REVIEW: LONDON SHOE SHOW
‘IT HAD A REAL MILAN FEEL’
September’s exhibitors at the London Shoe Show all agreed they had “a great show”, and that orders were consistent with previous years. In fact, buyers on the second day of the show stayed past closing to finish up their orders!
I
t was all change for the latest edition of the London Shoe Show. It took place on 10-11 September at the ILEC Conference Centre at the ibis London Earls Court.
The new venue was loved by our exhibitors and visitors alike, with many saying it had a real Milan feel, with amazing lighting, crisp clean tables and easy access and flow. It was again a sell-out exhibition with several brands turned down due to space.
The show once again offered a relaxed and intimate buying environment, and the new venue allowed us to keep the costs manageable, fair and equitable for all exhibitors. The show is pitched, as always, at the mid to upper range offering product that has a point of difference, much with artisan manufacturing and the opportunity for retailers to achieve meaningful margins. We endeavour to curate the areas so that those more keenly priced
brands, some offering prepacks, are together, whilst the premium products are also located near each other. Our buyers generally walk the whole show – it is small but there are still more than 50 brands represented – more than enough for any retailer to fill their store. Sunday morning – being one of the hottest days of the year with London scorching in near 30-degree heat – had a slow start, but there was a steady stream of visitors with many having made appointments with their brands. After that, the afternoon continued steady. Monday saw a brisk start with buyers having made early appointments with order books already being used by 8am! The whole day was good – yet not outstanding as we were expecting from the pre-registrations. However, buyers were present up to and beyond the official show close time of 6pm – with orders still being written at that time!
The premium brands which had fixed appointments all agreed they had a great show, with orders consistent with previous years; however, reflecting trade in general at the moment, there were not many new doors. One or two of the new brands to the event admitted they had not seen the number of new retailers they would have hoped for, but they admitted that the appetite for new brands is currently low in our market.
London Shoe show has visitors from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales with three potential newcomers to the trade buying for the first time for shops due to open in Spring 2024. We also had representatives from throughout Europe who had attended with their brands – Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Portugal and India.
The show was wonderfully supported by the BFA team, offering professional advice to all in the trade. A delegation from the Indian High Commission also attended to promote the special trading relationship between the UK and India alongside the importance of India in footwear manufacturing.
The mix of weather, trade and economic uncertainty, pitched against an amazing new space, provided for a good trade event that will still be eagerly awaited next season!
The London Shoe Show returns on 11-12 February 2024 – venue to be announced.
12 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • OCTOBER 2023
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