the French trade show organiser’s digital show session in February was quite successful, generating no fewer than 35,000 site visits, Première Vision can’t wait to be able to hold physical shows again. Unless new health protection restrictions will apply, this goal is likely to be realised on June 30-July 1, the dates set for Première Vision’s next Parisian event.

“We were really keen to be able to stage a reunion event for the industry players who take part in Première Vision Paris,” said Gilles Lasbordes, general manager of Première Vision. “The majority of our exhibitors have told us how impatient they are to be able to see their clients again. We have the opportunity of using the Grand Palais Éphémère, a venue that is being built at Champ de Mars, between the Eiffel Tower and the École Militaire. It will be a superb venue for hosting the trade shows’ return,” he added.

The plan is to stage the event at the temporary exhibition venue that is taking the place of the Grand Palais, which is set to undergo renovation work for the next three years. The Grand Palais Éphémère, extending over a 10,000 m2 area and designed by Wilmote Associés Architectes, will host events like the Saut Hermès show jumping competition, fairs and exhibitions like Art Capital, Paris Photo, Fiac and the Paris Biennale, and Chanel’s iconic catwalk shows.

Première Vision intends to shift its summer session to July for the next few years, and sees the two-day event as a celebration of the textile and apparel industry’s relaunch, an occasion shared with the French and European professionals who will be able to travel there. “It’s the time when design teams start studying the materials’ collections for the coming season. All industry operators are welcome. For us it will be a one-off event, as we look forward to the September session, for which we are pinning our hopes on an extensive vaccination programme and less stringent restrictions to international travel,” said Lasbordes. Première Vision’s autumn session is scheduled on September 21-23 at the Villepinte exhibition centre in Paris, and will combine a rich programme of physical events with the digital solutions developed and tested in recent seasons.

Globally, Première Vision is keen to return to physical shows, but equally to keep open the option of forging links between buyers and suppliers via its marketplace and digital solutions. The highly dynamic Chinese market will host a physical event at the end of the month, when Première Vision Shenzhen will showcase the Spring/Summer collections of 52 exhibitors at the Fashion Source show, during the Shenzhen Original Design Fashion Week.

Instead, Denim Première Vision will once again fail to hold a physical session this season, since the majority of Asian and non-European exhibitors are currently unable to travel to Europe. The show organiser will deploy an online edition as it did last November, staging Digital Denim Week, a series of meetings, trend presentations and conferences, on July 5-9.

Physical shows are making a come-back in the USA, and Première Vision New York, which has not been held since January 2020, is scheduled again at the Center 415 venue on 5th Avenue on July 20-21, with a strong focus on sustainable solutions. On the West Coast, preparations are under way for the third edition of Première Vision Sport in Portland, Oregon. “We will hold a session on August 11-12, as always with our partner The Materials, a show dedicated to components for sneakers and trainers,” said Lasbordes. “And for the first time we will travel with [The Materials] to Boston, another key sportswear industry hub in the US, home to the Reebok and New Balance headquarters, on August 18-19,” he added.

In France, September will also feature the Made in France show. As usual, the event will be held in the heart of Paris, at the Carreau du Temple venue, and will be the opportunity to take the pulse of the French supply chain and sub-contracting sector a year and a half after the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in the country. Consumers usually have a strong appetite for French products, and the show’s 2021 edition should provide evidence of how genuinely beneficial this is for the French textile industry in the current climate.