MOSCOW — A record number of visitors attended this year’s Collection Premier Moscow trade show, as American brands increase their exposure to Russia.
The 18th CPM attracted 19,100 visitors to Moscow’s Expocenter over the course of four days, versus 18,400 in February 2011.
Andreas Kruz, president of fashion consultants Akari Enterprises, said, “The market is back to the retail levels of 2008, but the people now who are still in business are better. There are fewer people but performance is better because the unprofessional ones were weeded out by the crisis.”
There is unique potential for American brands, many of which have outdated reservations about the Russian marketplace.
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The show saw a number of new North American exhibitors, including Lee, Wrangler, Joe’s, Singles, Guess and Robin’s Jeans.
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The experience was overall a positive one for Robin’s Jeans, which picked up Russian distributor Muschel before the start of the show.
Will Parseghian, vice president of marketing and sales for Robin’s Jeans, said, “The show was for us a great first impression. We came here to support the implementation of the brand with our Russian distributor. It was our first CPM and…we are thrilled to announce that Tsum is picking up the line for the upcoming season. The outcome of this experience has been beyond expectations and we are flying back to Los Angeles with a lot of satisfaction.”
Guess participated in the show for the first time after separating with its distributor, Jamilco, to look for strategic franchise partners to support the network of 43 stores the company already operates in Russia. Guess was one of 25 brands that took part in the first CPM collaboration with magazine ProFashion. The magazine paired with CPM to create a catalogue of store concepts, allowing potential partners to get a feel for what a franchise or shop-in-shop could look like.
American apparel exports to Russia increased by 34 percent in 2011 to just over $17 million. Compared to Europe’s $1.2 billion in exports to the country, up 22 percent from 2010, the number is low. A boost in interest from the U.S. government could help continued growth.
The United States Department of Commerce is looking to expand the U.S. presence at CPM by offering support to American brands in 2013.
The Office of Textiles and Apparel, which has concentrated its efforts over the past few years on products like technical textiles where America has a “competitive edge,” is dedicated to giving new designers more support at trade shows abroad.
“In the last two or three years, especially last year…there seems to be interest from young designers to export more,” said Kim-Bang Nguyen, director of strategic business alliance and supply chain development at OTEXA.
“This year I thought we should try to explore some unexplored markets with potential for our young designers.…Europe is shipping so much to Russia.…there is probably opportunity there,” said Nguyen. “So for the year 2013, I proposed among the six trade shows that we are going to do an apparel show in Russia, the CPM show.”
OTEXA would provide “services, facilitation and coordination” for six to eight companies, brands or designers participating in a USA Pavilion at the trade show. A USA Pavilion would provide synergy for the brands exhibiting in it, and would pave the way for American brands at CPM in the future.