Maredimoda Intimodimoda, the international invitation-only show for beach and underwear fabrics Made in Europe, has officially announced the dates for its ninth edition, backed by results from the last fair, which showed an increase in visitors of more than 8% compared to 2008 (3,161 instead of 2,920), when 15 more exhibitors took part. For over 100 exhibitors it was a chance to meet buyers from the 800 most qualified manufacturers in the world, representing 70 countries including Italy, France, Spain, Great Britain, the United States, Japan and Russia. These figures reward careful selection of exhibitors through meticulous internal procedures, the quality of the products on show, an unusual formula and the work environment at a fair which is univocally recognised as being the unique unrivalled benchmark for the highest representation of European collections for beach and underwear. This result, confirmed and emphasised by sample interviews carried out in the fair just a few hours before it closed, must also be seen as a fairly strong signal of confidence regarding the new-found enthusiasm of buyers in Cannes.
“The next edition of MarediModa/IntimodiModa”, stresses President Claudio Taiana, “will feature important evolution in terms of supply. In the first place, we will be dedicating more space and a new format to the trend forum, coming up with a big-impact truly innovative formula. We will be hosting and sponsoring an important international forum in the wake of last year’s success, we will give more visibility and value to the dedicated Outsourcing area that we were the first to introduce as a qualified model of alternative production. We are extremely pleased to see that our example has been followed by other international shows. We will be presenting activity category models regarding the real opportunities that outsourcers have if they no longer target the Far East, but look to North Africa or Eastern Europe: Maredimoda Intimodimoda will in fact be at the Salon De la Lingerie in Tunis in April with a view to further strengthening relationships with our North African partners. We will also see the second act of THE LINK, the world’s most ambitious talent scouting competition, involving the 100 most famous creativity schools in Europe. Its debut far exceeded expectations for the quality of the work presented by the students involved”.
Mention must also be made of the huge investment already made in terms of resources and energy into the underwear section, set to play a decisive role in the short term for the fair due also to its scheduling and strategic positioning. First-time previews of collections will be organised for top buyers and co-marketing with exhibitors will be fine-tuned.
