German fashion event organizer, Premium Group, is set to acquire a portion of Liberty Fairs Fashion Group and its popular stateside fashion trade shows.
Premium Group, which made its name hosting fashion industry events in Berlin, including Premium, Seek and Fashiontech, will purchase a minority stake in Liberty Fairs, signaling an interest in furthering its reach outside of Europe. The partnership will debut at the February 2019 Liberty Fairs show in Las Vegas. Liberty Fairs, organizer of Liberty, Cabana and Capsule, hosts men’s and women’s contemporary trade shows in New York, Las Vegas and Miami.
“We are tremendously excited about the prospect of working with the incredible Liberty team. The global fashion industry is highly dynamic and constantly changing and evolving. There is a huge opportunity to provide state-of-the-art events focused on commerce, community and relevant content in order to better serve the changing needs of brands and retailers,“ Anita Tillmann, founder and managing partner of the Premium Group, said. “The combination of the Premium Group’s strong relationships and long history of cutting-edge events and Liberty Fairs’ network and expertise makes this an ideal partnership.”
For Liberty Fairs, the move marks a step forward in its mission to improve exposure in the women’s market. Beyond this new relationship, Liberty will also move to a new downtown Las Vegas venue in February, the World Market Center, after spending 2018 at the Sand Expo Center.
Expansion appears to be the top priority for both organizations following Premium Group’s investment. Already, Premium Group hosts five fashion events in Berlin with more than 3,000 collections from around the world. Executives at Liberty Fairs plan to use that experience and clout for future plans in the European market.
“We have always admired the Premium Group and the Liberty family has a long-standing friendship with Anita and her team. It makes all the sense in the world for us to work together as our respective shows explore expansion possibilities at an international level,” Sam Ben-Avraham, founder of Liberty Fairs Fashion Group said in a statement. “This deal gives us the opportunity to officially join forces as Premium Group explores the trade show market in the U.S., and as we evaluate different options in taking Liberty, Capsule and Cabana to Europe.”
Liberty Fairs has collaborated with other fashion events. In April this year, it acquired women’s wear trade show, Capsule, after coordinating its men’s wear event with Capsule for several seasons.