Le Cuir A Paris say that there was a good business atmosphere at their latest edition, held from March 9-10 at Paris Expo – Porte de Versailles. At the end of two days of exhibition, around 2,700 visitors had registered – a slight decrease (-3%) in comparison to April 2004. This drop is due to the strikes that blocked all transports on March 10 (the second day of the fair). However, an increase of 6% was noted on the first day.
With regard to the number of buyers registered from the big names in international fashion, leather remains of great value in the collections of several designers. Around 50% of visitors were buyers and 40% comprised of stylists coming from the following sectors: fashion accessories, garments, automobiles and furnishing. The fair welcomed 34% of international visitors coming particularly from Italy, Germany, Belgium, Spain, England and Turkey.
For this 8th edition of the fair, 133 exhibitors came from 15 different countries and presented their collections for the spring-summer 2006 season. Amongst them, 15 exhibitors were either new or came back after a period of absence. These were mainly from Argentina, Spain, Greece, France, Italy and Turkey.
The offer of materials, which is already very specialized and innovative, was enriched with the presence of new exhibitors such as Nypel (Italy) with their deer skins, Pel SA (Argentina) with exotic skins from Patagonia as well as Conceria Stella (Italy) presenting handcrafted skins.
The organisers of Le Cuir A Paris reminded participants and the press that the fair would join with Paris Pole Mode as from next September. Le Cuir A Paris will now be held twice a year in the exhibition park of Paris Nord Villepinte. Paris Pole Mode groups together the following professional events: Expofil, Indigo, Mod’Amont and Premiere Vision. These fairs welcome around 40,000 visitors, buyers and consultants at each edition, of which 80% come from abroad.
The dates of the next editions are as follows: September 20 – 23, 2005, Hall 5, Paris Nord Villepinte; February 21 – 24, 2006, Hall 5, Paris Nord Villepinte; September 19 – 22, 2006, Hall 5, Paris Nord Villepinte.
Visuals of the fair available on: http://www.lecuiraparis.com/gallery/