Paris Trade Shows Highlight Outerwear and Sustainability

PARIS — The recent round of trade shows here during men’s collections saw the return of buyers from Asia and a buoyant atmosphere with traffic back in force. The offer at Tranoï, Man and especially the sprawling Who’s Next show at Porte de Versailles, which integrated jewelry event Bijorhca as well as the Salon International de la Lingerie, was broad, with highlights including the ever-growing number of brands focused on sustainability as well as the outerwear offer from labels surfing the gorp core wave.

With a new venue in the Upper Marais — the Garage Amelot — Tranoï was tapping into proximity with nearby men’s showrooms and aiming to become a fashion hub in the area, sharing the space with the British Fashion Council’s London Show Rooms and staging fashion shows for Botter and for Naomi Gunther’s buzzy Gunther label.

“We’re thrilled to be in the Marais, in this new, slightly atypical venue,” said Tranoï president Boris Provost, adding that the organizer will renew the experience at the same venue in June. “It’s a logical follow-up to the Palais de Tokyo, and it allows us to be close to the showrooms. People who have come for the fashion shows have stayed to look around, a lot of influencers notably, and that is a new visitor profile for us.” Around 50 labels were showing in the space.

Asian buyers were back, Provost said. Overall, however, he observed that buyers’ purchasing habits have changed, and less brands were writing orders in situ than they would have in the past, which has not been the case at shows during ready-to-wear. “It’s really been about networking and discovery,” he said.

Brands showing included Japanese indigo specialist FDMTL, which previously showed at Man. “Tranoï was trying to change its way of showing, and that was interesting for me,” said founder Gaku Tsuyoshi. “I was happy with Man but I thought I should do something different.”

“It has been incredible because the Asian market has returned in person,” said Daniel Gayle, founder of DenzelPatrick, showing for the third time at Tranoï with a collection that twisted fabrics traditionally used for furnishing into outfits for dressing up. “In Europe, we seem to have a lot of traction and excitement, I couldn’t be happier.”

Several exhibitors said the shared venue with London Show Rooms had been a bonus, as it had pulled in higher-profile buyers. Among the 17 designers within the London Show Rooms space were sustainable streetwear label LYPH, which exhibited at Tranoï last season, Savile Row trained tailor Yuri Choi, originally from South Korea, with her Yuri Yuri brand, colorful genderless label House of Jaffa and luxury streetwear label Abigail Ajobi.

One buyer who was happy to walk the Paris trade shows again was Neiman Marcus’ Bruce Pask. “Overall, it’s been a really strong season. The energy at the trade shows were vibrant and lively, and I was happy to see so many people in attendance excited to explore the various vendors,” he said. “There was a nice correlation between London Show Rooms and Tranoi. It was a really good fit.”

He didn’t come with a specific shopping list, he said. “I want something that stands out, something that we have a customer need for, something interesting. We come with an open curious mind and I’m interested in seeing things that catch my eye.”

Over at Man, at the Pavillon Vendôme, around 80 brands were present. “Man/Woman was very busy,” Pask said. “People are looking at these clothes and shopping these brands because of the great, global variety. I was also happy to see a lot of Japanese manufacturers back here, because it’s been difficult since they weren’t able to travel.”

Exhibitors included first-timer Griffin, a high-end outerwear-maker from the U.K., which normally exhibits at Pitti. “The Japanese buyers requested that we did Man,” explained partner and designer Karina Griffin. “It’s been good.”

Down at Porte de Versailles, Who’s Next, which organizer WSN pitched as “the temple of wholesale,” was busy too. The event incorporated the Salon International de la Lingerie for the first time, as well as jewelry event Bijorhca, sustainable section Impact, which continues to grow in scope, with more and more visitors coming especially to discover emerging sustainable brands. “The customer gets really excited if something is recycled, they love a story,” said Liz Trendle, owner of The Gate boutique in Guildford, Surrey, U.K.

Staged over three days instead of four, which organizers said was part of its drive to reduce energy usage, the combined events attracted 40,187 visitors, of which 60 percent were French — Who’s Next in January traditionally has a much more domestic following than sister event Première Classe, during ready-to-wear.

Footfall at Who’s Next, Bijorhca and Impact was up 57 percent compared with last January, and international visitors tripled, according to WSN. Some 992 brands were exhibiting, including 32 percent of newcomers. “We’ve found some really good accessories, although we’re a little disappointed with the ready-to-wear,” Trendle said. “We’ve had a really good season and we’re quite confident.”

Label: Daniel Essa

Showing at: Tranoï

Category: Footwear

Concept: High-end sneaker designer Daniel Essa, a graduate of Esmod, arrived in Europe from war-torn Syria and created his footwear label in 2017 thanks to the encouragement of retail veteran Ken Downing. Each pair of his customizable leather designs comes in a box with a range of different accessories so they can be adapted by the wearer at will. Stockists include Chalhoub-owned Level Shoes in Dubai.

Pricing: 400 to 695 euros at retail

Label: Weisheng Paris

Showing at: Tranoï

Category: Ready-to-wear

Concept: First-time exhibitor Wei-Sheng Wang, a Parsons Paris graduate, interned at Loewe and Sacai before launching his gender-neutral collection just last year. Several of his innovative tailored pieces incorporated technical fabrics that light up when seen with flash from behind a screen, while a pleat-skirted trenchcoat featured signature harness details on the back in the shape of a Chinese character meaning “human.”

