Première Vision Trade Fair Paris
….plus seven attendee secrets you won’t want to miss !
Only a week ago I was sitting in the Porto airport, waiting for my departure flight to Paris.
Well, not Paris Paris, more like near the airport Paris. I was leaving Portugal for the week to attend France’s Première Vision trade fair to source for SS24.
As I made my way through security to the boarding gate, I mentally went over the detailed schedule I left taped to the wall near the kitchen. Did I leave my daughter’s choir tickets near my husband’s wallet so he doesn’t forget them? I did. (He forgot them). Is there food in the fridge? Is my son’s swim bag packed for tomorrow? I want their week to go smoothly while I am away and worry that I have forgotten something. Once at the boarding gate, I relax into the feeling of standing in boredom while I wait to board the plane.
I’m headed to the one of the world’s largest sourcing trade shows for three days of meeting with textile, accessory and garment manufacturers and I even booked myself in for a guided tour around the Smart Solutions section.
What is Première Vision?
Première Vision is a three-day event and one of the largest trade fairs where brands can meet accessories, yarn and textile manufacturers, leather tanneries, print design artists, and garment manufacturers from all over the world. Established in 1973 by professionals of the silk industry, this event has become a leader in connecting fashion designers with industry professionals.
Thousands of these vendors fill halls 4, 5 and 6 of Parc des Expositions Villepinte. Don’t be fooled by the smallness of the word hall. These spaces are massive. If you are tracking your daily steps, you could easily meet your goal by noon.
Vendors from all over the world are represented here to show their latest fabric collection, or their manufacturing capabilities, or their current accessory trends.
Why Attend Première Vision?
Première Vision is a way for fashion brands to network with various vendors for fabric and accessories, to connecting with a variety of product manufacturers, and to learn about new technologies in fashion - from natural food dyes to 3D software solutions.
Throughout the day there are talks from industry leaders on a variety of topics from the tech side of design to sustainability to the upcoming season’s trends.
While trend talks aren’t my favourite, Lucie Jeannot has such a beautiful way of walking the audience through the upcoming themes, colours, and textures that I can’t help but be mesmerised by what is to come for the next season.
The replays of these talks are posted on the Première Vision website the following week after the show, so if there was a talk that you missed or want to rewatch, it will be made available. You can watch the replays here.
Where is Première Vision Located?
I mentioned it was in Paris, but not really Paris Paris. Because Première Vision is located about an hour northeast of Paris at the Parc des Expositions Villepinte, and about 15 minutes by car southwest of the Charles de Gaulle airport.
Easily reached by train (unless there is a transport strike like my first day there 🥴), uber or taxi of course, and I saw some hotels had charter buses as well.
When To Attend?
The main Première Vision sourcing trade fair is held twice a year, once in February showing the spring/summer collection for the following year and again in July which shows the fabric and accessory collections for the next autumn/winter seasons.
Throughout the year, other events are held, for example Made in France will be coming up next with over a 100 vendors in manufacturing for the French industry.
How To Attend
These events can be overwhelming even for the seasoned attendee. Première Vision does its best to make this as easy on visitors as possible with help desks for fashion brand start ups and information desks if you have any questions or are feeling lost.
After my first day of exploring around, I headed back to my airbnb in Sevran and began to go through my visitor’s guide to note the suppliers that offer lower minimums, often meaning they have a stock service, so I can plan to meet with them the following days and learn more about the fabrics or accessories that they are offering.
The halls are in sections and the booths have their own colour coded signs so you can be specific in your search. For example, in fabrics Silkies are in the section with the green label, Tailoring is in another section with blue. Every section is stated clearly with the vendor’s name, booth number and country of origin.
When you arrive at the entrance of any of the halls, you will be beeped in with your visitors pass, virtual or paper, and will be given a detailed Visitor’s Guide with maps of the halls, talk schedules, restaurant locations, bathroom locations etc. so you can find your way around the halls as easily as possible. If you don’t want the Visitor’s Guide, there are large maps in the halls as well to help you find your way around. Personally, I suggest taking the visitor’s guide with you though.
Upon entering Parc des Expositions, I recommend checking your coat and/or luggage, taking a visitor’s guide when you enter in to the hall zones, and plan out the vendors you want to visit over a cup of coffee and a pain au chocolat before heading all the way in to where the booths are set up.
For me, if I don’t do this, I find myself walking around more than necessary. Since all of the textile vendors are behind enclosed booths, there is no browsing from the pathways. Having set destinations helps me use my time there sensibly. While I explore these set out booths, I always find and make a note of new vendors to visit when I have completed my list of must sees.
Guided Tours
About a week after you register for your visitor’s pass, in an email from Première Vision there will be an option to register for a guided tour like in the screenshot below.
If this interests you, BOOK IT RIGHT AWAY!
This option went unnoticed by me, and when I did finally notice it was an option, the tour I was most interested in - Eco-Innovation Forum - I was too late and the tour was booked up.
Guided tours accept maximum of 25 participants and are free.
Coat Check
If you are attending in the winter and need to check your coat, or you are coming straight off the plane and need to check your luggage, there are coat checks throughout the main entrance and for €4 you can unload your belongings from 9h - 18h.
And you never know, while waiting to check your coat, you may pass by a famous fashion YouTuber like I did with Justine Leconte 🤩
Who Do I Visit?
To be very honest, I like to visit as many vendors as possible. Attending PV is a networking event for me and a sourcing event for my clients, and it is also a place where I can learn about new vendors that offer low MOQs to grow our Directories created specifically for small brands.
Attendee Secrets
Now, I’m going to let you in on an seven secrets for attendees 🤫
secret 1
There is a bathroom there that never had a line a single time, and always had available stalls. It’s located to the right of the large coat check in front of Hall 5 and down the stairs.
secret 2
On the third day by the late afternoon, some vendors are already packing up and preparing to head back to their home country. Getting in as much as you can on Day 1 and 2 will give you a chance to not miss any vendors.
secret 3
Free water and a chocolate is given out in the mornings at the entrance into Hall 5, at the bottom of the escalator.
secret 4
The dim sum food booth is the bomb. Located in Hall 4, the formule 1 (menu 1) you will get 6 veg, beef or seafood dim sum, a small bowl of white rice with a tiny bottle of soy sauce and a bottle of water. Out of all the food there - expect conference prices €€€€ - the dim sum was the most worth it, in my opinion.
secret 5
The best and warmest and buttery and delightfully melted chocolate pain au chocolat was the restaurant at the top of the escalators in Hall 5. The coffee there was doable to get started.
secret 6
The best coffee, café creme for me, was at Lina’s down in the middle of hall 5.
secret 7
This is the best secret: The third day is also the slowest day for the venders. The energy is lower, there is less people in the booths, and the venders are more available to connect with, without the pressure of a line up of other brand’s wanting more information.
Are you a small brand, or maybe you are creating a capsule collection and you need suppliers that offer low minimums?
Flipping exhausted searching google for a supplier that sells in small quantities? Visit our curated directories of accessory and textile manufacturers and garment manufacturers that offer low minimums to brands like yours.
Be sure to follow along on Instagram where we post our behind the scenes at textile events, factory visits and more!