Mode City suffers a decline in attendance of around 20%

By

Anaïs Lerévérend

Published
Jul 19, 2016

A decline in numbers was significantly felt by exhibitors at the last Mode City. And now it's confirmed. One week after closing its doors, the lingerie and swimwear trade show revealed only 11,000 visitors attended in Lyon, compared to 14,000 last year in Paris. The location change to Lyon while the Euro 2016 final took place in Paris had a clear impact, but organiser Eurovet attributes an "accumulation of complicated factors" for the demise.

 
It was a decline in footfall of almost 20%, a little more than what the organisers had first presented.

"What we did not anticipate, was the the decline in numbers from northern Europe and particularly from Germany. We thought there was enough connection with Lyon, but the trip was deemed to complicated by a good number of buyers from northern Europe..." said Taya de Reyniès, director of lingerie and swimwear at Eurovet.

Germany therefore, was down in number, and larger still, northern Europe, while other countries took advantage of the new Lyon location. Italian and Swiss buys were well represented, while the Spanish maintained their presence, recording similar numbers to last year.

Immediate neighbours, however - those retailers from the French Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA) region, missed the call. 

"We expected to see more of them in Lyon... But the stakes are high after the beginning of a very late season; the weather played against them and therefore, against us," said Taya de Reyniès.

If the French contingent saw a drop in attendance, the decline in international visitors was even greater. The factor of security added to the accumulative hesitancy to attend, as previously described by organisers.

«Exhibitors were disappointed, but I think they were well aware that the context would have been exactly the same in Paris..." added Taya de Reyniès.