Who's Next - Première Classe: 1600 brands, including 300 newcomers

By

Anaïs Lerévérend

Published
Jan 20, 2015

Who's Next - Première Classe’s priority for its next edition: make its offer more attractive. From January 23 - 26, once again at the Porte de Versailles, the Parisian event will present a revamped segmentation intended to offer greater clarity. 

Special efforts have been made regarding ready-to-wear, with a return to a distribution of the halls that is more clearly segmented. Accessories, from now on grouped under the banner of Première Classe, will refocus on a creative heart with space set aside for leatherwear, a decision once more intended to make the flow of visitors as logical as possible. 

In all, 1600 brands, equally divided between ready-to-wear and accessories, will exhibit. Among the large majority of regulars to attend there will also be no less than 300 newcomers.

The ready-to-wear division, sprawling over Halls 2 and 3 of the exhibition center, will be accessible from the main entrance. But most importantly, as a new feature of this season, the division will be organized into different universes and positionings. The entrance will thus be set aside for the "Private" universe, to include 160 contemporary womenswear brands with high commercial potential. There, visitors will be able to find both well-established brands and newcomers such as Icode, a jeans brand owned by IKKS, as well as the Swedes at Menckel, the Italians at Emma & Gaia, and Eric & Me, the new Swiss women’s ready-to-wear line from underwear specialist Hanro.

Next in line after Private is the "Trendy" space, dedicated to a very fashionable positioning aimed at a fairly young demographic. There will be several newcomers among the 80 exhibitors, since the space meets a new and rather international demand. Here, visitors will be able to discover, to name a few, Pepaloves (Spain), NeonRose (Great Britain), MoroccanTouch (Morocco), Ziztar (Hong Kong) or Rita Row (Spain).

Next, there’s the "Urban" univers, which follows in the footsteps of "Mister Brown", with an urban range, as the name suggests, for both men and women. The universe will also include a contingent of 80 brands, with new names like LTB (Turkey), Cavalier Bleu (France), Minimum (Denmark), Stone Lab (France), as well as brands owned by the Danish group DK Company: Blend, Blend She, b.young, Casual Friday and Ichi.

Finally, in hall 3, "Studio" will present the core of the womenswear market. Not many changes there but there will nevertheless be some newbies among the 230 registered exhibitors. This season, the trade show will additionally welcome the brands Nü (Denmark), Zilch (Netherlands), Linea Cinque (Italy) and 7Seasons (Germany). 

"Fame", always the surest bet in terms of its fashion range, remains on the other side of the main aisle in Hall 4, welcoming a few freshman as well. For example: Amator (The Netherlands), Twist & Tango (Sweden), Mailles de Paris (France), Spread (Italy), Vadum (Denmark), and The Loom (South Korea). 

Accessories, meanwhile, have also gotten a facelift. In fact, besides re-adopting the title "Première Classe", the most well-known name for the product category, its offer has also been reorganized. In Hall 7, the entire ground floor will be dedicated to "fashion" accessories, while the upper level will house luggage and schoolbags.

The ground floor was thus built around the creative heart of a hundred or so brands. A leather goods division will also include about a hundred brands and a clear organization.

While a few weeks ago organizers announced more selectivity with an offer of about 650 brands, there will ultimately be nearly 800 in all at Première Classe. Insofar as newcomers go, it would be worth mentioning Bonnie & Bags (France), Tat (Hong Kong), Officine Federali (Italy), and Tammy & Benjamin (France) for bags. In terms of footwear, there’s also To Be Announced (Spain), Jour Férié (France), and Sargossa (Great Britain). 

Finally, the last space: "From", dedicated to sourcing, has been moved into hall 4 and this time will remain independent of Première Classe. It will include fifty accessories manufacturers, once again dominated by India.