Interest German Fashion Fair Slides Again

'The fair is dead' and 'Kronen dethroned', those were the headlines in the local Düsseldorf newspapers Tuesday morning, on the third and final day of the cpd fashion trade fair. Due to economical difficulties, the tropical temperatures across Europe and the summer holidays the number of visitors to the fair dropped a dramatic 5%. Approximately 55.000 fashion professionals came to Düsseldorf this weekend, 1/3 of them from a foreign country. Last year the cpd still had over 60.000 visitors. The number of exhibitors dropped as well, from 2000 to 1900.

Walter Kronen, president of the Igedo Company that organises the cpd woman·man, responded tot the mentioned headlines that these were ridiculous and that he doesn't agree with them. "The media often reports that fashion fairs have served their purpose and will disappear soon. I had a big laugh about it. That would mean I would finally be able to go on holiday!"

Fact is that European fashion fairs this summer have all shown a sharp drop in interest both from visitors and exhibitors alike. On behalf of the exhibitors in Düsseldorf Mr. K. Brinkman said: "In order to safeguard the future of the fair we have to act now. Even though the number of visitors from our own country has dropped, we did see a rise in the number of foreign visitors especially from Eastern Europe. That is where our focus should be on. Drawing in the international clientele."

In an attempt to keep the cpd interesting the organisation is regularly developing new ideas. This year the cpd sports fair was added for instance. Also the company can count on support from the city of Düsseldorf, that doesn't want to loose this big event to the likes of a popular city like Berlin, where the trendy Bread & Butter fashion fair was an instant hit.

The next edition of the cpd in Düsseldorf will be from the 1 to 3 of February 2004.