2011 round up #03: Trade shows

Best of 2011 blogs #03: Trade Show season is always fun and last year Drapers and Stitch threw two parties on the same night, here's what happened... 

February was full on for TFN, not only did we have trade shows to visit we also had an array of parties to attend and as always we take partying just as seriously as working…

So Sunday night was a big night, as the evening was split into the Drapers Indies celebratory party and Stitch party.

First Stop- Drapers Indies Party

When: Sunday 13th February 7-10pm
Where: Kensington Roof Top Gardens
What we drank: Open bar – so pretty much anything you liked. I opted for bottles of Peroni.
What we ate: Mini burgers.

The concept of the evening was to celebrate the Inspiring Independent supplement that Drapers teamed up with Pure to create. Being from a small town I have always been a big advocator of supporting indies, even when I go home now, it’s really a buzz to see Indies standing their own against the highstreet big boys.

So what does make an indie so special? Is this down to location, the buying, the customer service, or the quality control? I’d say probably a combination of all, as no one knits together all the required elements better than an indie and it’s great that Drapers recognised this as they handed the rains over to readers and allowed them to vote for their favourite indie.

On the evening Jessica Brown and Samantha Bleasby (Event Director at Pure) took to the microphone and gave us a count down of the top 10, inspiring Indies- voted for by Drapers readers….

10: Hip – Leeds
9: Oi Polloi – Manchester
8: Start – London EC2
7: The Hambledon – Winchester
6: Present – London E1
5: Sarah Coggles – York
4: Pollyanna – Barnsley
3: Matches – Across London, including Notinghill and Mayfair
2: Dover Street Market – London W1

FIRST: Browns – London W1

Pictures below Jessica Brown and Samantha Bleasley presenting winners Browns with a bouquet of flowers

Some of the guest on the night included….

Zandra Rhodes

Elizabeth Nurse, Sophie Godson, Georgina Nurse from 3;Eleven in Hale, Chesire

Trine Olsen and Zoe Lem, My Sugerland’s.

Alisha Lei of Feathers in Notinghill and Wei Lin of 4th place indie winner Pollyanna

Miss Sixty’s Daniela D’Aveni and Energies Dario Esposito

Adriana Green and Susana Coop from Scarecrow Boutique in Croach End.

Pattrick Jeffries and John Reid of Garment Quarter Bristol with Drapers Ana Santi.

and me and Katrina.

(Pictures from Drapers OTR, for more visit here)

Shortly after 9pm we hailed a cab and headed in the direction of The Den and Centro for Part Two: The Stitch Party

Where:The Den and Centro
When: Sunday 13th February 10pm -3am.
What we drank: Cans of Red stripe (not soley out of choice)
What we ate: Eating’s cheating.

On our way we began to flag, so searching through our Drapers goodie bag we found some energy sweets, which we promptly double dropped for maximum impact.

On arriving at Den and Centro, we were greeted by a some what different vibe than the previous Drapers party, with big hurley bouncers protecting the door, surrounded by smokers puffing away on their Malbrough lights and before we even stepped in the venue we could already feel the vibrations of what was set to be a quality night.

The party was split into two, downstairs Brandon Block was on the decks and upstairs The Hooisers were just coming on stage. So legging it upstairs we managed to pushed our way through to the front to catch the 20 minute set by the Hoosiers.

As the top floor was empted and party goers were hustled down stairs, as New York DJ Arthur Baker took to the decks, the red stripe continued to flow and everyone migrated to the dance floor. Where we danced the night away until 2am when it was time to drag our tired selves back to the hotel and rest up before day two of the trade shows.

Ends/