Every year in February and September, in sync with the Summer and Autumn seasons, Première Vision Parishosts Première Vision Leather (previously known as Le Cuir à Paris), showcasing the latest trends, innovations, creative materials, technically cutting-edge components, bespoke services, all under one roof, making it a compulsory destination for fashion designers of apparel and accessories like leather goods, shoes, and even furnishings and decorations.
Ahead of the upcoming international event to be held in Paris from 15th to 17th September, 2015, Estelle Arielle Bouchet met up with Mr Marc Brunel, Show Director of Première Vision Leather for an interview, exclusively reported in The Luxury Chronicle.
Estelle Arielle Bouchet: The French show “Le Cuir à Paris”, which is held twice a year in September and February and is dedicated to companies in the leather sector (tanneries, leather and fashion designers, leather goods makers, trend setters, buyers, sourcing directors) was recently renamed Première Vision Leather. Is this choice of an English name driven by a desire to emphasise the international dimension of the show and not simply the result of Cuir à Paris having been bought by Première Vision?
Marc Brunel: It is true that the February 2015 edition heralded a new era for the Première Vision Leather show and the organiser, Première Vision, with the implementation of a brand policy oriented around the Première Vision name, an umbrella label which appears at all the company’s events and shows.
The six Parisian shows, which until then had been grouped together under the title of Première Vision Pluriel, became Première Vision Paris, in line with the other international shows – Première Vision New York, Sao Paulo, Istanbul, or Shanghai. This new brand policy oriented around the Première Vision name is designed to underpin the international attractiveness of the ranges on offer from each profession at each show. Last February, some 62,000 high quality visitors – buyers, stylists, fashion and accessories creators and fashion business managers, 73% of whom came from abroad – attended the show, which showcased the products of 1,893 carefully chosen exhibitors – yarn makers, weavers, accessories producers, design studios, tanners and garment makers.
The Première Vision brand is now paired with the defining profession of each of the six shows, and so Cuir à Paris has become Première Vision Leather, the expert show for leather and fur. The aim is to create a single homogenous event that continues to promote and preserve each profession, including leather with its wide range of expert skills and uses on the market, through a series of better coordinated targeted operations and a personalised service.
In terms of international perspectives, Première Vision organises events in Brazil, Turkey, the United States, China and South Korea. If credible and interesting opportunities for leather industry professionals are confirmed on these markets, we will be able to include leather in the product mix as we develop internationally. To date, Première Vision Paris is our flagship event, and we are keen to make it unique, in terms of its position as the world leader in its sector.
EAB: On a European scale, the show’s twin, Lineapelle, which is held at similar dates in Milan, comes to mind. Could you define the DNA of the French show and give us recent figures for Première Vision Leather, to help us distinguish it from the Italian show and have a clearer understanding of the interactions?
MB: Première Vision Leather, like all the Première Vision Paris shows, is at the service of an international manufacturing industry that produces quality, specialist high-added-value products. In this context, joining forces with Première Vision’s other upstream fashion sector shows, and maintaining a timetable and product focus that is completely in line with the players of an industry positioned on the luxury and premium sectors, has paid dividends. The show has been particularly dynamic in recent years. Exhibitors and visitors appreciate it for the clarity and positioning of its product range, which has proven to be a very efficient tool for discovering collections. The show’s development within the Première Vision group mirrors the increased importance of leather in the strategy of fashion labels over the last fifteen years. Now that it is fully integrated, the show will be able to draw on the expertise of Première Vision in order to pursue its development as a premium event. This strategy has already proven its worth and we are continuing in this direction with the creation in February 2015 of a Selection Committee, made up of professionals from the sector, in order to determine the level of creativity and the quality of the new companies invited to join the show in the future. This procedure was already in application for the group’s other shows, with the committee ensuring that the ranges on offer are coherent and that all the exhibitors present correspond to the show and to the standards of quality and creativity to which the group aspires.
