Statements by Exhibitors and Visitors at TOP HAIR INTERNATIONAL Trend & Fashion Days Düsseldorf 2009

Exhibitors and Stylists:
Oliver Bohn, Owner of the Hairdressing School Amman & Bohn:
The fair went very well for us. We had a good influx of visitors, both in terms of quantity and quality. We get the impression the trade audience here is very sophisticated so you really were able to approach serious potential clients. Some visitors had very specific enquiries. I thought separating workshops/trade fair halls and shows was a good idea. That way you have the noise on one side and business on the other.

Stephanie Karla Froux, Marketing Head at International Olymp
We only assess contacts afterwards but overall we are very satisfied, especially with Sunday which was a good day for us. We have made many contacts and have even taken some orders at the fair. We are satisfied all round. It was a very successful event. It will be exciting to see how the new Monday develops.

Gerhard Heckmann, Sales Manager at Friseure Hans Schwarzkopf & Henkel
It went very well. Saturday was pleasant and on Sunday there was real energy in the hall. Separating the shows, on the one hand, and trade fair stands and workshops, on the other, is ideal. The visitor structure here is perfect for us. They are clientele that everyone wants as customers. Absolutely top-class. This is certainly a different clientele to what you find at fairs where prize-hairdressing goes on. Düsseldorf has to set itself apart from other locations in Germany and so far it has managed to do this excellently.

Dieter Keller, Managing Director at Keller haircompany:
TOP HAIR INTERNATIONAL Trend & Fashion Days is simply a great event and in my view THE event, the most important in Germany. It has a very high level in terms of audience. It will be very exciting to see how the Monday goes. In any case I always think it’s a good idea to question things, to take new directions – and this is the basis of TOP HAIR INTERNATIONAL Trend & Fashion Days’ success simply because it took a new direction. The Hiroyuki Obayashi show was great. It was very professional, very well done and you can see Alexandre Minetti’s influence here.

Jörg Müller, Press and Public Relations Manager Goldwell, KMS California
The two brands KMS California and Goldwell have a very, very positive verdict. We are very satisfied. We have forged new customer contacts and I would even say our expectations have been exceeded. This particularly applies to our colour premium brand Goldwell that we brought to TOP HAIR INTERNATIONAL Trend & Fashion Days for the first time now. Separating the shows and workshops and the fair is a central quality of the Düsseldorf concept. Also the fact that its design per se allows limited stand sizes. This is really user friendly and increases the appeal of the location and the fair very considerably. Basically because we can showcase things here that interest hairdressers: like fashion, lifestyle, creativity and practical salon-oriented benefits with key points like workshop stages and the Cutting Factory. We particularly came into contact here with decision-makers. The many small salons are certainly also an important market but the core of the sector is the new middle ground, i.e. the really well-established salons and obviously also the premium salons which, by their very nature, always only exist in a manageable number. But I think particularly these salons, both the premium ones and the established regional opinion-leaders, were here in Düsseldorf. The Who’s Who of the German hairdressing trade was here and they held interesting discussions.

Hiroyuki Obayashi:
My first impression of the fair was: “Wow that’s big!“ Even the show stage is very big and imposing. The number of spectators overwhelmed me. I have already participated at different fairs but this is in another class – a top class. The concept, the separation into a show hall and a hall with stands and small stages, is clear and understandable and the atmosphere is very nice. The white colour worked particularly well. It looks very sophisticated. When I came in I thought I was looking at models but they were just the visitors. That was a surprise for me. They are styled very creatively but still with great taste, not over the top.

Angelo Seminara
I heard the event is growing. In my view the reason for this is that here everything runs very efficiently and is very well structured and organised. I find the event impeccable. It is important that top-flight stylists come and hairdressers from other countries can share their experiences here with the Germany audience. I really enjoyed these two days and it was fun to work here. I also find the German audience great and it’s fun to be on stage here. It is great support during the show. They enjoy it and you can laugh and interact with them. They just are in a good mood. My show is for the audience and I want to show a few great creations and motivate them. They may go to work the next day motivated and full energy with a few new inspirations they have brought back from here.

Wolfgang Stadler, CEO at Tondeo
I have to say the concept paid off very well. On Sunday there were many good customers and we had very good discussions. In terms of quality this is a very good fair. The separation ensuring there is no noise in the hall is also very nice. I thought the workshops I saw were very sophisticated. The event has developed this year into the meeting point of the sector. Even many who did not attend in the past for “political reasons” were now here. This shows the pull of the event.

Noah Wild, Managing Director at Wild Beauty AG:
So far the fair has been very successful. We are passionately exclusive to hairdressers so for us there is nothing better than spending time with hairdressers who want further and continuation training. The number of people here who want exactly this is phenomenal. We have people already waiting for the first show at 9.30 in the morning and in the evening we still have the full programme and a full house. It is a good idea and makes sense to separate shows and workshops because a show programme is different to a really concentrated workshop programme. What’s more, you can still talk here in the hall as when there’s a show on in the hall it all gets a bit loud. The new Monday is the right choice. We have a young and fresh theme on stage for Monday and will focus on very different themes than on Saturday and Sunday.

Marcell Witkowski, Directeur Général at Commercial L’Oréal
The fair is basically a great success for us. Especially on Sunday we had a really large flow of visitors and also very good customer quality just like last year too. There were more customers here that L’Oréal did not know very well yet. The shows were excellent and the feedback afterwards was very good. People find a home here, i.e. they come here and find people with the same interests as them and take something back home with them. As ever, we find the TOP HAIR INTERNATIONAL Trend & Fashion Days a unique concept in terms of its combination of shows and workshops.

Visitors:
Tobias Tröndle, Art Director at Essanelle Hair Group
I was very pleasantly surprised by the event. I found the specialist competence of the programme well above average and I liked it very much. I also very much liked the placing of the workshop stages in the corners of the halls and their design. The show hall was also great – my absolute highlight being Angelo Seminara who was really brilliant. Overall really great, a very nice event and an all-round success.