WHITE SHOW: THE GLOBAL FASHION EVENT

One day some years ago, Max and Brenda Bizzi were on the edge of the Huangpu River in Shanghai with me and our minds were focused on the growth of the fashion market in China. We wondered how to create a bridge between the Italian fashion system and the rest of the world. They foresaw a huge opportunity that was rising in the worldwide economic landscape.

There were a lot of questions to be answered; how to get Chinese buyers into the Italian fashion system and how to get the Italian brands into the Chinese market?

Max and Brenda have worked hard, developing relationships between the different brands and the countries and they were waiting for the right time to create an event that could become a real global marketplace.

In 2016, White Show began an international movement to promote the image of Italian fashion around the world in some of the most important markets of the fashion industry. Thus, White Asia was born, first in Seoul and finally Shanghai where the fashion world has appreciated the innovative event and discovered the secret of the contemporary Italian collections.

White Show has been characterized since the beginning as a cultural event. Creativity is a human experience and fashion is the most glamorous expression of the human creativity; but not the only one. This is the reason that White Show has been always associated with different kinds of artists. The show is a never-ending research of something not just aesthetically beautiful, but also artistic and innovative. It has been created also beyond the heritage of the legendary Italian fashion business.

One show after another, White has gradually attracted international buyers for its enormous research of contemporary collections. The essence of creativity has also created a challenge for many designers and successful brands.

White Tradeshow has become a global hub of any innovative collection. Their target was not always about sales, but mainly to showcase the profound research and innovative aspects of the supreme Italian fashion business.

For this year's edition, White Show will present 197 pre-collections of womenswear during the men's fashion week in January. Some of the Northern European partners, such as a tradeshow Revolver of Copenhagen, play a big role. The show will host Danish jewelry maker Wood Wood, who has been attracting some international buyers' attention.

The women's area is represented by some of the key brands; Repettò and its magical ballerinas, Baltimore Studio and Solace London. Very actively, Chiara Ferragni, the iconic creator of fashion blog "Blond Salad" will support this edition on social media.

One of the key aspects in the 2017 edition is a match-making. The show is not just a place to showcase brands and products, but it is an event that integrates showroom owners' interests and buyers' needs; the show helps to match interested buyers and various showrooms, optimizing their time. It also helps them to understand better what Italian and the selected international brands could offer.

White Show has become an important part of the global fashion business and it aims to integrate the key players in the system. White is all about innovation, not only in terms of the presentation of the superb Italian creativity but also in terms of business process.  Its business model shows a new way of doing business that responds to final consumers' attitudes with special projects; scouting new brands, resourceful workshops, showcasing cultural artisan values, as well as creating a strong presence in social media. It's becoming more social, so consequently more trendy. It presented a new platform called WOW which combines media, technology and scouting. This platform helps all the buyers to have the most updated selected information.

Q: Max what is the right direction of the fashion system?

A: I strongly believe in three magic words: quality, innovation, internationalization. There is no matter about what. Small, medium, already successful companies need to work and invest in these three areas. Times are hard but economy and consumers are not compromising the good ideas.

Q: How can small enterprises compete in the international market?

A: The same way as before, but it is very important that the entrepreneur and the designers understand where they need to invest. Actually many investments are unproductive and bring the brand to death. Be more precise, be more creative, be more innovative and look around the world. Especially in this moment the costs to promote the brand through the digital media are lower than before and more efficient.

Q: Do you think that there is still sense in presenting the pre and the main collection in womenswear?

A: Absolutely yes. First of all, womenswear is 70% of the fashion market, so it means the market is huge and time is tight. Getting the chance to have more time and more offers it only mean to have more time to care the buyers.

Q: What do you think about the “see now-buy now" philosophy?

A: it is a great challenge and opens the chance to optimize the time to buy for the consumers. You can imagine what will happen when you open your smartphone and find something you like and you can buy just with a click……Chinese people already understand what it means. T-mall, during a live streaming in forty minutes in evening prime time, received five million Euros from click to buy. So I think we just need to move on.

We hope that you can find the time to visit and enjoy White Man & Woman 2017.