Florence Rousson, Fashion Division Director, GL Events, leading Premiere Vision Denim Premiere Vision, Tranoï, Fashion Source and other fashion-focused trade shows of the group, has spoken with The SPIN OFF explaining how their shows want to develop and transform themselves.
Premiere Vision recently announced that the fair will begin a comprehensive renovation project. Could you explain what is this all about?
Over the past few months, we have defined an overall strategy that we would like to translate into a precise action aimed specifically at each single show.
Within our holding GL Events, we have created the Fashion Division, a section that belongs to an international player that controls different trade shows acting in different fields and markets. It operates through with dedicated teams for specific sectors for geographical areas or countries.
It is very important for us to organize international trade shows by carrying them out through structures that know each specific sector. In this way we can act in a very focused way in each key market. In this way we can understand what issues and strategies are key for our events’ exhibitors.
We have dedicated teams in Italy, Japan, China, Korea, Turkey, Spain, Germany and The US, and thanks to them we can act in a widespread though extremely focused way.
Our fashion division today owns a portfolio of 19 events that originated in France, but are taking place both Asia, France, Europe and The US through a single global system that knows how to give the right answers and knows how to create the right synergies with our exhibitors and visitors.
Premiere Vision New York
How exactly do you act?
We operate through our fashion division, but without focusing on Premier Vision Paris only.
Our goal is to understand how to act in synergy among different trade shows like, for instance, Denim PV and Tranoï. Our knowledge allows us to strengthen our added value in this industry–from upstream to downstream.
What pillars will define the evolution of your fashion-focused events?
This new strategy is based on three major pillars that have always distinguished us: our international presence on all continents, our great expertise on fashion content, and our knowledge of the market that allows us to position our events at the right times.
Being specialized with events that were born in France and Paris allows us to organize business exchanges and create spin-offs or other fairs on the level in other territories by involving those who already work with us in France and other areas.
Therefore, our strategy at the international level is to strengthen our positioning in Europe, but also to develop new activities in Asia and the North American territory.
For example, in September we created a first edition for Tranoï in Tokyo, Japan, because we knew that during The Tokyo Fashion Week there are designers who cannot participate in the local fashion week but want to show their collections and meet clients. Tranoï Tokyo was succcessful as it hosted about 150 exhibitors for the first time. That’s what we have already been doing in Paris with Tranoï in September during Paris Fashion Week.
Premiere Vision will also launch its first edition in Canada, in Montreal, in April 2025. We wanted to give companies an opportunity to approach the North American market, and the Canadian one in particular, as we are already working with major Canadian players.
You moved the dates of PV Paris from July to September. How did you make this decision?
For PV Paris we decided to move to September, returning to the dates of a historical calendar. Because of this change, we have also started scheduling Blossom, a much more luxury and high-end oriented show, twice a year by positioning it in December and June.
What dictated the choice to return to historical dates?
Since I became head of the Fashion Division I have been spending a lot of time with market players to understand what they need. According to buyers and exhibitors, especially after covid, it seemed much more strategic going back to September.
However, right now there are many difficulties and companies are considering about how to renew their model by trying to give a value proposition, offer new services and added value.
Premiere Vision, July 2024
Some Premiere Vision exhibitors have complained about the layout of the fair, for having as booth neighbor firms from different market segments than theirs…Are you reorganizing the layout in the fair as well?
Yes, we are working on that as well. We cannot think of presenting the same lay-out for ten years in a raw always following the same logic.
We know that the market is facing a double crisis that is both conjunctural and structural, and when it comes to facing a structural crisis it becomes very interesting also for fairs to propose a new point of view to the market to allow the different players (exhibitors and visitors) to have a different approach and be able to look for and find new solutions to renew their companies.
For example, firms feel the need to transform and make new investments on the industrial side and in the relationship with the consumer. That is why the fair can also be enriched in terms of themes and not only offer direct proposals to the fashion and style buyer, but also give answers to the fashion enterprise in a more general way.
Could you tell us some specific examples?
Sourcing today is no longer just done by the fashion buyer, or the fashion designer, but environmental strategy and production managers are involved, too. It’s sourcing in a different way…
That’s why we must reinvent the offer of our shows and keep in mind that other professionals will also come to visit. So, our proposal must also expand to other topics than the fashion sphere, but also economic or political aspects that are definitely strategic for the present moment.
You spoke about synergies among the shows? How will you implement these changes?
We have knowledge from upstream to downstream. So, we want to give them the opportunity to welcome different buyers and offer more knowledge about fabric production and trends, but not only that. For example, we might also present brands or finished products, but in the context of brands that offer interesting processing of raw materials or technical solutions that can inspire visitors.
Photo: Maria Cristina Pavarini
From left:Jimmy Taverniti, Marithé Bacelliere, Adriano Goldschmied, Marco Lucietti, François Girbaud at Denim PV
Denim PV is already offering something similar in its Fashion District area, isn’t it?
In part it is already happening at Denim PV, which is a fair that is giving us a lot of satisfaction. We think it is very interesting to host this global market enhancement value chain.
Having the experience of PV and enhancing what we know can help. For example, during Tranoï, we could engage retailers who are looking for manufacturers of clothing or accessories or want to meet specific requests from their consumers.
We could also organize a talk that presents how linen or cotton fabrics are produced at Tranoï.
These are examples, but they show the direction we would like to take. We may not be ready in February, but we could start that for September.
Are there countries where you held shows in the past and plan to return?
We could organize international events that involve more segments and categories…Maybe someday we could bring PV or Denim PV to Tokyo, why not? But not for now because we already have 19 fairs and we have enough to do to strengthen the offerings in these existing ones.
READ ALSO:
