16/02/2016 — auf Deutsch lesen
40th Munich Fabric Start: A perfect Kick-off
With a perfect start that exceeded all expectations, the 40th Munich Fabric Start kicked off the 2017 Spring.Summer season. Long queues formed at the counters even before the doors officially opened. And this picture repeated itself on the following days. This avid interest is reflected in a positive 6% plus in visitor attendance. Also posting a slight increase over the previous year was the percentage of visitors from abroad. More international visitors came from the Netherlands, France, Spain and the USA. Visitor attendance was also up from the Czech Republic, Poland and Switzerland.
“With these results we have seen the strongest trade fair since the inception of this event,” said a visibly pleased Wolfgang Klinder, Managing Director at Munich Fabric Start. A positive conclusion was also drawn by exhibitors and visitors. The approval here ranges from “the most important trade fair in Europe” and “a wonderful show” to “a fantastic response and a high footfall of high-quality visitors”.
The 40th edition of Munich Fabric Start boasted a clear trend towards greater international flair both in terms of exhibitors and visitors. More than 950 suppliers presented over 1,500 collections for the 2017 Spring.Summer season. This is an unambiguous statement of the industry in favour of Munich as a fashion location.
In general, buyers focused on innovative products, on sophisticated new developments and forward-looking high-tech and functional materials. This demand for more comfort and multi-functionality plus added value was visible across all product segments – from basics with a new finish to extremely lightweight wool materials with a coated reverse. The tendency towards more fashion in both the fabric statement and in demand is evident. In this category prices are of secondary importance. The positive response of small and medium producers to fashion innovations, however, came as a surprise – be these striking and large-repeat jacquards or jerseys as double weaves with a silky flow. Key criteria here are always a soft touch and a flowing drape. “Comfort and movement in fabric are highly convincing and fulfil the expectations of the ever more demanding creative minds,” says Karin Fechner of Viscotex summing up results.
New Look & Feel of Bluezone
Boasting a surprising new design The Bluezone and its changed stand concept met with a generally positive response from both exhibitors and visitors. “The Bluezone once again proved a resounding success for us. It went off with a bang on Tuesday morning – meaning the hall was nicely filled at the beginning of the trade fair. The quality of visitors was consistently high. We met with good and interested customers over both trade fair days. For our key accounts the Bluezone is an absolute must. It is about fine-tuning, about new nuances but also about rounding off the collection with exciting novel items,” sums up Elena Rossetti, Candiani.
“It was definitely a bold but also conscious move to give the Bluezone a new stand concept that provides a new-style conceptual denim presentation and which is forward-looking. The ongoing development over the past seasons and the high-quality orientation both in terms of exhibitors and visitors, were decisive for creating an ambience with more privacy, while providing room for creative and productive working at the same time,” said Sebastian Klinder, Managing Director at Munich Fabric Start, explaining the consistent re-design.
Design Studios with a Workshop Atmosphere
Creative hustle and bustle also prevailed at the re-staged Design Studios. In an open-plan and spacious workshop atmosphere 20 international design studios and trend offices showcased their latest developments in extraordinary prints, patterns and designs. Alex Hobley of Fusion CPH reported: “We had a fantastic first day and the stream of visitors also remained quite stable on day two. Overall, the trade fair has exceeded our expectations. And the premises here have also convinced us 100%. Overall, the spacious staging of the newly designed Design Studios went down very well.”
Serious Discussions at the Eco Village
The conversations we had at the Eco Village went far beyond the theme of ecology proper. “Seriousness – this is the best word to describe the atmosphere at the Eco Village. Visitors came with a purpose to work intensively with the fabrics on display. Serving as an additional attraction were once again the Organic Selection Trend Forums since they prove that sustainable fabrics have become mainstream. The experts representing certification bodies and associations on site were busy advising visitors practically non-stop. Discussions focused on such topics as the availability of large quantities, questions on the stability of raw material prices and innovative material and print solutions,” reports Alex Vogt of Kern Kommunikation.I
The fair organiser’s concept as a whole met with strong approval. With the first presentation of the fabric collections for Spring.Summer 2017 last December at the exclusive preview event VIEW, an informative basis for early collection planning had already been laid. This was now complemented by three busy trade fair days which were largely used for final collection planning.
Commenting on this Matthias Schlehaider, Tuzzi, said: ‘I highly appreciate Munich Fabric Start especially in conjunction with the preview event View. By offering these two trade fair formats in one organiser also generates high-impact synergies for our working processes. At View we kick off the season with a small team to browse the first tendencies. At Munich Fabric Start we then bring a big team for three full days to work on concrete mood boards and existing colour themes. This allows us to follow on from many talks with our suppliers in a targeted manner.”
The next dates for the 2017/18 Autumn.Winter season
View: 5 to 6 July 2016
Munich Fabric Start: 30 August to 1 September 2016