Today, Première Vision is an international group that organises more than 32 professional trade shows per year, in 7 countries with 11 overseas offices. Première Vision Leather will benefit from this international network to increase the promotion of the show to its visitors in key countries (France, USA, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain). This close relationship allows us to listen to the markets and better anticipate and respond to their requirements. For exhibitors it also allows us to guide them so that they best meet the needs of their clients. For example, Première Vision, an essential trend setter for the fashion sector, has organised fashion information meetings for Première Vision Leather exhibitors in Milan and Santa Croce.
EAB: You pay great attention to creation with the emblematic Trends Gallery and the forum Incube, as well as highlighting Innovation in leather. I’m thinking of one of your ‘Leathers of the Future’ exhibitors, which illustrates the technical aspects of leather as a material. Could you tell us more about the Creation and Innovation aspects of this international show and describe the actions implemented in these areas?
MB: For a number of seasons, Première Vision Leather has worked hard to renew and enrich its fashion information, both in terms of form and substance. On our website, social networks and the mobile application, useful information is available to help with the preparation of collections. There is also news about the sector beyond the show, with trend-setting subjects or in-depth articles on materials. This allows visitors and exhibitors to get the information they need “just in time”, according to their requirements, their sector of activity and the products they make. A sample of the season’s high points is now available on our website, www.premierevision.com For the fashion information and material forums, the show offers more experimental areas centred around the sensory experience and with a renewed approach to visitors. In September, more than 770sqm will be dedicated to material trends with the two forums: the Trends Gallery and Incube.
On the Trends Gallery, visitors will not only discover the film of the season but can also take away a colour palette produced on leather. The Incube forum is based on technical information and the latest material innovations and it invites visitors to push back the boundaries of design. It is interested in the traceability of hides and the various stages of processing undergone by the material. Quality is not limited to just the texture of the finished leather but includes also the origins of the material and the environmental impact of its production cycle. To highlight the vast efforts being made by the tanneries, the forum will showcase the barcodes and identity documents that trace the movements of each hide.
Ecology and the conservation of primary materials are the key challenges for a better future. The exhibitors of chemical products, gathered as a collective known as “Material Preview” have already embraced this. They will be organising mini-conferences around new eco-responsible products, the quality of leather and the latest innovations.
To fully exploit the complementary features of the various Première Vision Paris shows, a new Shoe Focus in Hall 4, home to Première Vision Accessories, will bring together technical and decorative components especially for shoes with the leather and textile ranges of Première Vision Leather.
Another great initiative designed to strengthen the synergies between the various Première Vision shows sees leather being included for the first time in the eagerly-awaited PV Awards. Based on the decisions of a prestigious jury made up of influential persons from the fashion scene, Premiere Vision will reward the most remarkable creations in this area. The leather selected for the competition will be exhibited on the Trends Gallery, before they are awarded the Grand jury prize, Imagination prize and Handle prize on Tuesday 15th September at 5pm, in the Fabrics area.
EAB: What are your objectives for the future, in a challenging European context and in light of the growing demand for quality leathers in the home furnishings sector?
MB: The European tannery industry is closely linked to the luxury sector and a manufacturing tradition that produces quality items. The leather goods sector, the biggest sector at the show, has proven to be particularly dynamic in recent years and all indicators suggest that Europe has a key role to play with the arrival of new emerging countries and potential consumers of high added value goods in Asia and Latin America, in countries such as Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand and Korea. Consumption would appear to be growing in countries that were traditionally large consumers of luxury goods, notably in the United States, a little less so in Japan. The big luxury groups have correctly read these trends, taking new market shares to counterbalance the lower performances in countries experiencing a recession; their success is based on finding the right balance between these various zones. The future looks bright for the European tannery industry as long as it continues to stand out for its high quality and very creative products. Our strategy ensures that fashion and design players will continue to find at our show material collections that are perfectly adapted to these realities.
