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Tuesday, 16 June 2015

Interior Design Trade Show Round Up 2015 – 2016

Interior Design Trade Show Round Up

The fall of 2015 is always busy for the interiors industry. Whether you are looking for a great place to showcase your brand, to discover new designers for your store or to simply find some inspiration, trade events provide a beautiful starting point to inspire creative, forward-thinking ideas for design enthusiasts from all over the world.

Here’s a compilation of ten must-do events that will dazzle you with their striking presentation and interior design concepts. These events are held throughout the season and located primarily in three major European cities, London, Milan and Paris, but most of these shows are replicated in other cities such as New York and Tokyo should that be of interest.


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100% Design 23 – 26 September 2015 Olympia, London

Interior Design Trade Show Round Up

100% Design is the UK’s largest design trade event, attracting architects and designers from across the globe. First hosted in 1995, the show is defined by four key sections: Interiors, Workplace, Kitchen & Bathrooms and Design & Build. Starting this year, there will also be a presentation of the Luxury and Modern British sections. For 2015, the show will take over a new venue, Olympia London. All 100% Design exhibitors are carefully selected, in order to reflect the show’s focus on design quality, innovation and relevance to the architecture and design community. The show has a corporate feel, showcasing high-end products to an International audience ready to place orders.

Decorex International 20-23 September 2015 Syon Park, London

Decorex International is one of the most important events in the field of interior design which takes place this year at the start of the London Design Festival. With a glorious experience of 38 years, Decorex International is an incredible place to discover the very best, high-end products from an unrivalled collection of more than 400 hand-picked exhibitors. Decorex is not a one-room affair, but it’s not enormous like Paris or Cologne. There is also a great variety of products to keep you excited; furniture, rugs, fabrics and so on. The atmosphere is much more personal and not like enormous fairs where corporates walk around in groups like zombies.

London Design Festival 19-27 September 2015

The London Design Festival is one of the world’s most important annual design events, held to celebrate and promote London as the design capital of the world and as the gateway to the international creative community. The show draws in the country’s greatest conceptual thinkers, practitioners, retailers and educators in order to make a celebration of London’s best designers.

TENT London 24-27 September 2015 Old Truman Brewery, London

tent london

Tent & Super Brands London is the trade show for original thinkers looking to discover the best in contemporary design. This is the perfect place to raise your brand awareness, sell directly to a consumer audience and make new important contacts with top industry figures. This event takes place during London Design Festival and exhibits more than 440 inspiring independent designers from 29 countries.

Design Junction 24-27 September 2015, London

Designjunction is another leading destination for contemporary interior design and culture – and particularly good for anyone interested in home accessories. It features furniture, lighting and product design from around the world. Designjunction showcases many processes as well as products – so there are many demonstrations going on, from glass cutting to tile creating.  There is also ample opportunity for retail sales, with a host of “pop up shop” style vendors on show.  The event is held annually during the London Design Festival in London, the Salone del Mobile, Milan and NYCxDesign in New York.

Home London 13 – 15 September 2015 London Olympia

Since its launch in January 2012, Home London has developed year on year, attracting more key brands and doubling in size. This show puts together a compelling cross-section of stylish products, covering a great deal of market sectors, from kitchen and dining, to tableware, furniture, lighting and garden – primarily homeware retailers. Their focus is on design led brands, featuring more affordable designs as well as the super expensive.

Maison et Objet 4-8 September 2015 Paris

maison img_8706

Maison & Objet is the major event for professionals working in the art of living and contemporary interior design. This show is a unique display of decorations, furniture, accessories, textiles, fragrances and tableware all presented with an extraordinary style that captures the global markets trends in interior design. Maison holds its own in terms of smaller independent brands, fabrics and wallpapers, tableware and decorative accessories. Also, heavyweight French brands Baccarat, Ligne Roset and Roche Bobois always choose their home turf and Maison to unveil their new collections.

Pulse 15-17 May 2016 London Olympia

Pulse London is a lifestyle and design retail event that unites the freshest designers, all carefully selected by experts. Ok, so I’ve cheated here as Pulse is the UK’s only summer trade event, so not technically a “Fall” event, but this is actually one of its benefits and so worth the mention; Pulse allows you to source and buy what your customers want right now, in the season, as well as your long orders for the rest of the year. You can spot the latest innovative products and cutting edge designs from the finest edit of emerging talent. Something else worth noting is that they offer discounts for first time exhibitors, to help you launch your brand into the stratosphere!

Designers Block – 2016 (Dates Not Yet Announced)

Designers block designs and delivers unique, contemporary exhibitions, events and experiences in the UK while working internationally with a variety of independent designers, creative partners, commercial clients and brands. Their aim is to bring the most innovative ideas to the widest possible audience, and they’re great at bringing young and new designers to the forefront. This is what you get by attending this great venue: product design, furniture, lighting, concept design, graphics and illustration, architecture and fashion Installations, interactive workshops, talks and seminars, structures, music and performance.

Milan Furniture Fair 3rd week of April Milan

milan-furniture-fair-001

The Milan Furniture Fair is held annually in Milan. It is the largest trade fair of its kind in the world. The exhibition showcases the latest in furniture and design from countries around the world. This important interior design exhibition is considered a leading venue for the display of new products by designers of furniture, lighting and other home furnishings. It also hosts many small events that take place across the city. A plus for newcomers is that part of the main fair is reserved for young designers and prototypes – an ideal place to find bright new talent and unheard of products.

So that’s it for my picks! Many of them are still taking on exhibitors for this year – so get in there quick if you want to get involved. If it’s your first forray into trade shows you may want to attend a few, get a feel for them, pick up some inspiration and decide where your brand may fit best. Costs for general attendance and stalls varies between shows, so check out their websites for more details.

