Post by "Just Ask Eric Musgrave"

After posting recently about Bread & Butter in Barcelona in 2006 I reminded myself that the entire Bread & Butter adventure began 25 years ago today. The first edition of the memorable trade fair was held in an old factory building in Cologne on 13-15 July 2001. It was an upstart rival to the long-established Inter-Jeans in the KolnMesse exhibition complex, which, my memory suggests, tried to have the new event closed due to Health & Safety concerns. The show had just 50 exhibitors and attracted 5,000 visitors, according to B&B. Founders Karl-Heinz Müller, Wolfgang Ahlers and Kristyan Geyr had unleashed a monster. Who could have guessed where B&B was going to end up? With c1,000 exhibitors (Barcelona, July 2007) and 100,000 visitors (Barcelona, Jan 2008) And who reading this attended that first edition? A quarter of a century ago! NB This spread appeared in the 10th anniversary special produced by German trade paper TextilWirtschaft in 2011.