Fashion Access 2011 (FA), the international twice-a year lifestyle event offering “fashion from head to toe” opened on 28 – 30 September 2011.

The event opening coincided with the arrival of a full-strength tropical typhoon, Nesat which could have been a problem …but was not.   The typhoon pretty much blew itself out by late on the 29th whereas the exhibition remained active until the last moment.

HAPPY @ FASHION ACCESS

Fashion Access September 2011, looks ahead to the popular forecast colours, materials and designs in collections for Spring/Summer 2012.  It ranges across fashion and lifestyle products that include bags, footwear, garments, and fashion accessories.

Buyers who attend Fashion Access are typically catering to the middle to upper end of the market – owners of high-end boutiques or franchised operators of department store counters, brand owners and importers.

Ms Perrine Ardouin, Event Director, Fashion Team of organisers APLF said  that “It has always been the quality of buyers not the quantity that matters at Fashion Access.”  This was echoed by the first time exhibitor Binibini by Janice Minor from Philippines who had found an impressive quality and quantity of buyers.  There were more international buyers than in Paris or Milan fairs and in particular more US buyers.

Ms Chang from Gaya Canada Enterprises Ltd said that “We met more new buyers as compared to last year in particular from Europe, Middle East, Asia with high end buyers from Japan. They are looking for unique styles.”

What the buyers said:
 
“We are an accessories chain store in Portugal and are interested in handbags, leisure bags and small leather goods.  We have visited Fashion Access over 10 times”.  “I am very pleased with my visit this time as we have found some very nice products to fill the gaps in our collection.”
- Carla Ribeiro, Masterbiju, Portugal

“I find the fair very informative.  It helps discover new trends, colours and styles, and source new products.  I find more sourcing opportunities here than at other fairs.”
- Matt Coombs, Bolla Bags, UK

“I am interested in handbags, ladies' footwear and fashion jewellery. The fair is brilliant, well organised and worth visiting.  I am happy and will definitely come again”.
- Ronel de Jong, Desire Glen Beauty & Cosmetic Products, South Africa

And the winners of the Best of APLF Awards are:

This year, the expert judges of the Best of APLF Awards selected nine exhibitors for their creativity and the excellence of their design. A new award for the Best in Colour Marketing was created to recognize Hong Kong bag designer Flymaze for their choice of yellow as a fashion statement. Click here for the complete list of the winners.

The next Fashion Access forecase colours, materials and designs for Fall /Winter 2012-2013 will be held on 28-30 March 2012 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The 7th Prime Source Forum (PSF) will run alongside Fashion Access 2012, 28-30, March. Hugely successful and proving very popular, the PSF in March 2012 is going to extend its profile from purely apparel,  to a fashion event which includes the footwear industry.

This initiative is strongly supported by two of PSF’s founding endorsing organisations: the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) and United States Association of Importers of Textiles & Apparel (USAITA).

ABOUT FASHION ACCESS

FASHION ACCESS is an international leading fashion fair for bags, footwear, small leather goods, lifestyle accessories and travelware in Asia, held twice each year. The fair is aptly aligned with fashion’s key buying seasons, showcasing spring-summer exhibitor collections in September and fall-winter collections in March. In 2011, 16,332 buyers from 88 countries attended the 2 Fashion Access events combined.

ABOUT APLF LTD

APLF Ltd is a joint venture between SIC Group and UBM Asia. For over two decades, Hong Kong-based APLF Ltd has been providing the global leather and fashion industries with its most important business meeting and trading platform.