The Best ofIntima & Swim Edit
3rd Lingerie Industry Forum in Latvia
08 November 2017
From the 25th to the 26th of October, Latvia hosted the 3rd Lingerie Industry Forum. Intima Media Group was once again the main media partner of the event.
Over two days, October 25th and 26th, the Lingerie Industry Forum took place in the Latvian capital as part of Riga Fashion Week. The event, organized by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) in co-operation with the Association of Latvian Lingerie Manufacturers (LATVERA), took place for the third time this year and its success continues to grow!
More than 100 representatives from Latvian companies and 80 international guests (UK, Italy, France, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Greece, Poland, USA) attended the event.
The first day of the Forum opened with a session of conferences and panel discussions on the European, Russian and Ukrainian markets.
The first to welcome the guests were Velga Balode, Head of Export Promotion Division of the LIAA, Elena Strakhova, President of the Baltic Fashion Federation, Peter Partma, CEO of European Lingerie Group AS, and Yury Hadarovich, Chairman of the Board of Association of Latvian Lingerie Manufacturers.
Then, Francesca Spinetta, Co-owner and Editorial Director of Intima Media Group, gave a brief overview of the past editions of the Forum and the objectives of the 2017 session, before introducing the groups of panelists from key European markets.
Pamela Scott, Editor-in-chief of the UK magazine Underlines took to the stage to tell the audience about the peculiarities of the UK and Ireland’s lingerie market, with a special focus on the great popularity of online sales. Next, representatives from the UK market shared their experiences, with talks from Claire Franks, founder of Intimate Apparel Consultancy, Colleen Angela Ryan, director of the online store Mio Destino, and Julie Robb, owner of Julie Robb Design and Sales Agency.
The panel on the Italian market was chaired by Francesca Spinetta who chose to invite brick and mortar stores, still very significant in this country, to share their experiences. The audience welcomed Francesca Bortoluzzi, Bra Fitter and Owner of Red Velvet Lingerie, who started as an e-tailer before opening her own boutique; Gaia Bocola, Bra Fitter at Gaya Boutique and Pietro Tanduo, General Director of the TOM Tommasini multi-brand concept store.
After a break for coffee, Ksenia Tsareva, Editor of Intimoda, Intima Media Group’s Russian magazine, spoke about the state of the markets in Russia and Ukraine. After which, Olga Stasevich, Owner of the Russian online store El Form (Moscow), Zosia Zavialko, Owner of Blue Bird lingerie boutique (Krasnoyarsk) and Antonina Mozgovaya, Owner of Sharm stores chain (Ukraine), shared their experiences in the lingerie business.
As for the French market Francesca Spinetta invited Lola Seguin and Carlos Cantoni from La Redoute, the leading market place for lingerie in France to introduce their platform and Sandrine Brun, Managing Director at Story Diffusion to present an online to offline agency, a rising distribution option for France to the podium. Eleonore Gall, owner of the lovely boutique Eleonore Lingerie, was also invited to share how digital can also help smaller businesses to grow their reach.
To bring the conference to a close, German specialists shared the peculiarities of doing business in Germany: Petra Schmatz, Acting Editor-in-chief at SOUS magazine, Cilly Hassenmeier, CEO of Hassenmeier lingerie store, Gabriele Mantey, Managing Director of Buckenmeier fashion house, and Ingrid Monika Höptner and Kathrin Höptner from Höptner Lingerie Styling Meer.
A tailored match making session was organized after lunch. Invited buyers were given the opportunity to meet and establish business contacts with a selected group of Latvian companies. Alva1, Amoralle, Bogema Lingerie, Effect, Flash You and Me, Glora, Gracija-RIM, Kuusins, La Coquette, Lana S, Lauma Fabrics, Magija Lingerie, New Rosme, Nikol Djumon, Novella, Princess, Regina N, Roksa, Stefi L, V.I.P.A, V.O.V.A. and Valmir.A. all took part.
The very active working day was concluded with a fashion show hosted in the Riga Fashion Show hall, Flash You and Me, Glora, Gracija-RIM, Lauma Lingerie, Orhideja, Regina N, Rosme, Stefi L, V.I.P.A and V.O.V.A. were all on display.
After cocktails, panelists were invited to an informal but lovely dinner in a charming restaurant, fully booked for the occasion, in the center of Riga. A pleasant way to interact with retailer experts from other countries, particularly appreciated by all participants. Peter Partma, the newly appointed CEO of European Lingerie Group AS (owner of Lauma Fabrics and Felina) was amongst the guests.
On next day, October 26th, one part of the guests went to the city of Liepaja, where the majority of Latvian lingerie producers have their factories. The guests toured the factory of one of the largest manufacturers of fabrics and laces in Europe - Lauma Fabrics and saw lingerie being made at some of the city’s leading lingerie manufacturers’ production sites, including Stefi L, Glora, Daretta and Princess. The second group of guests stayed in Riga and visited the flagship stores of Amoralle, V.O.V.A., V.I.P.A and Lauma Lingerie.
On October 27th, at the Lauma Fabrics head-office in Liepaja, Francesca Spinetta gave a master class to Latvian manufacturers. She presented the characteristics of the major European markets in terms of size and distribution channels and gave her professional advice on the pros and cons of different methods of approaching distribution.
The 3rd Lingerie Forum certainly was an exciting event, which brought many new contacts and useful information to all the professionals of lingerie market.
We are already looking forward to the 4th Lingerie Industry Forum where even more buyers can get to know Latvian lingerie producers.
Intima Media Group will keep you up to date!
Copyright 2024. All right reserved - Terms