TRADE SHOWS

Source British Trade Show to Take a Bow

London trade-show producer Upper Street Events will take new trade show Source British to the California Market Center showroom building for the LA Fashion Market. It is scheduled to run March 13–16.

Source British is a trade show devoted to British brands. The debut event will run in the Penthouse 13A section of the CMC. Source British aims to bring more than 45 UK brands to America’s West Coast for the debut run of this show. Source British will focus on apparel but also will offer space to businesses exhibiting footwear, accessories, gifts, crafts and homewares. Olivett Asare, the event director, said that UK brands are going to be a deal for U.S. retailers since the 2016 Brexit vote, in which a majority of UK voters chose to break from the European Union. Since the vote, rates for British currency have dropped, and UK goods will be cheaper to import.

Joanne Lee, senior vice president of trade shows and marketing at the CMC, said Source British will become a Los Angeles discovery point for UK fashion. “British design and craftsmanship have long been revered by U.S. buyers. With Source British in Los Angeles, West Coast buyers are being offered the extraordinary opportunity to explore Britain’s top brands in one convenient LA Market trip,” she said.

Along with offering real estate for booths, the Source British show is scheduled to produce a seminar called “Exporting Guide to the U.S.” It also will partner with the U.S.-based forecasters Trend Council for a set of style-forecast seminars. For Anglophiles, the event will offer a British tearoom and a gin-tasting room produced by Sipsmith Gin.

The show’s emerging-designer’s area will feature brands such as Sherene Melinda, Orla Kiely, Something Wicked, Satanic Mill and Exofitness London.

Other brands scheduled to exhibit are Karen Gold, A Post Card From Brighton, Novelette Novalis, Fonz Leathers, Wolfram Lohr, Glen Appin of Scotland and Nadia Minkoff.