Interview with Mr Frank Hartmann  

Face2Face

Mr Frank Hartmann
Managing Director
Igedo Company GmbH & Co. KG

Igedo Company GmbH & Co. KG is the subsidiary of Messe Düsseldorf GmbH - a major player in the international trade fair arena. Igedo's fashion events are considered as the most important itinerary in the world’s leading fashion trade fairs list. CPD as it is called, serves as the figurehead of the Igedo Fashion Fairs and is unrivalled when it comes to exhibiting the world’s largest range of women’s fashion. CPD Düsseldorf is the flagship of the Igedo Fashion Fairs Düsseldorf, that presents four events under one roof. CPD fashion fair generates the highest revenue in the world. Since 1949, the company has been staging these international fashion fairs with professional know-how, winning great acclaim from the sector. Before WWII, when there were hardly any fashion exports, it was Igedo that emerged as a catalyst to transform fashion as a major export business – not only from Germany but also around the globe. Mr Frank Hartmann, Managing Director, heads the managerial affairs at Igedo. He is also a member of the Executive Board of Directors of parent company Messe Duesseldorf GmbH. For the period 2000-2005 he was the Executive Director of German Exposition Corporation International GmbH, and a Member on Board of Shanghai New International Expo Centre Co Ltd, Messe Duesseldorf Japan Ltd, Messe Duesseldorf North America Ltd, Messe Duesseldorf Asia Ltd, and Messe Duesseldorf China Ltd. Born on June 16, 1957 in Gronau, Mr Hartmann was raised in Bremerhaven. He possesses Diplom-Kaufmann (Dipl.-Kfm.) Studies of Economics from University Giessen, Germany. On the family front, he is happily married with wife Bärbel, and two dotting children. Speaking candidly to Face2Face team, Mr Frank Hartmann harks on the current state of fairs and events business; its spread across the world; and the core competencies synonymous with Igedo's exemplary conduct of a fashion event.

Six decades of successful conduct of expo and fairs must have been exciting. Can you recount memorable milestones there from?

Each decade was unique for the Igedo Company and its trade fairs. In the 1950s we had the awakening and with it the internationalisation. The Sixties saw the expansion of Igedo and the beginning of its diversification. In the Seventies, Igedo was able to establish itself as the world's largest fashion trade fair.

The 1980s turned out to be the offensive decade-'Collection Premiers Düsseldorf' or CPD became the primary leading fashion fair. In the Nineties, Igedo expanded beyond Germany's borders, and its foreign business still stands upon a solid foundation today.

In the first decade of the new millennium, the Igedo Company developed its new, trendsetting position in a continuously changing market. As the first and only in the world, the Igedo Fashion Fairs presents the entire spectrum of fashion, perfectly target-group oriented, in one location: womenswear, menswear, jeans, young fashion, casual, street fashion, lingerie and much more.

Two years stand out in the first decade of the 21st century.

2003: With the growing export of European fashion to Russia, the Igedo Company intensifies its engagement there. Since September 2003, CPM – Collection Premiere Moscow takes place in Moscow under the auspices of the Igedo Company.

2006: The successful establishment of Body Look, Germany's only international trade fair for body, beach and legwear, in Düsseldorf.

How has the meaning of trade-fair / event changed or transformed over the decades?

The concepts have changed with the changing times.

Trade fairs bring suppliers and potential customers for a wide variety of products together, facilitating business. Trade fairs, including fashion fairs, are an ideal presentation and information platform for companies. Trade fair organisers such as the Igedo Company are constantly adapting their concepts to the changing conditions in order to best serve the needs of the industry. Currently this is the search for market orientation, a comprehensive overview of the entire assortment and order-triggering processes, since orders are generally placed after the events.

Can you list out the challenges and positive outcomes of conducting fashion sector event?

Fashion fairs present the fashion trends of tomorrow in a compressed overview, making them indispensable as information platform and industry meeting place. Here, industry people meet. Here, you can feel the pulse of the trade. It is our goal and our duty to continue to adapt the concepts to this quick-paced industry.

Published on: 10/09/2007

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.

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