Who's Next show forced to cancel January edition

By

Olivier Guyot

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Nov 26, 2020

The expected end of the lockdown, and the promise of a Covid-19 vaccine, do not appear to be sufficient to dispel the dark clouds looming on the trade event sector's horizon, in France and elsewhere, for the start of next year. A few days after Florentine show Pitti Uomo threw in the towel, it was the turn of the leading Parisian ready-to-wear event to announce the cancellation of its January 2021 edition.

French show organiser WSN Développement, after cancelling the event’s September session, has been forced to do the same for the next edition of Who's Next and Impact, which were scheduled on January 22-24 at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris.

“After consulting with our stakeholders, our partners, contractors, exhibitors and visitors, we have decided to postpone the edition of Who’s Next scheduled for January 2021. It will instead take place alongside Première Classe, during the Paris Fashion Week, on March 5-7 2021,” stated WSN Développement.

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A solution that has already been adopted this autumn, when Who's Next was held in one of the Première Classe marquees at the Jardin des Tuileries venue in the heart of Paris. At the time, optics show Silmo did the same, staging its ‘Silmo Hors les murs’ session in another of the venue’s marquees. Who's Next, in its habitual format, is set to return to Porte de Versailles for the September 2021 edition.

In parallel with this announcement, Who's Next has heralded a new partnership starting next January with crowdfunding platform Ulule. The goal is to support the creation of emerging labels, and to offer new opportunities to established brands wishing to develop new projects or launch a new product.

WSN Développement is keen to play a part in energising the business of the ready-to-wear sector by also introducing two new events. Drop01, scheduled on June 24-26 at the Grand Palais in Paris, will focus on new product and capsule collection launches. It will be an occasion for labels to present their new items and limited-edition lines.

WSN Développement’s second new event will take place in parallel with Drop01, on June 25-27. It is called Who's Next Limited, and is designed to provide a space for the presentation of pre-collections during the Paris Fashion Week.