Bread & Butter Director’s Offshow 14 oz. Debuts in Berlin
Offshow 14 oz. is the latest show creation by Bread & Butter director Karl-Heinz Muller. The event will showcase select collection presentations from January 29-31 during Fashion Week in Berlin on the second floor of 14oz. store located in Berlin Mitte. In five, carefully designed rooms, top denim and urbanwear designers will present their collections including PRPS, Denham The Jeanmaker, Red Wing Shoes, Spiewak, Nigel Cabourn, Filson Bags, Dukes Belts, Johnson Motors, Atelier LaDurance, Gilded Age, and Dayton Boots.

According to Karl-Heinz, Offshow 14 oz has specific meaning: “We carry all labels that present themselves at the Offshow very successfully in the 14 oz. store. The protagonists behind the labels are authentic Denim-lovers and industry professionals whom I feel personally connected to. Their collections match my personal taste. As the host, I am glad to show these collections in a very special ambiance, and at the same time to have the 14 oz. as a place to go for industry insiders.”

What’s quite interesting about this latest creation is that it marks a trend where niche shows, trunk shows, and small collections taking place in unique formats continues to mark the progression of survival in a difficult economy. From retailers creating unique pop-up event spaces, to designers getting together to showcase their collections with a special ambiance and format, in many ways, it’s bringing back the quality of “experience” to the concept of fashion and vice versa.

Bread & Butter creators are often on the forefront of European denim and urbanwear fashion trade shows and events, so this latest exhibition marks an interesting and important new direction within the industry and offers creative inspiration. As Karl-Heinz puts it, “Everything is imaginable, the area is growing and can be used in many respects.”

Agenda Adds Brands and Sees Returns of Others
Agenda, the trade show for street and action sports-inspired brands taking place January 22-24 in San Diego, CA, continues to add select brands and sees a return of others. In their recent announcement to the build-up of the show, among the returnees are Crooks & Castles, CTRL, Freshjive, and T.I.T.S. However the interesting news comes mostly from the debuts at Agenda including old brands looking at Agenda for the first time such as Insight, G-Shock, and Comune, and new brands making their debut such as Dekline footwear.

Action Sports Retailer Changes
While the ASR show in January continues running from January 22-24 in San Diego and offering up a beefed-up seminar series for retailers, they have announced that their smaller show, ASR Holiday which usually takes place in May in Costa Mesa, is canceled for 2009. The ASR Holiday show, intended for order-writing and business, and was far more intimate than the regular Winter and Fall ASR shows, but in 2008, several brands dropped out including Nikita, Volcom, and Matix. The difficulty in figuring out delivery dates that worked for everyone, according ASR show director Andy Tompkins, made the Holiday show a major challenge. Look to ASR to pour its efforts now into adding new dynamics for its original two shows in January and September.