling the imaginations of visitors and helping them understand how trend stories develop into finished products. I can’t stress enough how important this will be for fashion buyers whose year ahead depends on being unfalteringly market-fresh and on-trend. There is a huge focus on sustainable fashion and conscious consumerism right now. How is Spring Fair going to raise awareness of this while also championing the growth of the fashion industry? Sustainability is a major concern for consumers at the moment – and rightly so. That’s why many of our exhibitors in the fashion halls are concentrating on delivering more sustainable products and supply chains for the years ahead. Excitingly, many will be using Spring Fair as a launch platform to showcase their new products to visitors. Across the sector we’ll be seeing more organic fabrics, alternative materials, nature- inspired fashion and traceable products. As part of a commitment to help visitors make positive and sustainable changes to their business model, we’ll be playing host to a new sustainability trail, which will make it easier than ever before for visitors to connect with ethically and environmentally- conscious suppliers. We want to highlight the brands that are striving to do their part to future-proof the retail sector and save the planet. We’ll be releasing more details nearer the show.