Gimme more!
That looks to be the motto of the fall season when it kicks off in Berlin Jan. 18, with more fairs, more runway shows — and more buyers, if the last two seasons’ draws of upward of 100,000 visitors are anything to go by. And most important, a taste for more fashion — or at least a broader fashion aesthetic. This is being spurred by shifts in the urbanwear and denim sectors as their original core consumers grow up, as well as by an increased appetite for new brands by retailers eager to differentiate their assortments.
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Berlin’s trade fair scene is packed, with 11 shows running simultaneously, and many booked to capacity. That’s not counting the runway activity of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin, which will present around 50 fashion shows and presentations in the tent at the Brandenburg Gate and assorted off-site venues. And that’s just the official lineup. There are any number of other events scheduled for Berlin’s four-day run.
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While there are a few rumblings to be heard regarding potential chaos and trade show overload, by and large, retailers, manufacturers, show organizers and industry organizations are predicting a positive atmosphere in Berlin. For despite euro zone problems, the fundamental conditions in Germany remain essentially good.
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This month, The DIHK (the Association of German Chambers of Industry & Commerce) said 2011 was the best year in terms of consumer climate and consumption in more than a decade. And the prognosis for 2012 calls for growth of 1 percent. According to the latest GFK consumer climate report in late December, the overall situation is stable. Economic and income expectations have improved, defying rising fears of recession and the escalating euro zone debt crisis. Although GFK reported the propensity to buy has dampened somewhat, it said “despite the drop, German consumers’ inclination to shop remains extremely pronounced.”
Moreover, another recently released survey by the Nuremberg-based market research group indicated about a third of German consumers intend to spend more on apparel in 2012 than they did last year.
German apparel retailers finished 2011 on about 2010’s levels, “so they’ll be in a fairly good mood when they come to Berlin in January,” commented Jurgen Dax, director of the German Apparel Retailers Association. He doesn’t expect buyers to put the brakes on their budgets — at least not in response to euro woes. “There may be some caution, as was the case in January and February 2011, when retailers worried the shortage of cotton might delay deliveries. But the current high level of employment in Germany is providing a secure background for clothing purchases. On a private level, people are doing pretty well here,” he remarked.
Though he’s concerned about potential transportation snags for buyers with shows scattered all over town, he takes a positive view of this season’s increased offerings. “The inner cities have a real problem with differentiation. The same brands are hanging no matter where you go. So buyers will be looking for new names,” he continued. And that means scanning the smaller stands, as “that’s mostly all such brands can afford. It’s an interesting development, but it’s also real work.”
In the opinion of Peek & Cloppenburg Düsseldorf, Germany’s better to premium specialty store chain, Berlin’s trade show boom is a sign of “the growing interest in our industry, and a general indication of the segmentation and dynamic in the market,” said a spokesman. The 110-year-old retailer, which has more than 60 domestic doors, as well as stores in Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Poland, Croatia and Slovak Republic, said its budget will remain constant. Times of uncertainty “require a great deal of concentration, but one should never lose the desire for the new and for fashion.”
That’s particularly true of P&C’s new contemporary Fashionation department, which is going into its second year in Berlin, Stuttgart and Vienna and features a hipper assortment of labels, including Acne, Denham, Dondup, Jil Sander Navy, G Lab, See by Chloé, Sonia by Sonia Rykiel, Surface to Air and Unconditional. The spokesman said Fashionation has been performing to plan, and has succeeded in “attracting a type of consumer who, until recently, we had relatively few of at P&C. We’re still learning and further developing the assortment.”
Escada chief executive officer Bruno Sälzer said Berlin fits Escada Sport “because it is urban, cool, edgy and innovative — exactly what Escada Sport stands for.” And this season, he’s taken it a step further, securing the opening show slot of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin at the IMG tent, rather than staging an off-site show followed by a fête. “The chance to do the opening is good for us,” he said. “There are always a lot of parties and events around these fairs, and it’s not so easy to get that special excitement out of a party. So we’re focused on fashion. And we’re optimistic about our statement.”
That statement, according to head designer Madelaine Schäfer, was sparked by images of British country houses and that lifestyle, “but I kept thinking of that Aerosmith video of girls escaping in school uniforms. There’s an ironic play between traditional English fabrics and activities like fishing and polo, but all twisted in a fun, young — though not juvenile — way,” she said.
