Autumn Fair & Moda refuel retail and buyers fill the halls on day one

After 18 months since the last show, the UK’s leading home, gift, and fashion trade show Autumn Fair, co-located with Moda, opened its doors today to thousands of purchase-ready buyers eager to replenish stock, discover new and inspiring products, and reconnect with their retail community. The atmosphere was vibrant and the aisles busy as the hum of business and face to face networking took place again. For many exhibitors it was their best first day ever with large orders placed and new customers created.

Take a look at the day one video here www.autumnfair.com/day-1-highlights and below for a snapshot from visitors and exhibitors on the show’s first day:

Regular Autumn Fair visitor Justine Okin, Founder of www.mybestproductever.com said; “My Best Product Ever are super happy to be back at Autumn Fair – for us it is our life line to find the new and under the radar, genius products that we go on to try, test and make available to our audience. Being able to meet and introduce ourselves to the owners and innovators of these brands face to face makes all the difference. Takes us a couple of days to get through the halls but it’s so worth it. We’ve discovered some amazing products today.”

Deborah Oakes from Snap Dragon; “It’s brilliant to be back, the merge with Moda is so good and convenient, it makes perfect sense to have everything in one place. For someone in fashion it makes the event that much better. I’ve found a company I would never have found before and will be going back to order.”

David Tinker from Out of the Blue was also pleased to be back, saying; “It’s great to be back looking for new and exciting products to take us forward after such a dramatic year.  Last year was the only year in 14 that we’ve missed this must-attend event.”

Tony Shellam from TSS Designs and Crafts adds; “We’ve missed the show, it’s been fabulous with a really positive atmosphere.”

The newly launched official Autumn Fair App proved to be a huge success with visitors. Andrea Summerfield from Summerlands says; “The App is really useful and allows you to find what you’re looking for easily, meaning that you have extra time to browse, and visit stands you usually wouldn’t see.”

Regular visitor to Moda, Pamela Shiffer was excited to discover new brands for her store, saying; “I’m so excited to finally be back at Moda. Definitely worth visiting. It was a great atmosphere. Good to see people excited to be back. We found new brands to add to our portfolio that we could not have found without Moda.”

Cherry Love from Lovely Looks, and part of the Moda Hosted Buyer Programme, added; “Moda is a great place to discover new suppliers. We’re really looking forward to the next season and think Moda and Autumn Fair in one place is convenient and brings it all together.”

The feedback from exhibitors has been equally upbeat across all sectors of the show. Lewis Stevenson from first time Autumn Fair exhibitor, The Seed Card Company says; “We are blown away by how busy and productive it’s been. Our first order was taken by 9.15am, we’d already covered the cost of our stand by 11am, over 30 orders done by 5pm, and over 100 serious leads to follow up on. We have never been to a show like it. We are booking Spring Fair and doubling the size of our stand.”

Launching his first collection with Malini, Paul Moneypenny said; “I’m a bit in shock at the number of people I’ve spoken to today, the reaction’s been amazing.”

David Midd, Sales Manager of Mustang; “We’ve had the best opening day of any Moda show to date – and that was by 2pm. We opened 8 new accounts and also have a pocket full of leads to follow up as I was too busy with other customers. There’s a super atmosphere, from different kinds of businesses too.”

Sanjay Aggarwal, Spice Kitchen; “Autumn Fair has the most amazing footfall, the best of all the shows. We have seen both new and existing customers and have written a lot of orders. We find it beneficial to be amongst a diverse mix of exhibitors in terms of business size and products. The show has been well organised and we are very pleased.”

Niall Geoghegan, Sales Director, Allied Imports; “It’s been great for our first day, our stand has 6 staff and we’ve all been busy pretty much all day!”

Joel Turner, Managing Director of Keddo also enjoyed a great first day, saying; “Like many in the industry we were a bit apprehensive about this season, but we have been incredibly busy all day and what was so pleasing were so many new accounts opened. The co-location has been a huge success – and there was such a buzz in the aisles and on the stands which is wonderful to see.”

Julie Driscoll, Managing Director Retail, Fashion & Digital at Hyve Group plc says; “It’s just fabulous to be back. Refuelling retail starts at Autumn Fair and Moda. We are so proud of our retail community turning out to kickstart UK retail.”

The day closed with the official launch drinks for Curated Meeting, during her welcome speech Julie Driscoll said; “Curated Meetings has been a strategic focus for Hyve’s global business for the last 12 months and I’m delighted we are the first of Hyve’s shows to see it come to life. The reason for the curated meetings programme is to provide a lead-sourcing programme that specifically allows brands to meet buyers looking for new products. Tomorrow and Tuesday, hundreds of meetings will take place offering a bespoke, highly curated, time efficient and hassle-free service.”

For more information visit www.autumnfair.com and www.moda-uk.co.uk

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