A whole year without physical trade fairs, long months without personal exchange: last week the physical International Textile Trade Show MUNICH FABRIC START and the International Denim Trade Show BLUEZONE took place for the textile industry in Munich.
The team at Munich Fabric Start Exhibitions GmbH is bringing a bit of normality back to the industry, but also to event management.
Thanks to detailed, Covid-19 compliant fair formats, the organisers show that trade fairs are possible and can be successfully implemented with the appropriate measures.
More than 600 international suppliers presented their new collections and developments for Autumn.Winter 22/23 in around 1000 collections in the Fabrics, Additionals, Design Studios, Sourcing, ReSource and Sustainable Innovations areas at MUNICH FABRIC START as well as denim, sportswear and KEYHOUSE at BLUEZONE. Compared to September 2019 – the last Autumn/Winter fair before the pandemic – this equals an exhibitor frequency of 60%.
At the same time, around 13,400 international trade visitors were on site in Munich this season. This corresponds to a visitor frequency of 66% compared to the edition in September 2019 and, measured by the number of suppliers, represents a slight increase in visiting fashion brands. The organisers are more than satisfied with this result. “Our team is exhausted, but overjoyed: the biggest challenge in our company’s history lies behind us! We actually managed to realise a comparable MUNICH FABRIC START and BLUEZONE with the usual broad portfolio in these times! Until the very last moment, we focused on making the shows a reality – despite all the challenges, measures and ongoing planning uncertainty. All our efforts were rewarded with all-round positive industry feedback and we can say our Covid-19 compliant trade shows were a complete success. Of course, we kept our expectations cautious due to the situation – which is precisely why we are so overwhelmed by the great result! It seems as if the whole textile industry was cheering and so grateful to be able to experience a few hours of ‘business as usual’ again.”
Sebastian Klinder, Managing Director Munich Fabric Start
Compared to previous editions, the fashion brand teams present on site were somewhat smaller. On the other hand, there was a higher quality of visiting companies. The 4,200 visiting fashion brands included numerous well-known brands from the European clothing industry, including:
Adidas, Aigner, Akris, Alberto, Allure, Armedangels, Baldessarini, Balenciaga, Bestseller, Bogner, Bugatti, Cinque, Closed, Comma, Drykorn, Escada, Hallhuber, Hess Natur, Holy Fashion Group, Hugo Boss, Jack Wolfskin, Joop!, Lagerfeld, Lodenfrey, Marc Cain, Marc O’Polo, Peek & Cloppenburg, Puma, Riani, Dorothee Schumacher, Seidensticker, s.Oliver, Strellson, Talbot Runhof, Tchibo, Tommy Hilfiger & Vaude
A WINNING FUSION OF BLUEZONE & KEYHOUSE & WELL-ATTENDED EVENTS
Under the motto “BACK TO THE FUTURE”, BLUEZONE offered a way back to the tactile experience of textiles and the reunion of the denim community. In addition to international denim weavers and manufacturers, visitors to the Zenith Hall also saw a qualitative selection of KEYHOUSE exhibitors who presented their futuristic innovations for the fashion industry.
“BLUEZONE has always scored with a very special atmosphere – this time we surprised people in the Zenith Hall with an 80’s party feeling. Of course, business was not forgotten: the denim industry is currently brimming with sustainable innovations and new developments, all of which were presented in Munich. And the coal bunker right next door became an inspiring, Covid-19 compliant forum for lectures and panel discussions. Now all we can say is that we are doing everything we can to repeat this success in the following season.”
Frank Junker, Creative Director Munich Fabric Start
The organisers are also very proud of the success of the event program – because the forum was only approved a few weeks before the show thanks to an extensive measures concept. Across 16 scheduled programs, information was shared on industry innovations and future-oriented topics, especially relating to circular economy, digital tools and production processes.
Highlights included the trend presentation by David Shah and the panel discussions “Closing the Loop – How circular can the supply chain be?” and on “Local Manufacturing – A reality or just a temporary green gimmick?”.
POSITIVE VISITOR & EXHIBITOR ECHO DESPITE COVID-19 MEASURES
In keeping with the season’s title “RISE”, the visitors were greeted by inspiring, colourful trend forums with unique highlights for Autumn.Winter 22/23 collection development. In the halls, the industry was able to discover a trade show with the well-known and proven pre-pandemic quality with manufacturers and suppliers presenting in all 8 areas. Non-European suppliers were represented by agencies and offered well-attended show in show concepts.
The newly formed ReSOURCE x SUSTAINABLE INNOVATIONS Area also drew in the crowds. In a modern atmosphere, information was shared on sourcing sustainable textiles and additionals as well as innovative concepts. Another highlight was the launch of FABRIC.iD, the innovative process for the complete digitisation of fabrics to greater serve the industry’s digital future.
Exhibitor voices:
“First of all I would like to thank the organisers for the enormous effort – I can imagine how much work it must have been in these times to realise a trade show and then even continue to offer the great service such as free coffee and free lunch for everyone! We are definitely all super grateful to be here, as you could see in the general joy of the visitors. For me, the three fair days were all about meeting again with live contact again. And my expectations were even exceeded: We were able to welcome a very good quality of visitors from all European countries and I am particularly pleased about the many interested new customers. ”
Vlad Zisser, Zisser Design Studios (Sweden)
“As a result of the pandemic, it was comparatively less crowded, but the quality of the visitors was very good. And it was just fun to see our customers again in person.” Max Geiger, TTG Geiger (Germany)
“We are really very satisfied with the result, especially since it must have been very difficult to organise such an event in Corona times. In fact, we even had a better trade fair than the usual – really all of our customers visited our stand and we had a great time. Thank you, MUNICH FABRIC START! ”
Francesca Guasti, Lanificio Roma (Italy)
“A big thank you goes to the MUNICH FABRIC START and BLUEZONE team! Congratulations on this gran- diose physical fair – it was a celebration! We were very happy to be away from our zoom camera, at least for a short time, and to experience the BLUEZONE culture in person again. ” Tricia Carey, Lenzing (US)
“We had a really very successful trade fair – all the important customers came and you could really feel how happy everyone was to finally meet again live. Now we just hope that it will continue like this and that the following events can also take place.”
Isabelle Hosatte Firmann, Dutel Creation (France)
Visitor voices:
“What a goosebumps moment! Since the second edition of Munich Fabric Start in 1997, I’ve been coming from Paris to Munich every season to look for new fabrics, ideas and colours… And I can say – I’ve never looked forward to a fair like this time! It was a lot of fun and my team and I are just happy that it started again. The show has an incredibly pleasant and well-organised atmosphere, in which you simply feel warmly welcomed as a visitor, which is why I was there again on all three fair days! So I can only say: BRAVO and THANK YOU!”
Besucherin Anja Seidl (France)
“Many thanks to the BLUEZONE team for organising a show for the denim community that we all longed for! I am sure that all exhibitors and visitors had a great time and we really appreciate your hard work.” Besucher Robin Meijerink, Robin Denim (Netherlands)
