Diary by YDC 2015 Contemporary Day-wear Group winner Necro Poon. He won the new menswear fashion competition “TAKE TEN” organised by NOT JUST A LABEL (NJAL) this year, and the prize was a sponsorship to attend the tradeshow, TRANOÏ, in Paris from 17-19 January, 2020.
I am full of expectations on the first time to attend Paris Fashion Week. It’s like visiting one of the most high-end banquets in the world. All of the designers and brands at TRANOÏ are creative and well-developed.
The “TAKE TEN” programme selected 10 emerging menswear brands to attend the show from thousands of participates in NJAL, including Italy, France, Taiwan and Argentina. All of them are unique and deserve the chance to showcase their work to the world.
During the show, I realised there are differences between CENTRESTAGE in Hong Kong, Taipei IN Style, Shanghai Ontimeshow and TRANOÏ in Paris. TRANOÏ sets a very high standard to classify between buyers, exhibitors and visitors. As a result, it’s easy for exhibitors to find suitable buyers, who can source their target brands and designs seriously and quietly, which is very important for business matching. Buyers not only hail from Europe, but from the Middle East. Many of them come from well-known select boutiques and department stores.
Besides the tradeshow and international networking experience, I also met a denim garment manufacturer from Okayama, Japan.
Watanabe Toshiaki owns a Japanese garment factory. He could identify my denim came from Okayama at first sight, and stopped and talked to me. In the future, NECRO POON can secure its supply of Okayama denim and might have an opportunity to produce a new “made in Japan” item to enhance production quality.
For the last day at TRANOÏ, the main organisers prepared wine and beer for all visitors and exhibitors. Everyone enjoyed the party, but I didn’t stay too long as there’s more work to do the next day.
It’s a great opportunity for me to explore Paris to see how different showrooms work during Paris Fashion Week and explore more business opportunities for the brand.
In Paris, there’s a lot of different showrooms during fashion week. It’s very different from Hong Kong, which has only one major tradeshow during Hong Kong Fashion Week.
Every showroom in Paris has its own uniqueness and style, and that’s why finding a suitable, reliable showroom becomes the most important mission for every brand.
With the opportunity to visit Paris, I spent the time to look for several showrooms to discuss their business vision, style, upcoming trends and moves in the next season.
As each showroom has their own vision and style to attract different buyers, designers should not waste time and money on showrooms are not suitable for them.
On the other hand, the way and style of sales from different showrooms can be very different as well. Some of them will suggest designers stay at the booth and introduce their own products to buyers, while others will not suggest too many people stay in the showroom and give more space to buyers. Some of them will provide empty space only and brands will have to set up everything on their own. Not only matching a fashion style and vision is important for the brands, but the way and style of sales are also the points of concern.
For emerging brands and designers, it’s important to visit Paris to explore and understand how it works during fashion week, and select a suitable showroom to represent them to showcase their works to the world.
