Following the challenges in 2003 posed by Mad Cow Disease and SARS, the Canadian trade and consumer show industry is rebounding slowly, according to the Toronto-based Canadian Association of Exposition Management.
“It is definitely on the rise,” said executive director Debbie Wilson. “Overall indications are that most shows in Canada are thriving and 2004 will end up to be a lot better than 2003. And early indications point to an even better year in 2005 with a continuing strong economy.”
In fact, Canada’s economy is expected to outpace most industrialized countries next year, growing by 3.3 percent.
On the down side, the Canadian dollar continues to strengthen against the U.S. greenback, making it less attractive for Americans to travel north to attend Canadian shows, Wilson pointed out. The Canadian dollar was trading above 80 cents U.S. in mid-October, up from 62 cents U.S. in January 2002.
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The trade show year kicks off in January with two bridal fairs in Toronto. Canada’s Bridal Show at the Metro Convention Center will be held from Jan. 7-9. Last year the show featured more than 145 exhibitors and attracted some 28,000 visitors, and expectations for this year are about the same.
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The Total Wedding Show, being held at the International Center in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga from Jan. 21-23, is also expecting similar turnout with between 15,000 and 20,000 visitors for its 300 exhibitors and daily fashion shows.
Meanwhile, to increase buyer attendance, the National Show Industry Association Snow Show, Canada’s largest outdoor ski and snowboard equipment and apparel fair, is moving up its dates. The fair is usually held in February. This year, however, the show will be held in Montreal’s Place Bonaventure from Jan. 13-15.
“We’re holding the show a month earlier than usual because the whole apparel buying cycle is earlier,” said NSIA president Anna Di Meglio. “If it attracts more buyers to the show, we’ll keep this date. If not, we’ll change it back.”
The show occupies 230,000 square feet and features more than 200 exhibitors, including about 25 from America, according to Di Meglio. She said about 70 percent of exhibitors, including Columbia Sportswear, Descente, Gordini, Helly Hansen and Mexx Sport, are selling apparel.
The Mode Accessories Show, held from Jan. 30-Feb. 1 at the Doubletree International Plaza Hotel in Toronto, and its sister show, held from Feb. 6-7 at the Stampede Roundup Center in Calgary, Alberta, both continue to be a draw for their women’s fashion accessories and casual apparel, according to fair organizer Alice Chee.
“Toronto is booked solid,” she said. “We had 228 exhibitors last August and a waiting list of 90 names. Our attendance of 4,000 was up 18 percent from August 2003 and last January’s attendance was up 3 percent from a year earlier.”
Chee said Calgary is growing as well, with attendance up 10 percent in June from her first show last February, and exhibitors up to 105 in June versus 65 in February.
From Feb. 20-21, the third edition of ExpoMode Prêt-à-Porter, featuring men’s, women’s and children’s wear, will be held in Montreal’s Place Bonaventure. The show will be presented in tandem with the International Shoes and Accessories Show and market week at the Centre International de Mode de Montreal, which houses designers, manufacturers, agents and importers. The shows were combined for broader appeal. Some 600 exhibitors and 6,000 visitors were on hand for the last ExpoMode in August, according to show organizer Michel Bibeau.
Organizers of Montreal Fashion Week have not yet confirmed the tentative March 7-10 schedule for the coming year, but said they are planning on continuing with the winning formula established at the last show held in September. At that show, runway presentations were staged in one venue or at least in venues close to one another in response to a failed attempt last February to bring together different organizations in several locations.
Close to 30 local designers participated during the five-day September event, compared with less than half that number in February.
MFW organizer Dominic Morency said that now that the show is more successful with designers, she will attempt to attract more buyers, a scarce commodity in September due to government funding cutbacks normally used to promote MFW.
“We wanted to get at least one strong edition under our belts before going after buyers,” said Morency.
For the past few seasons, Toronto Fashion Week, which will be held this year at the Liberty Grand from March 14-19, has eclipsed MFW both in terms of designers and participants.
The September edition attracted more than 50 designers and more are expected in March when fur and outerwear designers plan to show.
MFW and TFW organizers have been acknowledging that they should merge or alternate between cities to raise their profiles and attract more designers and buyers, but as of now, nothing seems to be moving in that direction.
Robin Kay, president of the Fashion Design Council of Canada, which organizes TFW, did, however, score a real coup following the last show in September when she took a trunk load of Canadian designs to display at fashion week in Milan. The collections were from Pink Tartan, Arthur Mendonça, Paul Hardy and David Dixon of Toronto, and Denis Gagnon and Renate Morales of Montreal.
It’s part of a twinning of Toronto and Milan, explained Kay.
“We brought Missoni here to show last season. Now it’s our turn as part of our continuing effort to get more Canadian fashion on the radar in Europe.”
From March 19-22, the Ontario Fashion Exhibitors Market will take over 140,000 square feet in the Toronto Congress Center. The fair had its best show ever in September, with 160 exhibitors and attendance topping 2,000, a 5 percent increase from the previous show, according to organizer Serge Micheli.
Micheli said he received great feedback from the buyers, who were pleased to see new products at the show, including shoes.
He also said a “rap with the rep” dinner, where 12 exhibitors spoke about upcoming trends, but weren’t allowed to talk about their own products, proved popular.
Next year marks the 50th anniversary of OFEM, but Micheli said plans for the event are only in the “embryonic stage.”
The North American Fur & Fashion Exhibition Montreal, taking place May 8-11 at the city’s Place Bonaventure, is Canada’s only genuine international trade show, attracting an equal number of buyers and exhibitors from outside the country.
Of the 4,300 buyers at last year’s show, just over half were from the United States, with another 45 percent from Canada and the remainder mostly from Western Europe, Russia and Japan,
according to NAFFEM organizer and executive vice president of the Fur Council of Canada Alan Herscovici. About 45 percent of the 200 exhibitors were Canadian, 38 percent American and the remainder from overseas.
“The message we want to get out is that NAFFEM is truly an international show and the only high-end luxury outerwear show in North America,” said Herscovici. “And because the European fur market is not doing so well, we’re seeing more European exhibitors at the show who want to tap the North American market.”