Interview with Michael Scherpe

Michael Scherpe
Board President/CEO
Messe Frankfurt France

Demands for personalisation will grow stronger

Messe Frankfurt supports exhibitors by opening up international markets for their products. They are one of the largest show organisers serving 178 countries around the globe. By keeping standards high-be it for events, infrastructure or services-they safeguard their quality, flexibility, stability and global growth. They concentrate on being more effective in serving the needs of the sectors and industries in which they have longstanding expertise. Michael Scherpe, Board President/CEO at Messe Frankfurt France tells Fibre2Fashion about the organisation's plans and vision.

Please take us through your journey of more than three decades at Messe Frankfurt.

When I began to work at Messe Frankfurt in 1981, we were about 190 employees and our trade fairs occurred exclusively in the exhibition grounds of Messe Frankfurt. During the previous 35 years, we evolved on the Frankfurt location, from 1983 to 1988, with a first renovation programme of the exhibition grounds of 750 millions of Deutsche Mark. Thereafter, we continuously renewed and extended our park. Even today, we are building a new hall (hall 12), and thereafter we will refurbish hall 5. On the international side, we made our first trade show outside Germany in 1987 in Hong Kong.

Now, Messe Frankfurt organises 417 events in all continents (except Australia) which gathers around 90,800 exhibitors and about 4.2 million visitors. India is in the third row of the top 10 exhibitor countries. Nearly 40 per cent of the turnover of Messe Frankfurt is made abroad. This success is based on our 2,500 collaborators, with all of them specializing in organising trade fairs. I was lucky enough to be a part of this fantastic progression of Messe Frankfurt, and I am proud to rely on this exceptional structure to succeed our Parisian trade shows.

What is the success formula of Messe Frankfurt as an organisation?

Messe Frankfurt derives from a 777-year history. The know-how of Messe Frankfurt was transmitted from generation to generation and is always known to be compatible with its era. This great know-how of the collaborators entwined with their experience of running the Frankfurt's exhibition grounds led to real inheritance of managing expertise in events. Our DNA is based on this requirement, and I have to say that it is a German tradition.

How many textile exhibitions are conducted by Messe Frankfurt across the world in a year? Which are the most successful ones of the lot?

Regarding textile and let's say fashion, Messe Frankfurt conducts 50 trade shows. All of them are quite successful in their own market and fields, that's why you will find them, apart from Germany, in France, the US, China, Russia, India, Japan, South American countries, African countries and Dubai. They cover yarn, fabrics, goods, ethical collections, technological services for fashion, apparel manufacturing, home textiles, technical textiles and leather. I am quite enthusiastic about all the fairs we organise in Paris (Texworld, Apparel Sourcing and Avantex) because Paris is the capital of fashion; it's where the European and worldwide fashion is recognised. Our Parisian trade fairs present a very creative, slightly hedgy offer made for international fashion brands.

Fashion is changing by nature; so it is a real challenge for every exhibitor, organiser and visitor to be able to discover what the consumers' wishes are. That's why we developed Avantex two years ago and will organise Texworld Denim in next September because jeanswear is evolving strongly as a different way of considering clothes. I like the Ethical Fashion Show / Green Showroom in Berlin because ethical, green, sustainable, recycling, up-cycling are the future paths. Intertextile, of course, the biggest trade fair in the world with 4,500 exhibitors continues to have high performances in the Asiatic market. Leather World in Dubai is quite interesting too, it is a fashion related trade-show but the story differs completely. A leather good is planned to have longer life. It has to last more than a collection; it can be also an emblem of status and most of the materials come from animal origin; so the sector is a little bit more intricate and this makes it quite interesting.

Tell us something about Avantex and Avanprint trade shows of Messe Frankfurt.

Avantex was born in September 2015. I've just got the willingness of the entire textiles and apparel industry to gather with technologies and technics. Suddenly, fashion has a strong taste for innovation, because with all the digital devices the consumers are seeking for new requirements in the textiles, apparel or accessories markets. Avantex covers all the industry from materials and components to smart retail without forgetting clothes and prototype studio.

Messe Frankfurt France has taken steps so that the heads of collections and designers are offered solutions that are at the forefront of innovation for clothing and fashion accessories. In September 2016, the show was expanded with the addition of an agora for lectures, the aim of which is to promote and facilitate dialogue about the huge strides in development of high-tech fashion.

I must say that this programme of lectures and conferences are the real plus points of the fair. Engineers and designers don't really know each other; they don't have the same rhythm as one is slow and the other super-fast. They need to learn more from each other and find a common goal. That's why those add-on services are quite important at Avantex. The show is really taking the industry ahead.

Avanprint was created in February 2015 and its main goal was showing the innovation in digital print and 3Dprinting for the apparel market. The arrival of Avantex has modified the concept. The NellyRodi agency we worked with on this conception, advised us to incorporate Avanprint in Avantex. Avanprint will follow its own route in the Avantex's offer.

As digital textile printing is one of the fastest growing segments within the textile industry, what according to you are the future prospects of Avanprint?

Yes, it is indisputable. However, this development runs faster in the home textiles sector than in the apparel industry. But of course, we will still carry on to take care of the new developments in the printing business for our trade fair in Paris.

How has the online communication and virtual technology impacted trade show business?

Virtual and digital technologies are very efficient, I would say more on the communication level as telephone, telefax and TV were at that time. These technologies lacked something substantial as they can't transmit tangible items. People need to confront reality to have a concrete feeling of the context they are working in. Trade fairs are essential as they gather products and consumers in a collective dynamic. With this in mind, we are all using those modern devices of communication because they allow an accurate analysis of what's going on. It has impacted us in a good way; we are keen to promote our products to exhibitors and visitors. We can also communicate more precisely to our targets; we can 'customise' our communication. We are also quicker to see what the consumer needs, what the market has to tell us. I think that personalisation will be a very strong demand of the market in the years to come. And this will only be possible with virtual technology. This is growing and changing quite rapidly, and at Messe Frankfurt France we are very eager on this matter and are focusing on that.(CC)

Published on: 14/07/2017

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.