Scoop International: Back with a bang

This week’s Scoop International trade show at London’s Olympia was once again a strong event with plenty of big-name buyers at what’s widely acknowledged to be the premier mid-to-premium show in the UK.

The organisers said it attracted buyers from an impressive line-up of local and international names, including Liberty London, Galeries Lafayette, Le Printemps, Fenwick, Cavells, Le Bon Marché, Harvey Nichols, Stanwells, Collen and Clare and “many more”.

It’s an undeniably ‘good-looking’ show (not an easy feat given the practical needs of busy tradeshows) and the importance of that shouldn’t be underestimated when highlighting premium product.

So while the chandeliers, the specially-dressed greeters, the imagery and themed entrance display (this time it was all about “A Return To Wonderment”) might seem like window-dressing, it’s clearly all about setting the right tone and getting those buyers in the mood to place orders.

And place orders they did. Almost every exhibitor we spoke to was doing strong business with existing or new stockists (as agent Joanna Edwards said, “you don’t come to a show to not write orders!)

Trends and labels

It’s interesting that nobody was really talking about quiet luxury, the trend that took many by surprise last year. Funnily enough though, nobody mentioned ‘mob wife’ either, the maximalist trend that’s currently said to be taking fashion by storm.

Scoop has both its minimalist and maximalist aspects. But in the former case it’s more about brands that are embracing it as a long-lasting philosophy rather than a short-term trend. And in the latter case, it’s less gangster’s moll and more bohemian free spirit.

But overall, the event is less about such transitory trends with a bigger focus on continuity and evolution with brands large and small embracing slow fashion.

Kirstie Le Marque summed this up, as well as encapsulating some of the smaller brands that are always a key draw at Scoop. Showing for the first time, the still-young diamond jewellery brand has an “aesthetic that’s rock ‘n’ roll, with a bit of an edge” and offers “daily diamonds” rather than keep-it-for-best pieces.

The company already has great momentum via its own website and its space in Liberty. Its products being worn by big names including Dua Lipa, Brooke Shields, Judi Dench, Claudia Winkleman and Jodie Comer has also helped. 

In many ways it’s the ideal brand for premium retailers looking to branch into jewellery without a big commitment. The £100-£995 price points make it accessible and the way the pieces can be layered also give it a fashion edge.

Co-founder Claire Le Marque told us: “We’re here for the first time because Liberty has been hugely successful and as a business we’re pivoting a little bit more towards wholesale. We realised that jewellery is something people want to come and try on and people are back in the shops now. Retail feels buoyant.”

The brand has a good story too. That ’daily diamonds’ approach certainly resonates with consumers, while the quirky pieces such as its strawberry pendant offer “a hit of dopamine via that flash of red”. And aftercare options like the ‘Sparkle Service’, where owners of the pieces can access a “jewellery MOT” including re-plating and re-polishing make it feel special.

Bags of style

Equally quirky/edgy and with just as much appeal for its sheer exuberance is Corita Rose, the brand of designer Caro Ritchie. It’s evolved from an interiors brand but for the first time at Scoop was also offering a bags line featuring leather mixed with statement-making printed velvets.

Ritchie said that “we design everything in Dorset, it’s small-batch printing and small-batch making. We tested the bags last year and have launched them this time. They’ve gone really well. There’s a cross body bag and totes that people want as a real statement piece. These weekenders have done brilliantly so far too with both men and women of all ages.” 

She thinks the bags “will give us quite a big sales uplift at a wealth of different different price points. There’s a market for the small pieces in gifts and jewellery shops, in boutiques, and in homewares shops”. And she added that buyers seemed to like the fact that “everything was made by local people, including the boxes.” Interestingly too, those buyers she spoke to were from both fashion and art stores, including some from Ireland “working out how to buy from English brands again!”

Agent Joanna Edwards represents nine collections but was at Scoop with Me369 and was doing a roaring trade with it, saying “I haven’t stopped writing orders.” In many ways it summed up the type of collection that always does well there. 

It’s all about print, particularly contrasting prints — whether abstracts or florals, positive slogans and the season’s ubiquitous big cats.

Edwards said being at the show was important to get to those people “who would’t have come to the showroom in Hammersmith but have come to the show.” She also said the company is “doing incredibly well” with the label as “I think people are loving the colours, the prints, the boldness of it. We all need a bit of excitement. It’s had a great reaction.”

The designers have taken the Amalfi Coast influence of the SS24 offer and added bolder colour for AW24. It has a sports luxe feel and the ease of the knitwear and easy dresses is an obvious selling point at an event targeting the premium womenswear market.

You could say the same about Tanavana where founder Gloria de Valenzuela has been focusing on UK expansion after a quarter-century selling in Europe and the US and was at Scoop for the first time as a result.

Her collection features the lively colour, print and detail that goes down well at the show and combined with a strong story of artisanship, she said, noting she was getting a good response.

“I design the prints and embroideries,” she explained, “but we do everything else [for the apparel] in India with artisans. It’s a unique collection for people who ‘understand’ handcrafted.”

She added: “I’m inspired by old textiles in museums and other antiques,” adding that key items for the season she says are the coats with in printed silk velvet or heavier woven and embroidered materials, as well as hand-pleated and knotted silk shawls, plus the jewellery that’s made in Turkey.

Sleep on it

It was interesting that sleepwear had quite a big footprint at the event and Desmond & Dempsey was a standout label in this area. Head of wholesale Florence Chandler-Lee had trekked across town from Brixton to show at Scoop and was making the most of buyers’ interest in gifting and lifestyle brands.

She said the label is in most major department stores but “it’s really important for us to focus on the indies as well” and so came to Scoop for the first time. Buyers from stores such as Galeries Lafayette responded positively to the in-house-designed and hand-painted patterns. And those patterns were very focused on the popular big cat theme

But what about minimalism? As mentioned earlier, Scoop is very much a show where more is often more. But another first-timer at the show was carrying the banner for the minimalists and it will be interesting to see how it fares.

Wo-Ma is a new brand designed by Alex Bodikian with “a strong androgynous style.” His background is in textile and fashion design and his family once ran a Yorkshire mill making upscale woollens and cashmeres for luxury labels. So it’s no surprise that quality fabrics were key here. The silhouette inspiration is “Far Eastern” but, overall, he said “I looked to design something that’s timeless, and has a minimalist aesthetic. It’s designed to be as easy as possible to wear for both men and women.”

The result is a very edited collection in key shades of navy, black and charcoal with three or four dresses, a boiler suit, a jumpsuit, and several styles of shirt, trouser and tops.

While autumn/winter is quiet stark, the designer rings the changes between the seasons by including themed embroidery for spring/summer (for the “next spring season our focus will be on balance and positive vibrations so there will be embroidery that follows that through,” he explained).

He recently took on an agency (Morris Fyfe) and Wolf & Badger has accepted the label on its platform. But was he writing orders at Scoop? “We’ve had meetings with a few top accounts for autumn/winter and they were very receptive and very positive, so watch this space,” he said.