At the start of this month we packed up the new collection and headed off to Berlin for the seasonal trade fair called Bread and Butter. This is Europes biggest street fashion and casual wear trade show, and the one where we show the new seasons collection for the first time. So it was Spring Summer 11 this time round, queue swim shorts, brighter colours, lightweight fabrics, and the introduction of quite a few new styles into our collection.
We have just employed the work of a new stand builder to create our exhibition stand and we couldn’t have been happier with the work. The collection sat perfectly alongside the colour palette reflected in the graphics coating the outside walls. The ledges above each rail were donned with the new accessory collection for men and women. The footwear looked sharp and stylish across the back wall.
And so it begins, on the Wednesday for three days in Europe’s biggest (apparently) building, the Templehof Airport. The turn out was very positive and our stand rarely saw a quiet moment. Along with meeting Press, Buyers and Agents to go through the new collection we also had some invites to hand out to our Supremebeing Party, which we were hosting on the Thursday night.
A tradition now for Supremebeing at Bread and Butter on the second night we hold a party that is about the music for our friends, old and new. This time round we held it at Cookies club (many thanks Cookie, your club is awesome) and had A-Trak playing in the main room and Matt Helders in the second room. I was very excited to see A-Trak and he did not disappoint, his song selection was great and technically he is very gifted, you can see why he has gained such a reputation with in the worldwide music industry. We here at SB have come to know Matt Helders quite well after working with him to produce the most recent collab (in store sept so don’t miss out!) and we all know him from Arctic Monkey fame so we couldn’t wait to see what he had to offer behind the decks. To quote a couple of our designers who I don’t think left the room for the few hours he played “ Matt Fucking Killed it Man…”. Was there any doubt!
Queue Friday, the last day of the show and the morning after the night before but just as important as the first two there are always lots of fragile but well dressed peeps doing business. Big up to DQ and Mary for the early morning start to give us all an hour or more in bed!
Pieces in the collection that I was most hyped about presenting? The denim looked great. 3 cuts in men’s and 2 in women’s across a range of 5 different washes all together. New chinos in two colours and a denim roll up short help compliment the offering which is a substantial move forward for Supremebeing. The swim shorts offering has been stepped up with strong colourways, excellent quality and in particular some amazing digital prints on the pool short. Also expect to see Mr Squeek rolling with you on all swim shorts, he also found his way on to a crew this season. Anything but shy our aquatic friend is!
Key pieces that made a lot of noise were the Brakio, a slim fit lightweight knitwear piece, the Tab, regular fit shirt with adjustable button-tab turn-up sleeves and the two-piece set of the Empire and the Kenobi; an engineered jersey track pant with accompanying hoodie.
On the women’s side of the collection we showed another exciting and directional range with the same focus on skirts, tops and dresses but with the inclusion of new pieces. Nautical themes ran through the range with a theme of a ‘boat picnic’.
Along with this the 4 new premium leather slabs grabbed a lot of attention. The classic slab shape and pattern structure built with one colour premium leathers, such as a ‘crazy horse’ grey and nubuck caramel. Sat with some stylish new Trip and 1970 colourways we saw the first glimpse of the new premium, quality driven direction that the footwear is moving.
The most exciting part of Bread & Butter for me is seeing the amalgamation of everyone’s work being displayed as one to key industry figures and perhaps more importantly, our peers. Thankyou Bread & Butter and everyone one involved in making this a memorable week, see you next season Berlin!
