In My View by Eric Musgrave: Thanks for showing up at the shows

A round of applause, please, for all the fashion buyers who got off their backsides and made it to at least some of the trade shows over the past few weeks. You have contributed to keeping the fashion world turning.

Compared to my schedules of days gone by, when I’d be collecting lanyards and name badges at events from early January to mid-March in all sorts of countries, these days I have a modest rota to deal with. I still managed to visit INDX Woman, Man and Intimate Apparel in Solihull (you can read my reports from that trio on this site), plus Pure x JATC, Scoop and The Huddle in London.

I hate to say, “I told you so”, but virtually all my conversations at the venues supported the views I expressed in last month’s column, that 2024 is going to be a bit of a slog for most fashion retailers, in whatever sector or level of the market.

It seems almost cruel that this leap year has an extra day for us to get through.

I do not think it will be a disastrous year by any means, but shopkeepers will have to be smart, alert and hard-working to get their share of whatever remaining disposable income consumers choose to spend on clothes, footwear and accessories.

The word on every buyer’s lips was “cautious”, which I fully understand and even applaud but you have to avoid cautious being synonymous with boring. I liked the comment from the experienced womenswear and lingerie buyer I chatted to who said: “Buy for a bad season and you’ll have a bad season.” There has to be something in the shop or the shop window at least to provoke a bit of excitement, to prompt the punters to admit: “I don’t need it, but I want it.”

Scoop at London Olympia

Another strong message from the aisles was the importance in several sectors – men’s tailoring and lingerie spring to mind – of suppliers having plenty of stock or “continuity” lines and an absence of overbearing minimum orders. After the topsy-turvy sales increases and declines in the immediate post-lockdown seasons, few buyers are in the mood to take risks.

One topic I would love to hear more about from retailers and their suppliers is what will be the impact on fashion sales of the Euros men’s football championships, which will run from mid-June to mid-July in Germany. England and Scotland are already there and Wales need to win two play-off games in March to join them to complete a Home Nations trio.

In my ignorance I always assume football tournaments only benefit sellers of over-priced and over-designed replica footie shirts, but the possible benefits of women buying new outfits for Euros parties, barbeques and the like was mentioned to me as I wandered the shows. Is that likely?

I can see that any British team getting beyond the initial group stages will deliver a much-needed “feelgood factor” in its relevant part of our dis-united kingdom and a bit more good feeling would be very welcome.

Discussing last year’s trading patterns at the fairs inevitably prompted a mention of the unfavourable weather in 2023. I note meteorologists are predicting that global temperatures are likely to rise again in 2024, but just as I was checking how much suntan lotion I had at the back of the cupboard I saw that on our little islands in the north Atlantic "flooding from greater storm intensity is the main impact from hotter temperatures to worry about", according to some climate change experts.

Oh dear.

In other news, several people told me they were expecting (or hoping for) some unspecified uplift “after the general election, whenever it is”. I wonder whether that a boost will happen, and if it does, how big an uplift it will be. I have several staunch Conservative-voting friends who cannot wait to see the current cabal of incompetents who have taken over their party removed.

But people like me who naturally lean towards Labour by upbringing and beliefs are hardly filled with confidence about the possible replacements for the Tories. And given Labour’s propensity for in-fighting and own goals, I am not sure any political change will be as massive or as immediate as some suggest.

All in all, there is lots to think about as you turn the shop sign to Open and await a customer to step over the threshold. I am pretty sure those buyers who made it to the shows will be better informed and better armed to tackle 2024 than the ones who stayed away.

And a final thought – I was amused by the comment of an agent friend of mine who had had to keep smiling while lots of domestic buyers play safe and hold back on forward ordering: “Thank God for the Irish retailers!”

Happy trading folks and do let us know what you learned at the shows.