Home > Trends & Events > Story

Fewer visitors but happy exhibitors in a classy show: CPD woman-man 2004

Colours were bright and manifold at the 2004 edition of CPD woman-man in Dusseldorf. The trade fair, which closed in August, took place at a time when the business climate in the German textile and apparel industry seems to be recovering. Aggregate sales in the apparel and textile industries are up 2.5% for the first six months of 2004 compared to 2003.

Despite the brighter outlook (not to mention the brighter clothes) CPD woman-man 2004 attracted no more than 48,000 visitors from around the world, 7,000 less than last summer and 5,000 less than for the winter edition.

Notably missing this season were buyers from France and Italy - partially due to holidays falling in August. The lower attendance prompted the fair organiser to set the date for next summer’s CPD a week earlier, so that CPD woman-man will take place from July 24-26, in 2005. Another reason organiser Igedo gave for the change of date was the changing cycle in the European fashion industry. Due to earlier production starts, ordering also takes place earlier in the year. Hermann Fuchslocher, a fashion business consultant based in Cologne, emphasised the point: “Basically, the information and ordering process for the summer of the following year starts in late June”, he said. With some companies, it can go well into autumn and even winter, when the “at once” or “repeat” orders are placed during the winter fair, with expected delivery times of six weeks. “Often there are three parallel ordering processes”, Fuchslocher said, “pre-order, order and repeat order, which tends to be confusing to newcomers.”

Fuchslocher spoke at a seminar during “Global Fashion”, a fair within the fair, which attracted 450 exhibitors mainly from Asia, including China, India and Pakistan. The consultant also told his audience: “Don’t go for budget prices. Europeans, especially Germans, demand quality and expect reliability.”