Dan and Vicky ventured out to Germany earlier this month to check out all things skate and streetwear at Bright Berlin. Here’s what Vicky had to say about the show…
What we saw, what we loved and what we thought you should know about.
WHAT WE SAW…
Blue and Yellow.
Forget black and yellow (no offense Wiz Khalifa), it’s all about blue and yellow next season. Almost every brand has made use of this colour-way in one product or another. Personally I loved this bag from weareunited – a new Spanish brand that we’re convinced will be big throughout Europe soon enough.
The big boys
Many of the brands one would usually expect to see at Bread and Butter appear to have switched allegiances and were instead showing their wares at Bright. The likes of adidas, Puma, Reebok and Vans were all showing off their new skate/lifestyle collections at the show.
With space an absolute premium at Bright, and a few core skate brands still not on the list, I would advise anyone thinking about exhibiting next season to start talking about it sooner rather than later.
It will also be interesting to see what the brands decide to do with Bread and Butter announcing its move to Barcelona next season…we remember the show back in previous Barcelona days as being pretty epic, so we will wait to see if this move makes a difference to any brands’ tradeshow plans.
WHAT WE LOVED
Free stuff
For some of the most innovative tradeshow freebies we’ve ever got our grubby hands on, we salute you Burton. My ‘Butterfly knife’ bottle opener may have got me into a spot of bother with the German security man at Berlin airport, but it has already been admired and used by everyone in the office. And Dan was sure to make excellent use of his ‘Beercuda’ at Somersault festival last weekend.
A canvas for creativity
It’s also great to see a show which actively encourages and displays original creativity. We (along with the rest of the industry) attend so many shows throughout the year, it’s nice to attend one which has forged a real unique identity. With a dinner hall that felt more like an art gallery, a unique venue and an actual live artist on the Element stand, we really felt the love for this creative combo.
WHAT WE THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW…
Heritage is still king
We’re always up for welcoming new brands to the industry and Bright is a fantastic showcase for any new brand, wanting to be noticed and taken seriously by the industry. However it’s always a dream to work with brands with a genuine industry heritage. Of course all brands have to focus on the future, but we love it when a brand can communicate where they have come from – something PUMA did pretty well on their stand at the show.
Statement prints are not just for graphic tees
Next season is still all about floral, psychedelic and animal prints. So we loved that Hype carried across their season’s statement print onto their stand and their POS, by smothering a rather large shark in said print. Why not? It’s not something we expect to see on a stand, which is why it grabbed our attention. Now we get what all the Hype was about (sorry for that).
