Retailers including Aldi, Tesco, TJX Europe, Toys R Us, The Works, Clintons, Oliver Bonas and WH Smith were among the visitors to the second day of Autumn Fair (4 September), and were treated to an informative day of trends and product inspiration.
In collaboration with its trend agency partner TrendBible, Autumn Fair – which is running at Birmingham’s NEC until 6 September – hosted two trend presentations focusing on the key lifestyle trends for home, gifting and celebration delivering vital insights into the consumer behaviours and lifestyle choices set to underpin product and design trends over the next 12 months.
Naomi Pollard, head of publications at TrendBible (pictured above), opened the trends programme with the much-anticipated Home and Interior Lifestyle Trends for 2024 and an overview of four key Macro Trends that carry throughout the year – The Great Renovation, Meta Discovery, Democratising Domesticity and Inherent in Nature.
Four SS24 trends were also introduced – Avatar Lounge, Natural Balance, Memory Collectors and Space to Heal – while looking at Autumn/Winter 2024/25, Naomi introduced Soul Searching, The Last Forest, High Vibe and Rework.
The afternoon trend session, Trendbible’s AW24 Gifting and Celebration Trends gave insight into two trends; Modern Love an celebration of hedonism, and 2024 festive trend Retracing Roots.
Meanwhile, on the show floor, there was positive feedback from both visitors and exhibitors.
“We have met our existing and new customers at Autumn Fair,” commented Sally Thompson, head of sales at Half Moon Bay. “Connect meetings have been good for us, including international connections and has given us an opportunity to show our By Design range, which we have had really good feedback on.”
Oliver Butts, md at The English Soap Company – which has been highlighting its collaboration with Barbie – commented: “The show has gone fantastically well, we’re delighted with the Autumn Fair. It is great to get the orders in and then you can plan for Christmas as well. We have definitely seen the people we wanted to meet, a combination of new customers and new businesses as well as our key existing customers. We sell hand creams, hand soaps, washes and similar products and the show environment is essential for customers to come and try, feel and smell our products, the trade shows really do anchor our business.”
Want to read more news like this? Simply sign up to our daily digest by clicking here. You can also follow @LicensingSource on Twitter and @licensing_source on Instagram.
