Laurie Hopkins Menswear Blog

Monday 16th February saw Jayne and Michael (along with Jayne’s daughter Lucy) travel to the NEC at Birmingham to visit the Moda Menswear show where many of our suppliers were showing their Winter 2009 Mens Clothing collections.

Amongst the many stands were Meyer, Bruhl, Douglas and Grahame, Gabicci, The Label, Rappson, Peter England, Seidensticker and a whole host of other menswear suppliers.

We opened an account with a company who supplies menswear which is so different to anything we have ever done before, we will in due course be letting everyone know just what we have found and what we are planning to do - all we can say at the moment is watch this space as its going to be very exciting!!!!!

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When we buy for the coming seasons we tend to see many of our suppliers on different days and its not always easy to remember just exactly what you have bought from one supplier and another. Obviously we make notes as to what we have bought, styles, colours etc but getting exact shades is often difficult.

This season Jayne has put together an almost ‘perfect’ display of a Gabicci Sweater and Shirt, A pair of Meyer Trousers and another shirt from Melka.

A stunning display of Gabicci Sweater and Shirt, Meyer trousers and a Melka shirt.

The colours, shades and textures in each of the garments blend perfectly, complementing each other and creating a stunning combination of garments. Even if I do say so myself, we didn’t do a bad job with the buying from these ranges from 3 seperate agents on different days.

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Today saw the arrival of part of our Autumn / Winter Gabicci collection, as usual, we received a selection of mens knitwear and co-ordinating knitted shirts.

This seasons ‘must have’ knitwear colours are Sand and Earth combined with Salmon shirts.

Call in the store to see the full range.

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First thing Monday (11/08/08) morning, Jayne and I set off for the 2009 Spring/Summer Moda Menswear exhibition (Birmingham NEC) where many of our current suppliers as well as one or two prospective suppliers were showing their Spring/Summer 2009 Menswear collections.

Melka at Moda Menswear

Whilst the show was somewhat lacking in the number suppliers who were exhibiting, it certainly was not lacking in the quality of the garments that were on display.

Amongst our current suppliers who were showing, Melka had a stunningly simple stand that showed their ranges to perfection. Meyer were there with their trousers and were Bruhl. Last seasons success story Campione had a large stand which allowed us a great sneak preview of their 2009 range, this was yet again a real winner with its large collection of Linen shirts and as always its ‘nautical’ themed section.

Other notable exhibitors included, Gabicci, Farah, Douglas & Grahame, Folkespeare and Baileys.

The Moda exhibition is an important part of our new seasons buying because it allows us the chance to see so many of our suppliers ranges under one roof, this in turn enables us to make comparisons from one collection to another so that we can ‘cherry pic’ the winners from each supplier.

As always, we were on the lookout for new suppliers and this year we managed to secure an exciting new label that is currently being talked about in very glowing terms within the trade and one that we were very fortunate to get. We will be announcing this new label in the near future as and when the Autumn/Winter ranges that we ordered arrive in the shop - as the saying goes, watch this space.

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