Playtime New York AW17

New York has had it’s fair share of snow the past few months which made for an interesting flight to Playtime New York but it was well worth the bumpy arrival. It was great to see many European brands in attendance at the Playtime New York show alongside the many American, South American and Canadian brands. As always it was great to have the opportunity to talk to the designers whilst seeing the new collections at first hand. 

Interestingly 42% of the brands were taking part for the first time with a nice balance of American brands (37%) and overseas brands (63% – led by Spain France, Great Britain and Italy.) Over the three days they recorded 1956 professional visitors, a very slight increase compared to the equivalent edition of February 2016 (+0.5%). Pre-registrations were up but many visitors were forced to cancel their trip due to winter storm Niko, which affected New York and the whole East coast just two days before the show opened.

Despite the chill the feeling at the show was warm and bright, and as I walked the corridors it was apparent that buyers were placing orders. One established designer, exhibiting at Playtime New York for the first time was not sure what to expect from the show but was very pleased with the response. Personally it’s always lovely when you have jet lag to feed off others enthusiasm, fortunately there was plenty here from designers and buyers alike.

Pirouette blog  presented our One to Watch Awards for the first time at Playtime New York.

Winners:
Tia Cabani kids – Fashion One To Watch
Loopy Mando – Design One To Watch 

 

Some of our favourites from the show:

Tuchinda 

Sophisticated, beautiful collection from Tina Tuchinda for AW17.

Fort 

Fort collaborates with a new artist each collection to interpret a new Canadian inspiration. I fell in love with their collection, beautiful quality and really great denim.  

Mouse in the House 

You should look up the process of plant dying, I have since seeing the soft earthy colour palette it creates. Mouse in the House was another great find at the show. They have a super soft felted merino blanket.

Tia Cibani 

Warm rich colour from Tia Cabani for AW17 and our OTW fashion winner, incredibly creative !

Andorine 

Andorine  a collection I have followed from Italy to New York, very luxurious & wonderful textures.

Haptic Lab inc

The Haptic lab crane and swallow kites, gorgeous !

Loopy Mango 

Loopy Mango Mini version D.I.Y kits, great fun packaging and their chunky knits look adorable on little ones.
Our OTW design winner at the show!

Goose Greese 

These little dolls by Goose Grease are designed in New York and and hand chiseled by a carpenter before being painted by a trained artisan in Bogota- Columbia. Super cute !

garbo&friends 

Beautiful wooden and leather teething rings from garbo&friends.

 

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Playtime New York in numbers

Vistors: 1956

Visitor’s country of origin (in decreasing order)

United States, Canada, France, United Kingdom, Spain, South Korea, South Africa, Germany, Belgium, Brazil, Russia,  Hong Kong, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, China, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Lebanon,  New Zealand, Netherlands, Peru, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey…

Selection of buyers in attendance

ABC Carpet & Home, Advice from a Caterpillar, Arcade Kids, Babesta, Barney’s New York, Bien Bien, Bloomingdale’s, Eggy , Elegant child, Flying colors, Garage Chic, Giggle, Itsy Bitsy Boutique, J. Crew Kate Spade, La Di Da, Les Petits Chapelais, Petit Ami Pink Chicken, Poppy Store, Prince and Princess, SCOUT, Sweet William, Thumbeline, Uncommon Goods.

Next edition of Playtime New York, August 6 to 8, 2017