The 36th International Fairs of Fashion, Footwear, and Leather STYL and KABO took place again over three days between August 24 and 26, 2010. They became the biggest B2B presentation of the fashion industry and an important contracting event for the season spring/summer 2011 on the Czech, as well as Central European market.

• The fairs occupied three exhibition halls on the area of 10,897 m2 and presented the current offer of 781 fashion, footwear, and leatherware brands from 18 countries of the world. The total number of 438 exhibitors included leading Czech and foreign manufacturers – leaders in their fields, and 69 companies came to Brno for the very first time.

• The share of foreign exhibitors reached 30 percent. The highest number of foreign exhibitors came from Slovakia with 48 companies, followed by Poland and Germany. Thanks to the co-operation of Trade Fairs Brno with AEPC Agency that supports clothing exports the fourth biggest foreign exhibitor was India. Companies from Indonesia presented their produce under a common denomination P.T.Gerindo.
• The accompanying programme focused on two key topics – oversized fashion and medical footwear. Seminars about oversized lingerie and “How to advise chubby ladies with clothing” raised great interest. The shoemaking sphere held a seminar on the proposal of unification of shoe sizes, correct construction of medical insoles, and principles of foot care. New opportunities of supporting and developing business were the topic of a seminar held by MARCO BBN agency titled “Internet – low-budget advertising for small and medium companies”.
• The August STYL saw the continuation of the project “Creative workshop of Libìna Rochová” that began in February this year – the designers joined manufacturers to select a type of model and create a completely new design piece. The results of this co-operation, i.e. new clothing designs, were presented on mannequins in the trend forum at the V Hall. The models have already become a part of the new collections of the represented companies and during a couple of weeks and months they will be offered in the retail network. The interest of purchasing agents, customers, and therefore the result of the project itself will be evaluated during October 2010.
• “Jablonec Street” – this was the title of the latest Business Incubator, which was implemented thanks to the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, and presented seven manufacturers of fashion jewellery. For the companies JBX Retail, Glass Motiv, Expo, GB Beads GB Bijoux, JSB, Glassunicum, and AG Plus this meant an interesting marketing opportunity and also a chance of gaining hands-on business experience.
• The winners of the eighteenth run of the TOP MODEL competition voting for the best exhibits at the KABO fair (in the design, quality, and innovation categories) were the exhibitors Paolo Santini, NARA, and V+J footwear. Special awards went to exhibits by D.L.M. Leather Wholesale, Konsorcium T+M, and Svatoslav Žalùdek – LAGEN.
• During the three days the catwalks at the Brno Exhibition Centre saw thirty fashion shows specialising in particular themes. The most attractive was the Oversize Show presenting extra large fashion with the Oversize Femme Fatale collection closing the show; it was designed by the students and designers from the Textile and Applied Arts Polytechnic Brno. Every day the composed fashion show presented collections of designers striving for the prestigious TOP STYL DESIGNER award. There were eight finalists from the Czech Republic and Hungary, and the jury was most impressed by the work of a duo of Czech authors Anna Marešková and Michala Bìtíková with their winning collection titled Obsession.
  

Data from the preliminary statistics:
The August STYL and KABO were visited roughly by eight thousand visitors. During the first two days more than 600 foreign visitors from 21 countries registered at the cash office. 116 media representatives accredited at the Press Centre, including ten foreign ones from Hungary and Slovakia.

Participants’ feedback:

Dinkar Prakash Srivastava, Ambassador of India:
For Indian companies this is an interesting business opportunity, both from the point of view of addressing new partners on the Czech Market, as well as for making contacts with potential customers from Central and East European Countries. We want Czech companies to see what the Indian producers have on offer.

Ama Adnan, Assistant of the Business Department at the Embassy of Indonesia:
We are coming almost every year. The trade fair with its accompanying programme is highly interesting for us just as is the local friendly and creative atmosphere. Indonesia offers high quality products in textile as well as in leather. However, we need to bring and present them here in order to introduce them to the consumers on your market. This is the main task of our mission.

Lívia Klausová, the First Lady of the Czech Republic:
I was very pleased with this year’s fresh and trendy style of the fairs, I do have to say. And it is not just about the exhibitors, who include our stable brands, but I also mean the design of the exhibition halls and the way the designers have worked with colour. Of course I visited many of the long-time exhibitors. It is true that some of the renowned brands are missing at the fair this time but on the other hand it is positive to see that many traditional exhibitors have returned back to Brno.

Kateøina Martincová, co-owner of Tolerantní móda design studio:
This year we have been participating, for the first time, in the Oversize Show, for which we have prepared a collection of everyday models, suits, and four special occasion models. In terms of visitors to our exhibition stand – I think there were slightly less of them than in the previous years but on the other hand most of them are customers who know exactly what they want. If they come and visit us they usually want to order straight away.

Martin Kárych, Altra Corporation, expert advisor of STYL in Lingerie:
Unfortunately, lingerie still does not receive the attention it would deserve, I have to say. This is why we are participating in the accompanying programme to the STYL trade fair, which includes also education in this area. Czech retail still has a lot to catch up with, specifically we need to improve the knowledge and skills of the shop assistants.

Simona Brýdová, Sales Manager of GB Beads:
At the times of crisis we need to use various opportunities for promoting ourselves. The Jablonec region is still very well-known for its production of the glass pearls and fashion jewellery and therefore we are really grateful for such a possibility of promotion as the Business Incubator supported by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Milan Blaha, owner of Elgeo Corporation:
We have been offering handbags and other products made of stingray leather on the Czech market for two years but up to now we have done so only through our internet e-store. This is the first time such a type of product is presented at the KABO fair and it does attract a lot of attention. We made contacts with retailers and will see with how many stores we will start a co-operation. There definitely is an interest in the handbags and we already have some orders signed for the stingray leather.

Alena Vasilevskaja, Director of Cesar design, distributor of Milavitsa brand, Belarus
This is our first time at the fair and we are happy with the design of our exhibition stand as well as with the visitors’ interest in our products. We are representing the Milavitsa Corporation that supplies ladies’ underwear to twenty countries of the world, and now it has decided to make an entrance to the Czech market. We are here to make new contacts and extend our opportunities of supplying our goods to Czech retail stores.

The 37th International Fashion Fairs STYL and KABO will be taking place on February 15 - 17, 2011.  Statistics presented here are only preliminary. Final version will be available after evaluation of all data.

(1.9.2010, Jana Fuhrmannová)