Sälzer is also upbeat about 2012. “Surprisingly, the crisis didn’t arrive in Germany, and today’s business is good. In fact, the upper segment of the market has been having a fantastic business, which for all was a surprise.” He noted the situation in the big European markets — Spain, Italy and France — is definitely more difficult than in Germany, but he doesn’t expect that to dampen the overall mood in Berlin. “I expect it will be a very good event if nothing drastic happens in the next two weeks.”
Though he said the last industry figures show pre-fall sales to be flat on average, Escada has been booking double-digit gains. And not only at Escada but in the market in general. Sälzer said retailers are buying more fashion pieces. “They’ve all realized that buying safe is not a solution,” he emphasized. “The fashion content is higher than before.”
For many, Berlin still stands first and foremost for casual street gear, epitomized by Bread & Butter’s urban sportswear and denim selections. Yet even this sector is evolving in a more dressed-up direction, Bread & Butter chief Karl-Heinz Müller noted. “Ten years ago, our Sport & Street area was all about sneakers and clothes that originated in sports and had taken to the streets, and there was also the hip-hop wave. But many of these consumers have grown out of this look. They’re developing further and they’re getting dressed up. And you can see that change in the collections.”
Leo Cantagalli, ceo of Kuyichi, which has returned to Bread & Butter this season, pointed to a more far-reaching shift. “Denim and apparel brand segmentation is going to disappear. You can see it at Bread & Butter, which was a typical denim fair but now has a complete mix,” he commented.
“We are going to see a change in department stores, where today you find a denim floor and an apparel floor. But I think in one to two years’ time, denim versus apparel will disappear. The future is going to be mixed, and department stores will give the example, putting it all together on one big fashion floor,” he stated.
Kuyichi is now moving in the same direction, evolving from a green denim specialist to a full lifestyle brand with a complete apparel offer. “Denim for us is the core, but if you are a brand, you have to offer all categories.” Tops are particularly decisive, he argued. “A brand is recognized, and its signature expressed in, its tops. And if a consumer selects your tops, he or she will probably take your bottoms with them.”
Kuyichi is positioned as a fashion vintage denim brand that’s also sustainable and organic. “But the first thing that drives us is fashion,” he said. “In crisis periods like today, innovation is crucial,” he added. In this spirit, Kuyichi will launch a pure premium line of hand-dyed indigo jeans at Bread & Butter, including shirts and tops for the first time. In addition, the company will present the Kuyichi Salvage Project, a fully recycled collection. Customers can take old used pieces into Kuyichi stores and receive a discount on new Kuyichi products. The brand’s design team will use the old clothes to create new hand-cut and pieced one-of-a-kind items, which will also be hand-dyed in an indigo vat.
Also returning to Berlin Fashion Week is the city’s own upscale designer brand Kaviar Gauche, which will hit the MBFWB runway after a season’s break. “We never planned on not showing this season,” said Johanna Kühl, co-designer of the brand. “Nor did we plan to show elsewhere last season — just to sell elsewhere.” Kaviar Gauche had its own showroom in Paris for the first time last fall in an effort to boost its international business. “But it felt strange not having a runway show,” she said. “Emotionally as well,”
On the market since 2005, Kaviar Gauche has been making the greatest headway via its own shop in Berlin, Kühl noted. She and partner Alexandra Fischer-Roehler are actively seeking partners for further expansion of Kaviar Gauche stores, especially in Germany, their strongest market.
“The store has positively exploded, and the feedback’s been great. We didn’t expect it,” she said. There, customers from Berlin — as well as Munich, Hamburg or Cologne — have been snapping up their elegantly edgy bridal- and eveningwear, as well as dressier daywear and accessories, ranging from 750 to 5,000 euros, or about $970 to $6,470 at current exchange.
“The market is absolutely growing up,” said Fischer-Roehler. “Taste is getting more polished, and there’s more focus on quality, interesting and also more fashionable items. There are so many events in the city that people need to get dressed here, too. Now, we have women coming into the shop saying ‘I need this’ versus ‘Where do I wear it?’ as was the case earlier.”