Bread & Butter Day 1

I thought zee Germans were supposed to be organized!  I waited outside in -5C for 2 1/2 hours for a taxi after the show!  Were the Italians running this section???

Now for the show...

There is such a difference between Bread & Butter and Project Las Vegas that we kept hearing about but now finally experiencing it, made it perfectly clear.  This is by far a more professional show.  The attendees were much more diverse, as opposed to their Las Vegas/LA counterparts.

The brands showing range from Diesel, G-Star, Superdry, Custo Barcelona to Quick ( Q ).

First of all the booths were enormous and top notch.  A very serious effort made by all to create a brand image towards buyers.  The staff were far more personable and professional.  More open minded.

Some brands certainly stood out; G Star, Diesel, which both had half hour line ups just to see the receptionists.  Superdry who had a completely full house every minute of the show.  Fornarina which had a carousel outside their booth with a live model riding the merry-go-round of fashion while on lookers melted in hot pink bean bag chairs.  Custo Barcelona had a very unique display, by laying out some of the most colourful product I've ever seen, in rows on the floor along a completely black room with spotlights hi-lighting the product.

The people walking the show were quite diverse in their style.  Much more difficult to point out any single trend for both men and women.  skinny jeans, with pashmina scarves and weathered/distressed work boots was a stand out look for men.  For women it was skinny jeans or short skirts with patterned tights, riding boots or distressed short cowboy boots.  Womens boots seemed to have a "fold over" look for tucking the skinny jean into the boot.

Considering it was -5C, a lot of people were covered up with outerwear for the first part of the show.  Both men and women wearing a ton of Moncler padded winter jackets.  Essentially Europe's version of Canada Goose, with a lot more style and finishing.  Kaporal 5, a French denim brand had a very busy booth, so did Quick which is an exclusive Dutch sneaker brand.  Look out for them to explode in the near future.  As mentioned, for mid tier brands, I would say the momentum certainly is with Superdry.  Their apparel collection is superb with high quality t's and fleece as well as raised embroidered wool sweaters and rugby sweaters; and they are launching an amazing footwear collection for Fall 2010.  Honourable mention to Bench, Lacoste, Firetrap, Ben Sherman and Adidas Originals.  The denim section clearly had the mass appeal and was the focal point of the show for buyers.  Although not much pen and paper at this show.  Almost entirely for promo only.

There were some very scary moments as well.  Someone seemed to think that mixing Walt Disney and Ed Hardy would make an excellent t shirt line.  Well there is nothing scary about Mickey with tattoo style prints.  Not sure who exactly thought of "Extreme Disney" and who might want to wear this.  Maybe the kid that gets expelled from senior kindergarten.

Ed Hardy is still there although you can definitely see that the interested parties in their brand have moved considerably down the food chain.

The absolute best part of my day 1 was the launch of the new Diesel ad campaign; "BE STUPID".  With sayings such as "Smart has the brains, but stupid has the balls" and "Smart Critiques, Stupid Creates".  A clear message of follow your dreams and do what makes you happy no matter what the man says!

All and all a great first day.  Check out my pics and stay tuned for tomorrows update and interviews with some of the leading brand marketing leaders for Friday.