German trade show organiser Premium cancels upcoming events, mulls new formats

By

Rüdiger Oberschür

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Apr 23, 2020

German show organiser Premium has cancelled its summer trade events. The decision didn’t come as a surprise, in the wake of the cancellation of Berlin’s Neonyt show, announced on Tuesday. The health emergency is still ongoing, and the German government has decided to revoke the authorisation for the holding of any major public event before August 31. Berlin’s Premium and Seek trade shows, as well as the Fashiontech conference cycle, will therefore not go ahead as planned.

In early April, Premium had postponed its summer show session to the end of July. The show organiser began to collaborate with specialist wholesale platform Joor last year, and this might save the day now, by enabling buyers to view collections and make their purchases remotely. According to Premium, a series of dedicated webinars is already on the cards. 

Premium's Anita Tillman and her team intend to take advantage of the postponement by working on new event concepts for 2021, while also staying in touch with all industry players, in Berlin and elsewhere.

“We are in close contact with all our exhibitors and partners. In the course of the last four weeks, we have assessed a variety of solutions and concepts for our summer shows. By all accounts, digital tools are clearly the best solution, one that offers opportunities we will need to be able to tap in the coming months. It’s the right time to do so for both labels and retailers - and everyone on the market is aware of this,” said Tillmann, adding however that adopting virtual solutions must not overshadow the fact that physical contact is still an essential commercial tool for the fashion industry.