Scoop looks strong with show buzzing despite tough times

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
July 19, 2023

Scoop was back at Olympia this week for the SS24 season. But while it shared that venue with sister show Pure London, organiser Hyve kept the two events completely separate with Scoop taking place at Olympia West and this helped reinforce its individual identity. There was no direct access to it from Pure as there had been this time last year.

It meant Scoop was able to make an impact with its Moroccan-inspired theme that coloured every aspect of the show’s imagery.

So how did it fare in an environment that’s a tough one for indies and in which fashion spending is challenged.

Well not too badly, it seems, with the exhibitors we spoke to quite happy and buyers prepared to place orders. 

Hyve said Scoop saw a “triumphant” SS24 season and while that might be dismissed as regular show organiser hyperbole, the traffic to the event did seem to justify the bold words.

It attracted buying teams from Fenwick, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Liberty, Galeries Lafayette, Anthropologie, Le Bon Marche, John Lewis, Hoopers, Macbees, Cavells, The Dressing Room, Aisling Maher, Anne Furbank, Collen and Clare, Jules B, Chatterton, McElhinneys, Annas, Katherine Draisey, Applause, Courtyard, 32 The Guild, Cordelia James, Sister, Moda Rosa, Lulu & M, and more.

The Galeries Lafayette presence underlined that even with Brexit, UK shows — and especially Scoop — remain key destinations for international buyers. 

Buyers Cecile Massabie and Catherine Gomez from the French retail giant praised the curation and highlighted Siamese Dreams, Agua Bendita, Scarlett Poppies and Louise Misha as collections to watch.

Looking at the show from the perspective of a smaller UK-based retailer, it’s interesting that Julie Dennis from Jules Boutique said she preferred the venue to the much-loved Saatchi Gallery. 

Buyers and exhibitors at the event often repeat how much they like being at the Saatchi, but in this case, Denis said the hall at Olympia West was “airy and spacious and easier to see new brands”. And to back that up, as well as placing orders with the labels she’s previously stocked, she said she ordered from three new labels too.

That was a sentiment echoed by Johanne Taylor from Wild Orchard who was clearly impressed with the ability to find — and place orders — with both regular suppliers and new-to-the-store names.

BRING ON THE NEW

Newness was a big feature of the event and particularly interesting on this front was the small but significant widening of categories there. An event known for its women’s day and occasionwear also had a larger number of sleepwear/lingerie/swim labels (including Ralph Lauren, Huit8, Commando, Siamese Dreams, Missoni Beach, Wolford, Promise, Jessica Russell Flint and Pierre Mantoux), as well as other lifestyle categories and beauty.

This latter category makes good sense given the increasing number of fashion stores selling beauty and it wouldn’t surprise us to see beauty having a bigger presence in future. 

For now though, The Seated Queen was the only skincare label at the event. It’s riding the minimalist wave with the affordable premium brand being all about star natural ingredients and simple packaging.

Co-founder Libby Banks said Scoop was actually the brand’s first-ever trade show. “We’ve been really lucky since we launched that we’re in some big stores such as Liberty and Cult Beauty. But we feel like it’s good to get to the customers via independents too, which is why we decided to come here,” she told us. “It’s been really good. People like the packaging and they’re interested in skincare. It’s something different for them”. She added that interest is also rising because the impact on revenue compared to the space dedicated to beauty works very much in retailers’ favour.

Such rising interest has been good from the brand in terms of it being able to cope with higher costs. “Prices have gone up for us but we’ve absorbed that and we’ve been lucky that our volumes have gone up to allow us to make that work,” Banks said.

Beauty aside, for the most part, the show was all about premium fashion — and in some cases high-end luxury. 

Michino Paris, for instance, was new to the show with a range of luxury bags using the kind of quality skins we’re more used to from bag-name designer brands. Designed by Yasu Michino, the range is “a combination of my experience in the French Maisons over 18 years at Saint Laurent, Givenchy, and Delvaux,” he said. Launched 10 years ago, it’s a high-end brand that looks custom made to tap into the key quite luxury trend. “My aesthetic is a mix of Japanese simplicity and French elegance,” Michino added. 

Given prices levels heading towards four figures, why did he decide to show at Scoop? “The trade show is a great way to meet people and show your work, regardless of whether the stores are right for your brand. These are the right environments to test the strength of your design,” he explained. “I usually show only in Paris but after Covid and Brexit I wanted to take the temperature of London and the UK. The UK is a very special market, the customer doesn’t buy the same as the rest of the world. It’s bit more eccentric and colour taste is different.”

Michino’s aesthetic is clearly very different to that of another label that caught our eye at Scoop. Queens of Archive was co-founded by Nicola Orme and Sarah Plunkett Chadwick three years ago just before lockdown and has already made a big impact with its archive-inspired, not-for-shy-women dresses. 

Patronised by Holly Willoughby, Lisa Snowden and more, revenue has been rising fast and it’s now diving into wholesale from a base that’s mainly D2C. It’s also targeting growth in the US. Orme told us that Scoop is “the place to be” and a good environment for the brand. 

And judging by the traffic to that stand, we wouldn’t want to dispute that. 

The style of the label is derived from “a love of vintage, 60s, 70s, but also 30s” with Ossie Clark “a huge influence”. Orme said that “a lot of the prints come from things I’ve collected over the years, like things from the 30s I’ve collected and reworked.”

The launch of the brand might have seemed to have come at the wrong time with the company having only just shot its first collection when lockdown started. But it still got the word out and found celebrities beating a path to its door. Orme’s background working for high street brands also gave her a great grounding in the practical side of the business. It will be interesting to see its progress as it moves further into wholesale.

Meanwhile long-established Spanish brand Yerse was another Scoop first-timer, joining the line-up having been investing in the UK market which has been proving good for the label. With a knit, jersey and print focus, and a strong emphasis on sustainability, it’s currently working on becoming B Corp certified, which should be a strong selling point for the British market.

The big trend for the label this season is about nature. And that can be seen clearly in the floral prints, as well as the muted, almost-seasonless colour palette. There was a masculine hint too as epitomised by the waistcoat (a regular piece on many stands). The company was also showing its Lara Costafreda collaboration at the event. 

Another newcomer to the show, Traffic People, made a splash, especially as it dressed some of the show staff who welcomed visitors to the event and got lots of interest from that on its stand. 

Traffic People had visited the show last time and liked the look and feel of it. The strong print and dress story of the label was a good fit for Scoop and the label’s Marika Drakakis said the company had seen “all the retailers we expected to see, and opened a lot of new accounts as well as made many more appointments for the showroom”.