LondonEdge — Alternative Fashion Trade Show

LondonEdge is one of the longest-serving fashion trade shows on the circuit: launched at the turn of the millennium by Carole Hunter and Sandra Phillipson, it is dedicated to its core market of creative, lifestyle-orientated brands and apparel, and it is unlike any other show in the world. Fresh young designers show alongside established global brands, and the whole community comes together with a common goal — to showcase the most exciting, edgy ready-to-wear fashions on the planet.

The show is an order-writing event: renowned for bucking the trends, LondonEdge gives brands and designers a platform to put their wares in front of the people who matter — retail buyers who travel from all corners of the globe — with a unique collection of exhibitors that evolves every season. Its sister show, The Ledge, is London's trade show for streetwear, skateboarding and action sports, and a Berlin edition, BerlinEdge, has taken the format to Germany during Berlin Fashion Week.

The New Alternative

With the lines blurred between music, fashion and the subcultures they create, the alternative landscape is always shifting — and LondonEdge has been reloaded in response. Under the banner of The New Alternative, the show defines a new perspective: a new era of subcultures, fashion trends and emerging markets, all forged in the fires of the underground and cultivated on the blogs and social networks of the worldwide web. Apparel Search reported the relaunch as it happened: The New Alternative Trade Show and LondonEdge The New Alternative 2014.

As underground and lifestyle fashion take centre stage once again, LondonEdge positions itself as the only global showcase for the new influx of cutting-edge businesses — and argues there is no better place to bring them together than the most diverse and creative fashion trade show in the world. For a buyer whose store lives on alternative, gothic, retro, street or lifestyle product, that concentration is the point: one trip covers brands that would never appear on a mainstream show floor. The show's return to Islington was covered in LondonEdge Back to Islington for September 2015.

The Ledge: Streetwear, Skate and Action Sports

THE LEDGE is London's trade show for anyone involved in streetwear, skateboarding and action sports. It brings together a consortium of key brands within the action sports sector and showcases the strength and importance of each brand within today's market — the skate and street side of the same alternative community the main show serves. The two shows have been covered together since the beginning: The Ledge and LondonEdge tells the story of the pairing.

For retailers, the pairing is practical as well as cultural. A store that buys alternative apparel often buys streetwear and skate product from the same customer culture, so having both shows under one roof in one trip means the buying for a whole department — clothing, footwear and accessories — can be done in a single visit to London.

BerlinEdge: The Berlin Edition

LondonEdge also has a show in Berlin called BerlinEdge. The 2014 BerlinEdge showcased over 50 collections at the lavish Adagio venue during Berlin Fashion Week, and welcomed businesses from 16 different countries through its doors. Although just a glimmer of the main LondonEdge events in London, BerlinEdge was every bit the success its organizers had hoped for — proof that the alternative format travels, and that the community it serves is European, not only British. The venue announcement ran on the Apparel Search blog: London Edge Berlin 2014 Venue.

Attending or Exhibiting at LondonEdge

LondonEdge remains an active fixture of the UK trade calendar, staged in London — recent editions at the Business Design Centre in Islington, the venue the show returned to in 2015. If you are a buyer, the show's value is its editing: the exhibitor mix is chosen for the alternative and lifestyle market, so a day on the floor is a day spent only with brands your customers would actually wear. If you are a brand, exhibiting puts a young or established label in front of international buyers who have travelled specifically for this category — a very different audience from a general fashion fair.

Event dates, venues and exhibitor lists are set by the organizer and change from edition to edition, so confirm the current edition's details on the official LondonEdge website, carried in References & Further Reading below, before booking travel or shipping samples. The Apparel Search archive below follows the show season by season — post-show reports, anniversary coverage and the online edition the show launched along the way.