London Textile Fair was held from July 16 to 17, 2019. The event hosted 515 exhibitors from across the UK and Europe. Buyers from retailers and brands including Gucci, Zara, H&M, Reiss, Ted Baker and French Connection were in attendance.
The difficult retail market led to fewer buyers. Tough trading conditions are one reason. Retailers have smaller budgets and margins are tighter, which means that orders are shrinking and businesses aren’t taking risks design-wise. Everyone is playing it safe and producing the same thing because they know it works. Another reason could be too many trade shows. People are being fussier about which ones they attend. Brexit is also impacting trade. Everybody seemed to be holding back on spending this edition pending the Brexit decision in October. This has knocked a lot of European business, especially in Italy. There’s too much uncertainty.
London Textile Fair is the UK’s premier platform for fashion fabrics, clothing accessories, print studios and vintage garments. It provides manufacturers and their agents the opportunity to showcase their products to the most influential British buyers and designers. The show has developed into a quality event for the fashion fabrics business in the UK. The fair was first organised in 2008.
