The Kleine Fabriek, held once again on 6 and 7 July, at Amsterdam’s RAI exhibition centre, got off at a leisurely pace. Clearly, the main reason for the quiet opening was the Dutch national football team’s match the previous evening, which only ended late at night. But despite the small delay and a bit of lingering fatigue, Kleine Fabriek once again proved its huge potential as a high-visibility platform for children’s fashion and lifestyle items. “It’s always great to be here,” said Françoise Postel from the French children’s shoe brand Easy Peasy. “Sunday was already quite busy. I think it’s great that visitors are always so interested in the products and really look forward to the new collections.” Kim Evertse from Bunnies was also satisfied with her exhibition run: “Kleine Fabriek is always worthwhile for us. And for image reasons, it’s very important for us to participate in the fair.”
New areas
There were some changes made in this year’s instalment of the fashion fair. The entrance area and hall layout were revised, and the traditional pop-up stores were repositioned. The new “Block” area was set up with particularly low stands, ensuring more transparency within the exhibition hall. This area mainly featured casual and denim brands such as Converse, Replay and gsus sindustries. The “Fame” area, also new, was reserved for high-end junior fashion labels, including the Spanish children’s shoe label Unisa. As part of the restructuring, the previous area “Object+” became simply “Object”. As in previous years, this area featured a good selection of lifestyle products, special children’s books, furniture items and small gadgets. The longstanding “Sta(i)rs” area was renamed “Peek” and also underwent a makeover. Promising newcomer labels could be found here, including the small Dutch shoe label Donsje, which specialises in high-quality first-step children’s shoes.
New platforms also ensured a better overview within the various areas, including the “Game on” zone, which offered space for special street-wear labels. On Sunday afternoon, the “Junior Fashion Parade” was held for the first time, featuring 60 kids strutting the latest collections from participating labels, including Cakewalk, Jottum and Oilily. Accompanied by three trumpet players, the kids moved through the exhibition hall, creating a cheerful atmosphere – which, given the highly positive atmosphere of the fair already, was quite sensational.
The next edition of Kleine Fabriek will be held on 18 and 19 January 2015, and will surely pay tribute to the fair’s 20th anniversary celebration.
www.kleinefabriek.nl
