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.
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.