Bread & Butter Day 2

Traffic was just as busy, if not even busier than day 1.  Again, the dominant section was Denim Base which is the center hall completely focused on relevant denim brands in the market; except for the german sport brand Adidas which has the very center booth in this hall.
Some of the hi-lites for me today was speaking with marketing directors for brands like Replay, Superga, Fornarina, Onitsuka Tiger, Rockstar Original and Yumi.  The general sense among these brands is that the market is beginning to recover, in fact some even have shown growth over the past year.  All brands we spoke with were very happy with buyer turnout and sentiment.
The busiest booths again for today were Diesel, G-Star, Superdry, Replay and Yumi; the British brand with the best kept celebrity secret following.  These guys have pictures of all major hollywood stars in their product.  Very exciting up and coming brand with very reasonable price points; average of $ 150 retail.
For denim looks, its clear that distressed is back and staying, skinny and boot cuts are prevalent with some really interested washes on fabrics.  As well most brands like Rockstar Original and G-Star continue to show the cut and sew patterning and finishing on denim which adds dimension and depth to the jean style.  These cut and sew patterns gave denim a futuristic look and were usually placed above the knee and in the thigh area.
For footwear, the cowboy boot story, mostly short for women is strong for all the brands we saw today.  Some were distressed and others were studded or had some type of hardware application.
The British brand George, Gina & Lucy which is a great bag and accessory line for women had some very different takes on stylings for bags and the presentation also drew a lot of attention as they had bags hanging from a carousel.
As far as who to look out for from today; Yumi; which means beautiful in Japanese, has great potential a beautiful and trendy collection for women and I think will explode globally within the next year or two.  As well, I think Replay is on it's way back up.  They had some amazing denim looks and were very busy in their booth.  Fornarina was also very strong and should continue to grow in the market.
In case you were wondering, it only took me 5 minutes to get in a cab, by simply walking down the street!
Anyway, as we've probably seen all there is to see at the show, and as attendance trails off, we are going to try and ask some of the leading brands some questions about their strategies, the market in general and their take on what the latest trends should be this upcoming year.
Stay tuned.