Building Competing Textile Fairs in Europe, 1970-2010

The fashion industry has been radically transformed on a global scale over the last four decades and against the odds, the European fashion industry survived. It shifted its focus away from manufacturing-only to high value adding activities like marketing, branding, and design. Fashion and textile fairs have played a major role as gatekeepers. This paper explores the counter trajectories and strategies of two major fabric fairs. Premiere Vision was launched in 1972 in Lyon by a leading group of silk merchants. It became a true success, moved to Paris, ceased to be managed as an association, became private and eventually expanded geographically and in sub-sectors to become the leading group worldwide for avant-garde trade-shows dedicated to the textile industry. Messe Frankfurt, on the other hand, was managing the leading worldwide textile fair, Interstoff, since 1959. It was widely recognized as the number one until the late 1990s. However, as a result of rapidly changing manufacturing locations Messe Frankfurt pursued an expanding global strategy and set up textile fairs around the world, including Hong Kong and China, and discontinued Interstoff in Frankfurt in 1999. This paper analyses the origins and the results of these two diametrically opposed group strategies.