The Salon International de la Lingerie stages a solid, effective edition

By

Anaïs Lerévérend

Published
Jan 28, 2016

The underwear and hosiery market is troubled but more durable than that of ready-to-wear apparel, and remained stable in 2015, actually growing slightly in terms of lingerie alone. This observation corresponds to the current health of the industry's benchmark trade show: held from 23rd to 25th January in Paris, the Salon International de la Lingerie (international lingerie show) has in fact reported a stable attendance and offered encouraging signals.

The show organiser, Eurovet, has not published attendance figures for the last two seasons, but stated instead that attendance for this edition was equivalent to that of January 2015. No miracles then, but the show seems to have held out well against the disruptions that were feared. International attendance actually suffered somewhat: Eurovet suggested that the number of visitors from Belgium, Japan, the US and Canada declined due to the attacks' impact, and so did that of Russian visitors, due to the persisting economic crisis now affecting their country.

The organiser instead reported increases in attendance from Sweden, Norway, South Korea, the Ukraine and Austria, the latter entering the top 10 of the most represented countries, in tenth place. Another country whose contingent increased was, actually, France. The rising presence of visitors from outside Paris allowed French attendance to grow by a few percentage points.

Exhibiting brands thus reported that the show was busy until noon on Monday, after positive days on Saturday and Sunday. The booths for the best-established brands were indeed very busy: "we even had to add tables to take orders in," they stated at Chantelle. And though the lesser-known brands may have perhaps profited a little less from the attendance, they nevertheless recognised that the show was filled with positive energy.

A sustained commercial momentum, with positive initial contacts to say the least, and widespread optimism were also reported. The many fashion shows organised during the week-end, by the Salon itself and by Lise Charmel in celebration of its 70th anniversary, were indeed successful, and contributed in their own way to the general mood.