Pricing: 65 to 1,933 euros (retail)

Label: Florian Wowretzko

Showing at: London Show Rooms

Category: Rtw

Concept: Former David Koma head of atelier Florian Wowretzko was presenting his 12th collection, but it was his first time opening up for wholesale. “Before I was working with deadstock fabrics, now I have suppliers,” explained the designer, a devout Catholic who takes much of his inspiration from clerical garb. His inspiration this season was pictures of distant planets, their canyons and ridges forming delicate swirling relief motifs on certain designs.

Pricing: 190 to 2,500 British pounds (wholesale)

Label: C’est Bon

Showing at: Tranoï

Category: Streetwear

Concept: Self-taught designer Mamadou Bah, who was born in Guinea and grew up in Detroit, created C’est Bon in 2018 when looking to move forward after a basketball injury. He started out with just a couple of T-shirts, then expanded into ripstop pants, which have become a signature. With the buzzy L.A.-based label, he aims to create a dialog between industrial and artisanal references, offering hybrid designs with a sporty appeal. The brand will be launching at Fred Segal next season.

Pricing: $75 to $400 (retail)

Label: Walkers Appeal

Showing at: Man

Category: Rtw

Concept: Founded in 2016, Spain-based Walkers Appeal aims at “the Carhartt boy who has grown up,” according to managing director Latif Arouna. Designed to allow the wearer to shift easily from office to leisurewear, it offers a wardrobe for men and women with workwear-inspired shapes and subtle design details, made with hard-wearing organic and recycled fabrics designed to last, all manufactured in Spain. A second-time exhibitor at Man, the brand is ramping up wholesale and hoping to target major retailers.

Pricing: 202 euros for a trenchcoat, 150 euros for a workwear jacket (wholesale).

Label: Carrier Goods by Purple Mountain Observatory

Showing at: Man

Category: Outerwear

Concept: This newly launched outerwear brand based in the U.K. was founded by outdoor enthusiasts and apparel designers Georgia Smith, who previously worked in design for brands like Fred Perry and Katharine Hamnett, and Matthew Braun, who has worked for Abercrombie & Fitch and River Island, surfing on the gorp core wave and with a concept built around an online community. Their offer combined an earthy color palette with revisited shapes (jackets had subtle batwing sleeve details, for example) and hi-tech fabrics.

Pricing: 50 to 360 British pounds (retail)

Label: The More Project

Showing at: Who’s Next/Impact

Category: Rtw

Concept: Théodore Lambert, who worked in finance before deciding to launch his own brand, defines his label, launched last September thanks to Ulule, as a “gender-more” concept. Launched with a single product, an ecru shirt made from an organic hemp/cotton/lyocell blend featuring 21 buttons that enable the wearer to modify its shape at will, he collaborates with a variety of emerging artists to turn them into one-off pieces. Sold online only, he is hoping to open up wholesale.

Pricing: 270 euros (retail)

Label: Panafrica

Showing at: Who’s Next/Impact

Category: Footwear

Concept: Seven-year-old vegan sneaker label Panafrica works with artisans in Morocco, Ghana, Cöte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso to create its colorful designs made with materials like recycled soles, apple skin and Seaqual, made from ocean plastic. The digital native brand is broadening its distribution, and its founders Vulfran de Richoufftz and Hugues Didier have also set up an incubator to offer advisory services to like-minded young designers, called WeJump, aiming to help them scale their business.

Pricing: 129 to 149 euros (retail)

Label: Gigi Paris

Showing at: Who’s Next

Category: Costume jewelry

Concept: Using vintage buttons from luxury clothing that is past its best, Salomé Kassabi, who comes from a family of antique dealers, and Morgane Guyennot created jewelry brand Gigi Paris, named after Salomé’s grandmother, in 2020. With around 65 points-of-sale already, mainly in France and including Galeries Lafayette Haussmann and Printemps du Louvre, their limited-edition and one-off products have garnered a strong following. They also offer carefully restored vintage pieces, and are working to create pearls from recycled plastic to use in future collections.

Pricing: 80 to 250 euros (retail)

Label: Pieux

Showing at: Who’s Next

Category: Rtw

Concept: Indian designer Pratyush Kumar, whose fashion role model is Stella McCartney, creates his colorful architectural designs using a specially developed fabric, Cartex, made from discarded yarns from India’s carpet industry, combining it with materials like recycled polyester. He studied corsetry in the U.K. before returning to India and creating his label, and that informs his silhouettes, which combine corsetry techniques with athleisure references and creative pleating and origami-like folding.

Pricing: 350 euros (average retail)

Label: Kickers

Showing at: Who’s Next

Category: Rtw

Concept: In footwear, the Kickers name needs no introduction, but it chose Who’s Next to launch its first ready-to-wear offer, a genderless offer aimed at youngsters between 18 and 25. Inspired by the label’s original shoe, which launched in the ‘70s, the line features vintage-inspired basics made from organic cotton, recycled polyester and deadstock fabrics featuring a graphic “K” logo.

Pricing: 39 to 109 euros (average retail)

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