gallery-shoesTo immediately start off on a successful note, it was necessary to cut the show’s ties with the past, and so, the new Gallery Shoes gets ready to present itself to international footwear operators, proposing three essential factors that will be key to determining its success.   First off, is the location, the multiple award-winning venue of Areal Böhler in Düsseldorf, with its industrial charm and functional efficiency.  We then have the show dates, which will be held later on the international trade fair calendar from 27 to 29 August (Sunday to Tuesday), than those traditionally scheduled for GDS.  The third factor is the strong focus on the medium to high-priced segments in the European footwear industry, with the participation of both young and emerging labels and tradition-rich footwear brands.

The exhibition areas will be of 150 square meters and 35 square meters each in the Concept Area.  Moreover, there will be an important 65% share of international exhibitors, coming especially from countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal, France and the Netherlands.  The event, instead, will not include a sourcing segment.

In terms of visitors, the target countries of reference will be located in Northern, Central, and Eastern Europe, since it is here that the Igedo Company will be able to benefit from the expertise acquired with CPM (Collection Premiere Moscow), which has been active since 2003.  Gallery Shoes aims to leverage these synergies in order to involve the apparel sector, also in terms of marketing, present with accessories.  The choice in show dates for the new fair, which will start on Sunday, is in fact aimed at bringing independent specialist shoe retailers back to the fair.

A strong Trade Show is what drives the industry, and what we can offer today is exactly a strong Trade Show if we all pull together in the same direction.  Gallery Shoes provides information through a new design, with a new language and on an international scale.

commented Ulrike Kähler, Project Director of Gallery Shoes.

Info: www.igedo.com

 

The farewell of GDS to the footwear industry

This past 9 February, at the trade fair complex of Messe Düsseldorf, the last edition of GDS, which is now its 123rd edition, was held. The baton is accordingly passed to the Igedo Company and its new shoe trade show, Gallery SHOES, which will be held from 27 to 29 August at Areal Böhler in Düsseldorf.
Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, President and CEO of Messe Düsseldorf, underlined how the Director of GDS, Kirstin Deutelmoser, together with her team, made extraordinary efforts over the years, introducing constant innovations to the event and offering visitors a wide and complete panorama of the footwear industry. However, the success story of the Show started to suffer from its limitations, becoming a burden rather than a benefit. The glorious past of GDS, when a record number of visitors was registered at the beginning of the new millennium, over the years that followed became a meter for measuring the results of each subsequent edition, which never seemed to measure up.
“For these reasons – confirmed Kirstin Deutelmoser, Director of GDS and tag it!, at the show’s farewell address – We decided that the right moment had arrived for a completely new beginning. However, in order to start anew, we needed to first free ourselves from existing structures and traditions. Accordingly, after this edition of GDS, we will hand over this fair to the Igedo Company, thereby enabling a new beginning with completely new structures and signals.”
The final edition of GDS in any case maintained the high level of professionalism characterizing the show’s history, presenting the trends proposed by more than 600 brands for the Fall/Winter 2017-18, next to the live fashion shows and dance performances in the Studio Pavilion. As always, there were in-depth looks at the latest innovations in the sector with Trend Talks and Trend Spots, which offered concrete services for purchasing and merchandising, as well as the talks delivered by the Innovation and Education Institute—SLEM headquartered in the Netherlands, which took a look at the technologies that will change the future of footwear production. There were also VIP moments, with the visit of Alain-Fabien Delon, son of legendary actor Alain Delon, while the event’s ties to social media was ensured by the presentation of new footwear trends by fashion bloggers and influencers, as well as by the Social Media Consulting sessions.