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Thursday, 11 June 2015

What Is A Range Plan For Fashion Designers?

range plan

The fashion world is a high paced environment where efficiency and innovation reign supreme. To achieve any goal you must have plan, and in this business that is no exception. Last week we talked about business plans, this week we discover why great designers must have a solid understanding of range plans.


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A range plan is an overview of your collection with all of the design and financial parameters set out. The plan outlines the specifics of your collection; from how many styles you will have, to what fabrics and colourways will be used. It is used before you dive into large scale production. This is incredibly useful for you to follow as a designer but most importantly it gives potential buyers a clear understanding of your vision.

Range plans usually include:

  • Total number of garments
  • Illustrations or flat drawings of every garment
  • Proportion of different garments types (Tops/bottoms/dresses)
  • Specific garment styles
  • Different fabrics and colourways for each garment
  • Cost price per garment
  • Selling price per garment
  • Order quantities per style
  • Sizes
  • Manufacturer details

While this can seem overwhelming, take it from me, it doesn’t have to be. There are tons of resources online to help you with a range plan, so I’m not that interested in taking you through it. But I’d like to take a quick look at WHY you need one in the first place, so instead of just going through the motions, you can actually get to grips with your business and set yourself up for success.

1. Design

What Is A Range Plan

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, and the first step to any great line or collection is a cohesive vision. The story of entire civilisations can be told from the garments that they wore. Think about the story of your designs and the culture they reflect. A tried and true way to accomplish piecing your thoughts together is to set up a mood board, consisting of colour palettes, textures and themes from various sources.

When you have the overall concept of your line, it is time to begin looking at the market you are selling to. Think specifically about your brand and the people that it will serve. Get specific – narrow your overall market. Consider income level, gender, age and what that particular group is looking for as the function of their attire. This will have an immense impact on not only the marketing of your line, but the manufacturing of it too!


Your tarket market will have an immense impact on your manufacturing choices. #range #plan
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2. Diversity

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when looking at a designer collection and think that you need to produce a huge range of completely different garments per collection. This just isn’t the case. Remember, changing minor details on the pattern, or using a different fabric or simply just a different colour can totally change the feel of a garment. Buyers often prefer to have a few key styles and number of options within that style that they can choose to best fit their customers. It also massively cuts down your work load.

The Cutting Glass have done an awesome “by numbers” analysis of a Rick Owens runway collection, showing how many styles are different or the same just in different colours or fabrics. It really puts the range plan into context.

Rick Owens Cutting

3. Costing

One of the many reasons laying the foundation of a streamlined range plan is so important is that each part affects the others. When you first started your plan, I mentioned that it was important to have a vision and understand the niche market you are serving. This is mainly because when it comes to your pricing strategy knowing which niche you are targeting can define the strategy you choose. Knowing how much money your target market is willing to spend will undoubtedly be a factor when choosing the fabrics and production methods and vice versa.

The biggest factors when pricing your line are raw material and production costs. Remember, if a garment has a more complicated pattern or the sewing together is quite labour intensive, then your production will take longer, meaning costs will be higher. You may want think about how to offset this. For example, if you have one or two more complicated pieces in the collection, you may have a few really simple designs that are super quick to make.

The same goes for choosing fabrics. You may want to use a few luxury fabrics mixed with some cheaper lines so you can stick to an overall budget. Or if you are intent on using only the highest quality fabrics, you need a clear strategy for reaching out to a high end market.

4. Sourcing

Another important part of your range plan needs to be where you are sourcing your fabrics from. As Director of Offset Warehouse, a fabric shop, I cannot tell you how important it is to know where you fabric is coming from and making sure the fabric you wish to use is still going to be in stock when you want to go into production. There’s no use creating a sample piece from limited edition or end of line fabric that you can’t get again. It only takes a quick enquiry to check if a fabric is an ongoing stock line.

black sateen

Cultivating solid relationships with your source is key to having a successful line. Also, be prepared when talking to fabric reps and agents about what you are looking for and remember to ask for wholesale prices. The price per metre of fabrics will often go down with the more you buy. That’s definitely something you need to consider in your range plan, so don’t just look at the initial price. At Offset Warehouse we include a tiered pricing system on our fabrics so you know straight off the bat how much cheaper it is to buy in bulk. Take this Sateen for example, if you buy 50 metres you save a whopping 50% per metre! This means that the cost of each garment will become lower with the more you make.

Think about including physical fabric samples in your range plan too, this will give buyers and even better understanding and feel for your collection.

Resources

range plan sarah hellen

So there you have the basics behind creating a range plan. Just like a business plan, a range plan is primarily for yourself, so include what you need. But if it’s all a bit overwhelming, there are plenty of resources online to sink your teeth into before you get started. There are a plethora of templates you can work to for your first collection, and once you’ve got the hang of them, you’ll have the confidence to embellish and make your range plan unique to you.

Here are two free templates to get you started (click to open in a new window & download):

FREE RANGE PLAN TEMPLATE Sheet1

FREE RANGE PLAN TEMPLATE

Check out this YouTube video talking you through a range plan template.  Range plans are big business and you can even take courses in how effectively range plan like this one at the Fashion Retail Academy.

The development of a range plan takes careful consideration and collaboration between designers, buyers and merchandisers. While you may consider fashion your art form, you must remember that it is also a business. Keeping true to your vision is important, but to make money you must be organised, and plan! In fashion, as in life, there must be a balance.

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Wednesday, 10 June 2015

Tuesday, 9 June 2015

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