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International Trade Show Calendar — First Half 2020

All the key dates and places for trade shows in the first half of next year.

December 11, 2019, 12:30am

JANUARY

4–6 London Fashion Week Men’s

Designer Showroom, Truman Brewery, Ely’s Yard, 15 Hanbury Street, E1 6QR, London

Tel.: +44-207-759-1999

E-mail: registration@britishfashioncouncil.com

Web: londonfashionweekmens.com

7–10 Pitti Immagine Uomo

Fortezza da Basso, Viale Strozzi 1, Florence, Italy

Tel.: +39-05-536931

E-mail: info@pittimmagine.com

Web: pittimmagine.com

10–14 Milano Moda Uomo, Milan

Tel.: +39-02-777-1081

E-mail: cameramoda@cameramoda.it

Web: cameramoda.it

11–13 WSM

Via Tortona 27, 31, 35, 54, Milan

Tel.: +39-02-34592785

E-mail: info@whiteshow.it

Web: whiteshow.it

11–14 Expo Riva Schuh

Fair District, Riva del Garda, Trento, Italy

Tel.: +39-04-64570153

Sources of inspiration for the upcoming Valmont Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week are focused on values of art, creativity, design and beauty for its weeklong flagship international bridal show in 2020. VBBFW’s said values are intended to “inspire fashion and promote its transformational power.” The upcoming show will be its 30th year running.

VBBFW sought the expertise of 12 leaders in different artistic genres across fashion, film, gastronomy, music, sports, dance and literature to help identify and contribute the values for its event. And this year, it includes an accompanying manifesto and a “new image that expresses the purpose of the event and the values it stands for.”

Each contributing expert “offered their own visions of Barcelona and the concepts of beauty and creativity and how they affect people and their environment,” after partaking in a 360-degree tour of Barcelona’s landmarks to help find inspiration. The group of professionals is comprised of wholly diverse occupations, such as a pastry artist, a model, an athlete and an audiovisual artist, to name a few.

Through the show’s new slogan, “Join the dream,” VBBFW aims to use fashion as a way to promote inclusivity and diverse forms of creativity. That inclusivity takes form in a selection of models from different ages, cultures, characteristics and backgrounds that will be featured in the VBBFW 2020 image, according to the organization.

Estermaria Laruccia, VBBFW’s trade show’s director, said: “In a world dominated by images, we wanted to give value to words and share our vision with the industry, our partners and the world of bridal fashion through a manifesto. We’re moving toward a new event, committed to people and the environment and more open to the world. All in Barcelona, our home, the place where our history begins.”

“We were looking for inspiration through a new vision of Barcelona, an open, inclusive and cosmopolitan city that has been and is one of the global capitals of architecture, art, innovation and design and which has created so much beauty throughout its history.”

Spotlight: Pitti Immagine

Winter is coming, and Pitti Immagine selected a special theme to celebrate its shows throughout the chilly season. “Show your flags at Pitti” is a nod to the United Nations’ flags of the world that fly at its headquarters, and the firm said it aims to create a “textured and architectural setting” where attendees can “feel part of the ‘United Nations of Fashion.’”

Pitti Immagine explained, “From the ad campaign with which the January show dates were announced, staged by leading photographer reporter Franco Pagetti, with the art direction of Angelo Figus, to the layout of the Fortezza da Basso spaces, the common thread is that rectangular-shaped piece of fabric on which lines, colors and designs intersect one another.”

Taking place at the Fortezza da Basso, show attendees will be led through a “sensorial experience connected to materials and color” that leans into strong architectural themes and latent symbolism. The set design was curated by Alessandro Moradei.

Agostino Poletto, the general manager of Pitti Immagine, said that “Pitti is like the United Nations of Fashion, where every brand has its very own flag, but also where each one of us can be a flag of ourselves. The flag is never a silent fabric, it always says something, endlessly inspiring emotion, because it speaks according to universal messages, like those conveyed by the clothes we wear, and like clothing, it is a mobile symbol of identity, belonging, thought and feeling.”

And Angelo Figus, art director of the project, added that “The Pitti flag, handcrafted in a well-known Italian tailor’s shop, is one-of-a-kind, without any resemblance to pre-existing ones, and without any desire to cite political or ideological references. For this reason, its layout has been broken down and revamped through the material, thread and colors, which are the DNA of the clothing proposals starring in the show.”

Spotlight: Première Vision

Première Vision sought to learn more about sustainable consumption in the U.S. and European fashion markets — so L’Institut Français de la Mode conducted a study as part of the IFM-Première Vision Chair for answers. A total of 5,000 consumers from France, Germany, Italy and the U.S. were surveyed for the study.

And the truth is in the numbers: Nearly 50 percent of European consumers reported having purchased an eco-friendly fashion item in 2019, along with 46 percent of French consumers, which includes recycled, organic, made in France and secondhand textiles, according to the study.

Gilles Lasbordes, managing director of Première Vision, said: “These figures show consumers are committed to a level well above the estimate we would have expected, and indicate a real maturity in terms of their expectations. However, fashion is lagging behind other sectors such as food: the proportion of consumers who have purchased organic food products is over 60 percent in all countries. By the same token, especially in France and Italy, organic beauty products are meeting with real success, with 57 percent of French consumers purchasing them in 2019.”

The study also found that consumers are “strongly guided” by the choice of materials, as there is a noted preference for natural fibers and recycled raw materials and a disdain for perceived environmentally harmful materials such as polyester, acrylic, polyamide and leather, respectively.

But perhaps its most important finding is that eco-responsible consumption is no longer a fashion trend, according to Première Vision. Instead, it is “a major groundswell now impacting the entire sector, from material sourcing to the consumer and textile manufacturing industries.” Lastly, consumers are seeking secondhand purchases: 56 percent of American women and 42 percent of French women purchased secondhand goods in 2019.

Lasbordes added, “For the first time, this study helps us better understand consumers’ perceptions of the responsible fashion market and its products, and decipher their buying motivations and obstacles.”