Learn | Create | Connect
Imagine travelling to Paris, Florence, Miami or even Vietnam – not just for a holiday but for work! A career in UK fashion and textiles could be your ticket to exploring the world while doing something exciting. Whether it’s the chic showrooms around Paris Fashion Week, the stylish menswear at Pitti Uomo in Florence or cutting-edge fabrics showcased at Techtextil in Germany, this field offers endless opportunities to learn, create and connect on a global stage.
While there’s definitely a lot of hard work involved, if you love meeting people, thinking on your feet and enjoy a challenge, a role that involves fashion weeks and international tradeshows might just be your perfect career path.
What is a trade show?
Fashion and textile trade shows are events where designers, brands, manufacturers, suppliers, agents and retail buyers meet to see the latest trends, buy new collections and share ideas. The traditional tradeshow calendar is changing as the retail landscape is shifting: more brands are selling direct to consumers through their own websites or social channels, but tradeshows remain an important way to launch new ranges and connect with key partners
Key events for UK fashion companies include: Pitti Immagine Uomo (Italy), Chicago Collective (USA), Playtime Paris (France), CIFF (Copenhagen), Miami Swim Week (USA) and Coterie New York (USA). Significant events for UK textile companies include: Milano Unica (Italy), Intertextile Shanghai (China), Première Vision (France), VIATT (Vietnam), Techtextil (Frankfurt), Heimtextil (Germany), Outdoor Retailer (USA), Performance Days (Germany) and Advanced Textiles Expo (USA).
Why are trade shows important?
Trade shows are a place to:
- Discover new products and trends: People come to see the latest collections, styles, fabrics and innovations for the upcoming season.
- Meet people: Designers, sales agents, retail buyers and industry professionals meet face-to-face to work together.
- Show off creativity and innovation: Tradeshows are often the launchpad for new ideas, new collections or collaborations. Brands can use these events to introduce their latest ranges to buyers and the press.
What are fashion weeks?
A fashion week is a week-long industry event where designer brands or ‘houses’ showcase their latest collections on runways or in catwalk shows to buyers and press. They often set the trends for the current and upcoming seasons.
New York, Milan, Paris and London are recognised as the most influential fashion weeks but events in other cities are gaining in prominence including Copenhagen, Madrid, Berlin, São Paolo, Shanghai, Tokyo and Lagos.
On schedule refers to events taking place as part of the official schedule ran by the fashion week organiser, while off schedule refers to shows, dinners, presentations and events taking place around the same time.
Historically fashion weeks were mainly aimed at retail buyers and press but the shift to direct-to-consumer and rise in importance of influencers means many of these events now have a public angle too.
How these events shape your wardrobe… and much more!
Here’s something to think about: The clothes you’re wearing right now might have started as an idea at one of these trade shows. Designers share their ideas, manufacturers make the clothes, and then retailers buy them to sell to you. Similarly, next generation protective textiles for firefighters’ uniforms, military chemical defence fabrics and innovative packaging materials are all presented at events like these around the world.
Could this be you one day?
Thousands of UK companies attend a handful of these types of events each year and hundreds of thousands of people are involved in getting these new collections and innovations to these important meeting places for the industry. You could be a designer, a product developer, sales agent, distributor or buyer. You could also be a sewing machinist, garment tech, production manager, textile technologist or much more.