Final Report FASHION DAYS 2020

Total focus on fashion: The new spoga horse FASHION DAYS kicked off with this claim in 2020. From 8 to 10 February 2020, Koelnmesse offered the equestrian sport industry an attention-grabbing, perfectly staged display window for its brand-new 2020/2021 autumn/winter collections. On the newly-created runway with a futuristic design in the heart of Hall 8, the manufacturers presented their latest collections in front of approx. 2,800 trade visitors. "We are delighted about the first-class offer of our exhibitors and the high quality of the visitors", stated Catja Caspary, Vice President of Koelnmesse. "spoga horse underlined its competence as a trend platform of great international relevance and reach."

In total, 163 exhibitors from 23 countries took part in the spoga horse FASHION DAYS. In addition to the strong clothing segment, many suppliers of equestrian sport accessories, care, health and feed products as well as saddle and leather goods took advantage of the opportunity to present their products to the international specialised trade.

Despite the storm 'Sabine', visitors and exhibitors didn't let the mood be spoiled. "spoga horse is the most international fair and gives us the opportunity to meet our retailers from all over the world with a minimum amount of traveling. Our products are all about the quality of materials and fit, so it is important to meet our clients personally from time to time and spoga horse is this platform for us", said a delighted Helena Strömbäck from the Swedish equestrian sport manufacturer, Stierna, which exhibited in Cologne for the first time in February.

The programme of the spoga horse Academy, which focused on online marketing and E-Commerce this year, was also very popular. Many companies are occupying themselves with transformation processes, the digitalisation and the macrosocial debate surrounding the theme sustainability. The spoga horse Academy picked up on these topics in detail: Selected experts presented the trade visitors of the spoga horse FASHION DAYS a comprehensive seminar and workshop programme on the current trade themes as well as on the demands, opportunities and risks of online marketing. The speakers addressed subjects such as Voice Search, the customer journey and transparency in influencer marketing, but also merchandise management, product range planning and sustainability concepts.

In the course of these lectures and also in the many personal dialogues, it became clear that the industry overall is still faced with big challenges, which arise from precisely these transformation processes. This also affects its leading trade fair. "The quality of Koelnmesse is that it is not just merely a service provider that plans trade fairs, but also a pioneer that recognises transformation and masters it together with the industry", explained Oliver Frese, who has been the Chief Operating Officer of Koelnmesse since the start of the year. "Trade fairs are ultimately products that require continuous adjustment in order to address the needs of the market and of customers." With the fresh impressions of the first spoga horse FASHION DAYS in our minds, we will over the coming months work out together with representatives of all interest groups how spoga horse will be positioned in future.

Regardless of this, spoga horse autumn 2020 will be staged from 6 to 8 September.