EU – This year’s roadshow of the Austrian textile wholesaler, Cotton Classics, took place from January 16 to March 3, 2023. 16 locations in six countries were the venues of the annual event series, which according to official accounts informed more than 2,500 visitors – a new record attendance – about textile novelties and bestsellers. Both the organisers and the participating suppliers and brand representatives were extremely satisfied.
This year’s roadshow kicked off in mid-January at Schönbrunn Palace in A-Vienna – directly before the gates of the head office of Cotton Classics in A-Schwadorf. After further locations in A-Graz, SLO-Ljubljana and A-Salzburg the mobile tour stopped off in Munich. Subsequently, the show was staged in six further German venues, before moving on to SK-Bratislava among others via CH-Zurich and CZ-Prague. The event series addressed specialised distributors from the promotional products trade, textile printing, embroidery, workwear and merchandising segments as well as from the online trade. “Experience inspiration and partnership live – this is precisely what we achieved again with the 14th roadshow,” summed up Wolfgang Horak, CEO and founder of Cotton Classics, after this year’s tour had come to an end. Tobias Seidel, Sales and Marketing Manager at Cotton Classics, concluded: “Partnership always takes priority – also for the exhibiting brands.”
Overall, the Cotton Classics team comprising of textile brand experts spent four weeks travelling through Europe. According to the organisers, having time for individual solutions and discussions is an important element of the roadshow’s successful concept. What’s more, a special feature of the event series is the partnership-like rapport between all of the industry participants. Seidel: “After a successful jointly organised roadshow day the best thing of all is the beer in the bus on the way to the next destination.” Furthermore, the 14th edition of the roadshow was climate neutral for the first time: The CO2 footprint of the tour was measured and a certified climate protection project was supported to compensate for the emissions caused during the tour.
Last, but not least the motto of the team was “After the roadshow is before the roadshow”, consequently the planning for the 2024 event is already underway.
Photo source: Cotton Classics Handels GmbH
