New date and concept for ILM Essentials

The ILM Essentials (Internationale Lederwaren Messe/International Leather Goods Fair) will be held at Messe Offenbach from January 25-27, 2003. ILM Essentials is the first of three annual trade fairs that fall under the banner of ILM Offenbach: ILM Winter Styles takes place at the end of March and ILM Summer Styles at the end of September. ILM Essentials previews leathergoods, bags and accessories for profession and school, leisure time, sports and travel and also gift and promotion articles. New basic programmes and technological developments, above all in the field of travel/outdoor articles, are represented at the fair and new accents for the late summer/autumn are the focus of the displays of 210 suppliers: 124 from Germany and 86 from overseas. Buyers attending the fair from home and abroad are estimated to reach 4,000. The German leathergoods industry has suffered losses over the past year. The Federal Association for Leather Goods and Synthetic Material eV (BVLK) reports a fall in domestic turnover from German manufacturers of 13.5% from January to October 2002. Similarly, the Federal Association of the German Leather Goods Retail Trade (BLE) report an average loss in turnover of 11-12% compared with 2001. Yet these figures mean that the market needs to keep dynamic and ILM Essentials is just the right platform to communicate and meet with suppliers and colleagues.