The high street’s climate of caution failed to take hold at Pure London last week, as exhibitors reported a confident and buoyant mood among buyers. Many of the 800 brands who showcased their Spring/Summer 09 collections at London Olympia experienced strong orders from both existing and new customers.
Key to the international fashion calendar, the Pure London experience offers buyers an unrivalled and diverse product mix from innovative and high-end designers through to commercial, fast fashion and street couture.
As the largest August Pure London to date, the show attracted a high calibre of buyers, with an increase of visitor figures by 2% on August last year despite reports of a retail downturn. UK and Irish buyers included store groups Beales, Bentalls, Debenhams, Fenwick, Fortnum & Mason, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Hoopers, John Lewis and leading independent retailers such as Cruise, Drome and Sunday Best.
Overseas visitors remained consistent with great attendance from Europe including Ireland, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey as well as the USA and Japan.
Pure London is a must-visit show for seeing exciting new brands and collections. This season saw 220 new brands, with 80 choosing to launch their collection at the show.
Ian Stuart who launched his stunning evening wear collection at this season’s show remarked ‘Ian Stuart Eveningwear was launched at Pure London and exceeded all our expectations opening 21 new accounts, all of which were excellent independent retailers. As a first time exhibitor I can not praise the Pure team enough, we were made to feel so welcome and were given tremendous support’
The impressive catwalk show in the Spirit section provided an upbeat visual aid for visitors with an exclusive scene from Hudson Jeans showcasing their menswear collection on the Sunday catwalk. Lipsy, Yumi,Unique Boutique, Gumbies, Desguial and Motel also brought striking designs to the Spirit catwalk.
Kierna O’Meara from Ireland based store Jaszzenberg commented ‘The show has been fantastic this year. The Spirit section has filled us with confidence to buy younger collections for our store. The show has been organised perfectly this year. It was definitely worth making the trip over to London.’
New exhibitor, Hudson Jeans had an extremely successful show. ‘We came to Pure with the specific task of brand building with no expectations of writing orders but to my amazement the quality of buyer has been exceptional, it’s been non-stop. The catwalk show on Sunday was brilliant and created a buzz around our collection, we are defiantly coming back in February as part of the new Premium section - it is just what London needs.’ Reports Peter Simons.
In February Pure Spirit, the successful section for young creative fashion, will continue to grow to house more brands. It will be edited to create an area dedicated to brands bringing both their men’s and women’s collections.
Also new in February 2009, Pure London will see the launch of two additional sections. Pure Premium, offering the ultimate luxury buying experience, it will showcase international designer collections, directional brands and high end fashion; and Ethical Pure offering stylish and on-trend clothing, footwear and accessory collections.
The Ethical section will be launching in response to demand from buyers for more fashion with a conscience. Alex Willumsen, Sales Manager for Envirosax® in the UK says: “Pure London is packed with inspirational clothing, shoes and fashion accessories, and it was gratifying to see how our relatively small display of Eco shoppers provoked such a big reaction. Most exciting for us was that 90% of the orders we took were from new stockists. We’re even more excited about Pure London next year and will be taking part in the Ethical section”.
Pure London is much-loved for its Elan sections, the trend-led main Pure catwalk shows and insightful fashion forecasts hosted by Drapers magazine for helping buyers plan ahead for the season. Miss England made a special appearance on the catwalk wearing stunning jewellery from Barabra Easton. Other highlights came from new brands Darling, 1921 as well as Arrey Kono, Almost Famous, Part Two, Sylvia Heise and Marimekko.
Alison Philips from Passport also commented ‘We have been very pleased with the quality of orders placed at the show and are very excited that Pure London is moving forward with new sections, it will be good for all exhibitors’
The Accessories and Footwear section increased by an impressive 28% in floor space with some fantastic new arrivals which were a hit with both buyers and exhibitors. Stacey Orgill from footwear brand Soloro commented ‘Sunday at Pure London was the best day in Soloro’s exhibiting history’.
Sarah Lawrence, Pure London’s Event Director commented “Pure London was buzzing with buyers at this season’s show, creating a buoyant atmosphere and resulting in a high level of orders being placed. We are already looking to step up the mark at February’s show as Pure London is set to be the biggest one yet with the launch of a premium section and ethical area to lead the way. It is essential to continue to develop the show creating a luxury feel within a pocket of the show for top end and fashion conscious buyers.”
The dates for next season’s Pure London are 8, 9, 10 February 2009, at Olympia, London.
www.purewomenswear.co.uk
