KENSINGTON REVIEW
The Kensington Shoe Event Spring/Summer 2011 - September 25th - 27th
P
opular with footwear and fashion buyers, the three-day Kensington Shoe Event has become a premier show for medium-to-high quality footwear. This season the Event was
held at The Westbury Mayfair, Conduit Street, a prestigious West End venue. Commenting on the show, organiser and
exhibitor Martin Ward said: “The latest edition of The Kensington Shoe Event to be held at The Westbury Hotel proved to be another successful Show for exhibitors and retailers alike. Our most recent newcomers, including important brands like ThierryRabotin, Armand Basi and Quest, added a freshness to the show and were well received by the discerning buyers.” “It was very pleasing to see that most of the
agents had brought full collections to the show to give retailers the widest possible choice. The overall attendance was similar to 2010 and confirmed that The Kensington Shoe Event is now a well-established diary date for shoe buyers throughout the UK. The next edition will be held on 18th-20th March 2012 in the luxurious surroundings of The Westbury Hotel W1.” This season visitor numbers at the Kensington
Shoe Event were around 150, according to the show’s co-organiser and exhibitor Renato D’Angelis: “Attendance was slightly down on the previous season, but this is a sign of the current times and in line with all shows around Europe. However, ours is more of a ‘working show’, and visitors who attend are there to do business,” he confirmed. Renato continued “A favourable issue with our
show is that we are more or less always the same, compact and well assorted group. This provides retailers with assurance and, at the same time, a good opportunity to place their variety of orders.
On average we have between 55 and 60 good companies on show with a variation of product and price point, thus giving buyers the opportunity to do it all under one roof and in a relaxed environment.” “One thing that is emerging from some few
seasons now is that retailers have a tight budget and are buying mainly from agent/factories they have been doing business in the past, or those that have something really different, but commercial at the same time. It seems that they only occasionally look around for new factories, thus many agents do not get the quantity of new customers they hope for. “
What the exhibitors said: “At Kensington Shoe Event fair we had a good
attendance, both from existing customers and prospective customers. Khrio has had a good sell in for SS12, with customers really loving our ballerinas, coloured brogues and sandal collections.” Caroline Sheppard, Khiro UK agent
"The show was better attended than on
previous occasions, which means we had more visitors to our stand, we experienced a good reaction to the new season collection and are looking forward to next year." Moda in Pelle, Sales Director
, John Liddle “Returning from a very successful Micam Fair we
were expecting Kensington to follow with improvement in customer’s confidence in buying. As an agency we have a stable of Sachelle Couture dress shoes, Vanilla Moon casuals and Olga Berg Handbags which always makes us an important call for buyers and we were not disappointed. We were extremely happy with orders taken on all brands,
we certainly found that we were selling colour in all our collections especially bright suedes and patents. To us it is very apparent that some customers that were trying to chase price points with loss of quality in the past are returning back to stocking very good quality all leather shoes.” Chris Dagless, footwear agent
"The Kensington Shoe Event seems to have
suffered in line with other footwear shows this season, with reduced visitor numbers, and the buyers who did attend were sticking with their current brands. So, we feel that they were not looking for any new product." Martyn Kirby, footwear agent
"The Shoe Fair at the Westbury was well
attended. We had a very good reaction to the Weekend by Pedro Miralles collection. This collection is aimed at the sophisticated Lady that wants to be classy, but not to dressy, mostly to retail at £85-95. The Pedro Miralles collection for the more dressy lady was not quite so strong. The strong fashion colour is clearly the orange followed by the Nudes. Our Todd’s type collection created a good
interest as the quality and value for money of these shoes is exceptional, we have several Brogues and loafers in many colours. Overall I felt the retailers who were in
attendance were more positive and have clearly managed their businesses well through the last few seasons when things have been tough and I believe those who have survived now have an opportunity to go forward with a little more confidence. Things are beginning to smell better here’s to 2012." Paul Dugdale footwear agent
24 • FOOTWEAR TODAY
• NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011
Footwear Industry Awards – visit our website
www.footwearindustryawards.com
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