Bread & Butter is a leading global tradeshow in Berlin, Germany, which hosts premium and lifestyle brands in the street-, sports-, foot- and urban-wear sectors. The event had its 30th anniversary earlier this year, for which an international trade audience — including buyers, exhibitors, press and visitors — crowded in and out of the halls of Berlin Tempelhof Airport.

Most of the guests came in from Germany, the U.K. and the rest of Europe. However, many also visited from North American and Asian markets. Since exhibitors included over 500 brands, they were split into sections such as L.O.C.K., Urban Base, Superior and Fashion, distinguishing the brands and making it easier to navigate the large space. There were many great brands to network with, such as Fred Perry, Timberland, Perry Ellis and our very own, Toronto-based Canada Goose!

Karl-Heinz Müller (the founder of Bread & Butter) announced that the next B&B show, which will be held in the summer of 2014, will open its doors for the very first time to consumers. This announcement had mixed reviews from exhibitors, who felt it might be difficult to control the foot traffic and crowds of end-consumers on the final two days (Saturday and Sunday). However, Bread & Butter reiterated that it will remain a tradeshow for professionals and the business aspect will remain the focus. “Target groups are best-informed fashion enthusiasts … who buy in fashion stores [and] draw a great number of followers. [That is] how a brand is made today,” they confirmed in their latest newsletter.

It will be interesting to see whether Bread & Butter continues to succeed with growing competition among other German fashion tradeshows held at the same time, including Premium Fashion, BRIGHT and SEEK, to name only a few, in addition to Berlin Fashion Week.