Our analysts are back at Bread & Butter Berlin, Europe’s largest street and denim trade show. They’re there to talk to exhibitors, monitor new commercial movements and pick our Top Five BBB Brands. Live from the trade show floor, they’re also reporting on each day of the buzzing event. Here’s what they’ve discovered on day 1.
Camo Power
Bread & Butter’s exhibitors have been consistently backing camouflage print for four seasons now. Proving their industry foresight, the trend is now rocketing for both the luxury and mass market.
1,808 new camo products have arrived online at international retailers in the last three months, spanning price points of £2.50 t0 £1,678. That’s a 25% increase in the number of products arriving in the last three months, compare to the three months prior. Time to action those camo prints, retailers!
From the trade show floor, we’ve seen great innovation in camo, firstly at Gloverall, whose prints took on mountain-scape forms in a palette of grey and blue. Aigle’s camo prints on cosy woollen coats and quilted jackets were hazy in form or drew inspiration from foliage. Brixtol took a contemporary approach in their update, with geo shapes in camo form.
Pass the Mustard
The leading colour story so far has been the strong mustard shades shown, most noticeably in outerwear. From lighter twists on yellow tones, to ramped up hot mustard, this is a colour story with a strong visual presence.
It’s a colour trend most recently given backing by Christopher Raeburn and Oliver Spencer in this month’s Fall 2014 menswear shows, and while the womenswear SS14 used punchier yellows, we can see designers tuning the shade towards mustard for winter.
At Bread & Butter mustards popped, from Johnny Love’s eye-catching waterproof cape, to Camel Active’s array of shades – this update is befit of the activewear market. But don’t stick solely to outerwear: we also saw the shade on Brooks’ backpacks and bike accessories.
Denim Imitates Art
Coloured jeans are now taking the backseat, with familiar blue washes returning to dominate the denim market. Though the washes may not be new territory, newness is injected into the segment with exciting developments in texture. At Levis and Orslow, denim imitated knitwear, with stitch-like textures in denim weaves. Pure Blue Japan worked indigo washed denim into jersey pieces, for a lightweight take on denim. In contrast, Levis’ experimental line, Made & Crafted, included heavier weight pieces.
The love of indigo washes is already being reflected by the retail market. Of over 2,500 new denim bottoms which arrived online in the past week, the main focus is on traditional washes, with distressing a key detail. In the coming season, in the wake of a post-coloured denim market, retailers striving to differentiate will play with the textures and weights we’ve seen on show at Bread & Butter.
We’ll be reporting live each day of the trade show, before announcing our Top 5 Brands on Monday. With BBB announcing the event will open to consumers as of July 2014, it’s an interesting year ahead for the revered trade show. Of the new direction, BBB president Karl-Heinz Müller says “We are amidst a profound change of the whole market. The significant impulses for the fashion industry no longer come from the brands and retailers or the classic press alone. Fashion enthusiastic, well-informed customers and lifestyle bloggers more and more coin the image of brands and labels and increasingly influence the purchase decision.” We couldn’t agree more Bread & Butter!
Katie Smith
