California Apparel News

PARIS—There was plenty to see at the Feb. 20–23 run of Premiegrave;re Vision Pluriel, the umbrella name for the five fabric and fiber exhibitions held at Parc d’Expositions in Paris Nord Villepinte, in the northeastern corner of Paris.

Designers and fabric buyers browsed among the fabric suppliers showing at Premiegrave;re Vision, the yarn and fiber suppliers at Expofil, the makers of original prints and patterns at Indigo, the suppliers of trimming and accessories at Mod’Amont, and the leather and fur suppliers at Le Cuir agrave; Paris.

According to organizers, Premiegrave;re Vision and Expofil drew nearly 47,800 visitors, which represented a 3 percent increase over last year. Indigo organizers reported a 38 percent increase in attendance to 15,838 visitors.

And while the show drew many designers and fabric buyers from top manufacturers and design houses around the world, a scheduling overlap with trade shows in New York cut into the Paris attendance of many small U.S. design companies, according to several exhibitors.

Still, the show attracted representatives from well-known U.S. labels, including Oscar de la Renta, BCBG Max Azria, St. John, Juicy Couture, Betsey Johnson, Kay Unger, Trina Turk and Dana Buchman.

Designer and fabric buyers are being more selective in the shows they attend, said Claudio Taiana, owner of Taiana Virgilio, a textile mill based in Como, Italy. Taiana was showing two of his fabric collections—Linea Vanity and Linea Cult— and had just returned from the Milano Unica fabric show in Italy and from Premiegrave;re Vision Preview in New York in January.

“We had the exhibition in New York, then Milan and now in Paris,” he said. “We cannot expect our customers to go to all the shows.”

Still, he said, the quality of attendees at Paris was very high, but he noted that different markets were emerging for 34- year-old Premiegrave;re Vision and 2-year-old Milano Unica.

“Milan is becoming more important for menswear, and Paris is becoming more important for women’s,” he said.

Eric Firmann from Lyon, France–based performance and active fabric mill Sofileta had several appointments with U.S. customers at Premiegrave;re Vision, as well as a few appointments with California labels.

Firmann said the general mood was positive and the interest high in his smart fabrics with moisture-management, power-stretch and thermal-retention properties, as well as his fashion fabrics with metallic looks and laminated finishes.

“In Europe we have seen a better mood in recent shows than in the last few years,” he said.

Traffic picked up early, right from the start, for several exhibitors.

“Today we booked a lot of appointments. It was quite a good day for us,” said Sandrine Bernard, the New York–based executive vice president of Paris-based high-end lace and fabric mill Solstiss/Bucol, on the opening day of the show.

“Normally the first day is quiet, but by afternoon the rhythm is good,” said Philippe Gonzales, a representative for Lyon-based Komo SAS. Gonzales said that by the end of the show, he had seen representatives from Betsey Johnson, Dana Buchman and Kay Unger.

West Coast connections

This was the first show for Dayna Holli Textiles, a new Los Angeles–based print studio, according to owner Dayna Johnson, who was showing at Indigo. The company––which provides vintage textiles, embroideries and woven shirting fabrics––had already showed the latest collection in January at Printsource in New York. Johnson said she was expecting to see representatives from BCBG at the show, as well as Lucky Brand.

This was also the first time at Indigo for Diana Garreau, founder of the 10-year-old print studio Garreau Designs in Laguna Beach, Calif.

“We thought it was time to step it up a bit,” said Garreau. The company employs eight artists in its two studios in Laguna Beach and in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Each print is handdrawn and then scanned to create a “completely usable inlay,” Garreau said.

When a few of Garreau’s existing clients learned that the company was exhibiting at Indigo, they came to see the line before the show. Another client—a large manufacturer based in San Francisco— had made plans to stop by the booth at Indigo, she said.

Trina Turk was among the West Coast–based designers in attendance at Premiegrave;re Vision. “For us, we’re very fabricoriented— it’s our bread and butter, basically,” she said. “It’s always good to go immerse yourself in it and get a feeling for the upcoming season. For this show, there seemed to be a clear direction.”

In particular, Turk liked the fabrics in many shades of gray and a yellow/green acid shade that would work well as an accent color. Plus, “there was a ton of metallic,” she said.

Los Angeles designer Randa Allen was also in attendance, on the hunt for fabrics for her contemporary collection, Notice, as well as her new label, Curtsey, which she described as “dresses, knits, prints, period.”

Allen shopped the show for two days, describing it as “concentrated thinking without interruption.”

“We need to get there and get the trends,” she said. “We walked away feeling very positive about it.”

The designer said her company frequently uses Italian, French and German fabrics in the collection. “I think it makes a difference in our line,” she said.