Playtime Paris to host 350 exhibitors in January

By

Sarah Ahssen

Translated by
Roberta HERRERA

Published
Nov 29, 2022

From January 28 to 30, 2023, the Parc Floral de Paris will be hosting yet another edition of Playtime Paris, the trade fair dedicated to the world of children. On this occasion, 350 exhibitors from 35 different countries will be attending, of which 70% will be fashion and footwear brands and 30% lifestyle brands.

"This year's edition will return to pre-pandemic levels. It took a while, more than in the United States where exhibitors and visitors flocked back as soon as they could," said Sébastien de Hutten, head of Picaflor, the company that organizes Playtime Paris.

The Playtime and Kid's Hub show, which will be held from February 12 to 14, 2023 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York, has been fully booked since mid-November, with 200 exhibitors expected to participate. As for Playtime Shanghai, due to uncertainties related to ongoing health restrictions, a date has not yet been announced.

When it comes to France, where the trend around family-oriented collections is becoming increasingly prevalent, de Hutten is optimistic: "We are the largest European children's trade show, ahead of Pitti Bimbo. We have opened pre-registrations and many buyers who were no longer travelling are coming back. More than 28 countries are expected to be represented. Moreover, although many stores closed during the difficult period of the pandemic, many new buyers are also pouring in, such as buyers attending the physical trade show who are also registered on our B2B marketplace, Orderwizz."

Picaflor has recently given a new identity to its marketplace, unifying the two platforms Playtime, dedicated to creative and international brands, and Kid's Hub, which is more widely distributed and oriented towards the American market, into a single platform called Orderwizz. The idea behind this change was to give the emerging platform an identity of its own so that it can become somewhat less dependent on physical fairs.

Orderwizz, which brings together 210 brands (of which 15% are French) with an annual subscription, has 40,000 users to date, including 6,000 certified buyers.