The Best AW20 Baby and Kid's Trade Shows
Photo by Pitti Bimbo
Hard to believe it’s almost time for buyers and press to start looking at what’s coming for Fall 2020. Easily one of the busiest times of year for brands, they are simultaneously finishing production, launching SS20 and showing their AW20 collections. All the preparation culminates in showing the new collections over the next two months.
So, where are the best trade shows for baby and kids? You have the OG’s in Europe, Pitti Bimbo, Playtime and Ciff Youth and in NY there’s Playtime and Hudson Collective. Here’s a roundup of the top kids market’s going on across the globe this season.
PITTI BIMBO, FLORENCE
January 16 - 18
Fortezza Da Basso
PLAYTIME, PARIS
January 25 - 27
Parc Floral De Paris
KID & KID•APARTMENT, PARIS
January 24 - 27
Le Marais
CIFF YOUTH, COPENHAGEN
January 29 - 31
Bella Center
HUDSON COLLECTIVE, NEW YORK
February 8 - 10
Hudson Yard
PLAYTIME, NEW YORK
February 9 - 11
Metropolitan Pavilion & Altman Building
Wondering which shows you should attend and what they’re all about? Pitti Bimbo is really the most event driven of the markets, in addition to the high end trade show happening, there are runway shows and other informal events happening throughout the 3 days. Their first show was in 1972 with Italian brands and now include a global roster of over 1000 established clothing, accessory and baby gear brands. In addition to free entry for buyers & press, you can also buy tickets to attend, they even have a have a free nursery service available, since they don’t allow kids under 12 to attend the show. They expect somewhere around 30,000 visitors.
Photo by Pitti Bimbo
Playtime & Ciff Youth are most similar in vendor size, type and format of the show, welcoming buyers and press for free, once you pre-register and receive confirmation. For AW20, Playtime Paris will have 500 vendors, Playtime New York 200 and Ciff Youth about 300. You’ll find a lot of the more popular brands available at independent shops, think the brand list at shops like Smallable and Fawn Shoppe. Both events are well organized and busy.
Photo by Playtime
Photo by Ciff Youth
For a change of pace, we love the niche more intimate shows, Kid and Hudson Collective, with about 30 brands each. At Kid you can expect to see the best in eco-friendly Danish and European brands like, Gray Label, Maed for Mini, Repose AMS, Mini Rodini, Tiny Cottons and Soft Gallery. Hudson Collective is a really special show in NYC with some of our favorite brands, including the returning Soor Ploom, Misha & Puff, Fin & Vince, Bacabuche, Nico Nico, Little Creative Factory and Bobo Choses. This season also added The Simple Folk, Faire Child, Ketiketa and Kaleidoscope. The day we spent at Hudson Collective for SS20 was our favorite of the season. We had the best conversations and left so inspired. Hudson Collective is unique in that it’s not open for just anyone to attend the show. It’s mostly by appointment, so one of the brands has to put you on the list. We set up a day of appointments and found the atmosphere to be super relaxed and unrushed.
Photo by Hudson Collective NYC