Fromthe 19Thtillthe23rdoffebruary 2013, Kyivexpoplaza Exhibitioncenterwelcomed the International

From the 19th till the 23rd of February 2013, KyivExpoPlaza exhibition center welcomed the international forum of vogue in Ukraine: specialized exhibitions of light and textile industry within the frames of the 25th edition of Kyiv Fashion international festival, Kyiv Fashion Kids specialized exhibition and Buy Fashion Business, the exhibition of franchising in fashion industry.

For the 15 years of its presence on the market, the forum has become the traditional and sought- after event for all industry professionals. The integrated exhibition space of over 10,000 sqm welcomes over 300 exhibiting companies and designers from 10 countries of the world and 23 regions of Ukraine. They presented new collections of women, men and children ready wear, underwear, leather, fur and accessories, home textile, fabrics and accessories.

Due to professional work of the organizers, the festival was an undoubted success, witnessed by the quality of its participants and the number of visitors having grown compared with the previous year. During the 4 days of its work, the exhibition was attended by over 11,000 visitors.

Participation in Kyiv Fashion offered the companies an opportunity of signing profitable contracts and agreements, finding new solutions to marketing problems, learning the market needs and exchanging experience. The forum gathered all the components vital for a successful fashion industry business.

As the exhibitors pointed out, the level of exhibition organization was high, thus fostering productive work of its participants and visitors. It is worth mentioning that Kyiv Fashion festival shows positive dynamics of the interest of international exhibitors towards running their businesses in Ukraine, as well as rise of new Ukrainian brands, allowing exhibitors building new prospects of their companies’ development. National expositions of France, Turkey and China were represented at the festival. The national exposition of France at Kyiv Fashion festival was presented under support of Fédération Française du Prêt à Porter Féminin.

Business program is an integral part of Kyiv Fashion international festival, featuring over 50 events this year! Due to it, exhibitors had a possibility to obtain the latest information about the opportunities and prospects of company development, visit a number of seminars and conferences on urgent matters of production and sales of light industry products, garments design, business running methods, as well as franchising schemes.

The presentation of L'Institut Supérieur Spécialisé de la Mode, supported by Fédération Française du Prêt à Porter Féminin, became a truly unique event for Ukrainian fashion business. The honorary speaker of the presentation was René Mardellat, managing director of L'Institut Supérieur Spécialisé de la Mode (MOD`SPE Paris), who underlined the necessity of developing fashion marketing. Mr. Mardellat also mentioned that 20 years before there had been no necessity of holding advertising campaigns and marketing researches. As time passed, the readymade wear market, as a result of globalization, became more selective. The situation in the sphere of distribution changed as well. Having analyzed the tendency, French companies understood that being interested in creation of ready wear and development of their trade mark(s) they needed to use such an instrument as marketing researches.

Within the frames of Kyiv Fashion, for the first time in Ukraine, the seminar “How are tendencies set? How can creative potential level be increased? Presentation of the main tendencies, sociological directions in fashion for the season of spring/summer 2014” was held. The speaker of the event was Ms. Edith Keller, expert in the sphere of fashion tendencies and social style, general director of CARLIN INTERNATIONAL GROUPE (France). Practical recommendations on the tendencies for the season of spring/summer 2014 were a key moment of the seminar, as namely due to them Ukrainian companies and designers will be able to create successful collections corresponding with the global fashion tendencies next year. Probably the most anticipated events of Kyiv Fashion festival were the seminars of Olga Kalashnikova, candidate of art criticism, director of Russian Silhouette, the international contest of young designers. Topics of the seminars:: “Planning of a collection and work with buyers” and “Communication strategy and choosing current tendencies in the context of of trademark image”.

Seminars on urgent matters of business running, trade networks merchandising franchising schemes, workshops and presentations – all these and a lot of other things were available daily for the specialists, business owners and visitors within the frames of Kyiv Fashion international festival.

This year during Kyiv Fashion Kids exhibition, over 40 companies from Ukraine and other countries offered collections of children ready wear, underwear and accessories. Much attention was paid also to the socially significant topic of school uniform. That is why Modern School Style all-Ukrainian project became the central event of Kyiv Fashion Kids. The aim of holding the project was demonstration of new ideas, modern tendencies and directions of fashion development in combination with latest technologies in the sphere of manufacture of products for schoolchildren, support and popularization of national manufacturers of school uniform, footwear and other accessories.

Within Modern School Style project the following event were held: Contest for the best school uniform samples in nominations “School Style” and “Festive Mood”. In both nominations, Sofia, PAT became the winner. The main concept of the contest was that school uniform should be not only obligatory to wear, but also original and stylish. The jury consisted of the representatives of the appropriate central bodies of executive power (Ministry of Industrial Policy of Ukraine, Ministry of Public Health of Ukraine, Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Ministry of Economy of Ukraine), representatives of trade public organizations and general educational institutions.

After the podium show and announcement of the contest winners, the round table on the matters of development and production the range of school products was held, at which the mechanisms of stimulating demand for range of Made in Ukraine school products was discussed. At the round table, Kyiv International Contract Fair, Ltd., the organizer of the exhibition, in cooperation of Ukrainian Association of Light Industry Enterprises Ukrlegprom gathered manufacturers, designers, representatives of educational establishments and central government authorities. Participants of the round table stressed the necessity of reviewing the outdated state standards, together with toughening control over low-quality products in order to prevent them coming to the market.

Golden Flourish, the contest of ready wear drafts, became a real stimulus for young designers. Its aim was demonstration and promotion of the art of young designers, establishment of contacts between designers and manufacturers. The best contest works were defined, their authors being awarded with diplomas and prizes. During the awarding ceremony Olga Kalashnikova, candidate of art criticism, the jury head and the honorary guest of the festival, summed up the totals of the contest and gave young designers recommendations on developing their creative potential.

For the first time at Kyiv Fashion, the “Time Traveling. Ukrainian fashion of 1950-1970s. Image of the time. European context” exposition-presentation of the museum of fashion history of Ukraine was organized. Retrospective photos, together with the represented variants of clothes and accessories managed to create the wonderful atmosphere of Ukrainian fashion of 1950-1970s for the visitors of Kyiv Fashion.

Special attention should be drawn to Costumotheka project. This time, its topic was: “Reconstruction of the costume models of French designers of 1920s” (exposition of reconstructions collection, illustrating the history of costume evolution from “Costumotheka” of KNUTD).

During the festival, Young Fashion Line fashion project for young designers was held, within the frames of which designers had a chance of not only presenting their collections at a separate stand and a podium, but also perfecting their professional level by means of studying at specialized seminars. The works represented by the young designers were characterized by their own style and a large number of original ideas. They were not just ordinary podium shows, but shows bringing plenty of positive emotions to the spectators and participants.

Visitors of the festival also became the witnesses of Fashion Defile Awards – a unique project, within the frames of which designers offered podium demonstrations of ready wear collections that were winners of the podium contests in 2012.

Special attention should be drawn to the positive dynamics of the festival development. The exhibition welcomed over 30% of new companies in addition to the constant participants, this being attributed to new companies entering the market, market revival, and high effectiveness of the festival itself.

The autumn edition of Kyiv Fashion 2013 festival to be held on September, 10-13 will be a tremendous success once again.