Who's Next coincides with Mode City in July 2013

By

Jean-Paul Leroy

Published
Oct 2, 2012

It is often difficult for a trade show to find good dates. Who's Next Prêt-à-Porter Paris bitterly experienced that in late June, early July when it took place during the first weekend of the summer sales in France. As a result, the show suffered a decline of 8.7% French visitors (-21% for visitors from outside of Paris!).

To avoid a similar defection, show organizer WSN Développement has announced a date change. The salon will take place a week later — Saturday, July 6 to Tuesday, July 9, 2013. The WSN media release said that this change should create more "coherence and energy" by holding the trade show simultaneously with the lingerie show and Mode City (from July 6 – 8). WSN also believes that the event will dovetail with the showroom pre-collections, which the organizers say last until mid-July.

In choosing these dates, Who's Next will now follow on the heels of the Berlin salons. Bread & Butter has announced its dates as July 2 to 4, and Premium has indicated that it will probably take place July 3 to 5. However, it is not out of the question that Premium will happen exactly at the same time as B&B, as was the case for the January 2013 edition.

In Paris, Who's Next comes after the runway shows for Couture (from July 1 – 4) and men's fashion week (June 26 – 30).

It is difficult to assess immediately the positive or negative impact of this date change by Who's Next. According to the organizer, the show "is the first international event in the women's fashion Spring-Summer 2014 calendar." Which is clearly not quite the case, given the Berlin dates.

And that might not even be true for the Paris calendar. We know that Tranoï will launch a first edition of a women's trade show next January during men's fashion week and Tranoï Homme. Another similar event is on the agenda for late June 2013.

Tranoï organizer Armand Hadida responded that right now he does not plan to move his dates, even though he will naturally consider it. If he kept his show at the end of June, he could undeniably boast of being the first women's show for the Spring-Summer 2014 season! But in France, he would take his turn in suffering through the start of the summer sales.

The Première Classe trade show in late June 2012