Known to be one of the most popular fashion trade events of UK, the recently held 32nd edition of ‘Pure London’ attracted a mega display of over 1000 brands of contemporary and premium womenswear, young fashion, footwear and accessories, including over 225 new brands showcasing their S/S 2013 collections. Spread over two floors, with a mix of footfall of buyers, retailers, manufacturers, designers, trend forecasters and fashion followers, the fair also expanded its reach this year, by adding two more sections of ‘Pure Body’ for lingerie, shapewear and swimwear which displayed the best use of knitted and stretch fabric, and ‘Pure Junior’ for kidswear. Hinting a better market condition for the upcoming season, Team Fashion Forward Trends reports live the 3-day event, talking to a few participants on their new products and the buyer response, recording the changing pulse of the fashion and business scene…
The response of the buyers at the fair was mixed, while many exhibitors received good enquiries, some others were unable to grab attention. In an honest admission, first- time Indian participant Bombay High, who was not very happy with the response of the fair said, “Indian trade shows are a better platform for a company like ours as the companies in Europe and especially Pure follow strict forecasting rules looking for the newest of trends and directions every season, which Indian brands are still behind in, though we do offer variety, but not necessary in line with forecast.”
Showcasing for the first time from India was also the new label called ‘EKA’ following the Ethical Fashion Philosophy. Making handcrafted clothes with hand woven and hand block printed textiles; the company displayed the use of Indian traditional crafts at its best on an international platform, coming from the smaller craft cluster belt of eastern and western India.
Rina Singh, representing the brand at the fair explains, “Our range is a sight of hand-block printed, natural dyed fabrics, cut or made out into Indian tunics, bags, scarves from indigenous material – 100 and 200 count Khadi, bringing back the memory of India in the fashion galore of Europe. As we are catering to a niche market here, and it is for our first time, we did not expect an overwhelming response, but enquiries have been interesting.”
Emphasizing the fact that fashion accessories are the biggest trend this season, printed scarves were the highlight of the show and a variety of these were there on display. Companies from all over Europe came to display the accessories that are the highlight of the UK fashion scene. It cannot be denied that as garment purchase fall, the focus is shifting to fashion accessories to brighten up the fashion streets.
[bleft]Emphasizing the fact that fashion accessories are the biggest trend this season, printed scarves were the highlight of the show and a variety of these were there on display,shifting the focus to fashion accessories to brighten up the fashion streets [/bleft]
Managing to attract a good number of buyers Bolongaro Trevor, a brand started by Bolongaro and Stuart Trevor, the brain behind cult brand All Saints, in the mid ’90s, the company today represents collections that epitomize classic British chic, exploring countless styles to create something new and stylishly casual. Catering to men and women, the company displayed an array of leather jackets for both sexes, women’s dresses with an edgy twist and T-shirts. The best selling item being the lace dress, which is designed in-house, the collection also stands unique with each panel for jackets and dresses individually created with very intricate detailing, famous amongst regular buyers from North England, Europe and America.
Doing good business in spite of the ongoing recession, was Esprit, a leading international lifestyle brand originally from San Francisco, USA. While the old buyers placed the usual orders, the retailer claims that Pure helped them to get some new ones too for the coming summer. Apart from the best selling in-demand ‘sophisticated dresses’, the company was particularly excited about its new denim division which received good response during the fair. “The emphasis was on affordable denim primarily for the younger generation,” said Magda Beigaj, who was manning the Esprit stall. The range was available in most of the brilliant Olympic season like colours for S/S 13 and also a collection of printed denim.
Branching out from the earlier established ‘AMARI’ by Polly Webb, a new line ‘Lily & Me’ was launched at the fair by Amelia Haywood, both of whom were very positive about the buyer response. Witnessing enquiries from some new buyers, their collection reflected the spirit of a more mature woman, for females between 25 to 60 years of age or even 65 and above. Elaborating on the essence of the range, Amelia says, “We have made sure that the prints, style and cuts of our dresses are feminine and reflect the choice of independent women. Keeping the lengths a little below the knee, cap sleeves and fresh prints, targeting a niche market, we hope for success.”
[bleft]Pure London is today a platform for fashion in UK and the rest of Europe with popular women’s wear section, Fashion Shows and Seminars that revolves around better buying. [/bleft]
Pure London is today a platform for fashion in UK and the rest of Europe and to make it more visitor-friendly the popular women’s wear section was divided into Premium, Directional, Boutique and Studio for easy identification of buyer needs. The fair also held fashion shows and seminars all through the three days on topics that revolved around Better Buying, Better Business and Retail Insight. With WGS, FAB (Fashion Association of Britain) and Drapers as supporters for the show there was a lot of emphasis on trend forecasting for buyers and retailers. Lorna Hall, senior retail analyst at WGSN, was the speaker for the Trend Forecast S/S 13. She highlighted the major trends in terms of colour, look, style and cuts that will prevail for the next season, and it was heartening to note that they are in line with what Fashion Forward Trends has also forecasted for the season.
