For three days retailers from all over the world were given concentrated information on shoes and accessories, focusing on trends, background information and inspirations for the 2016 Spring/Summer season.

900 brands presented their collections at GDS and 233 other exhibitors participated at tag it! - The Private Label Show for Shoes & Accessories.

According to the GDS trade fair organization the retailers visiting GDS took a particular interest in exhibitors’ new looks and trends. The same source says the aim to identify tendencies early on as is also confirmed by market research: 80% of polled visitors said they used GDS as a source of information so as to enter the new season well-prepared.

The same source indicated that 39% of visitors placed orders for immediate delivery, with 61% of visitors welcoming the accessories ranges, which had been extended as part of the new concept, and obtained targeted information about these collections.

GDS congratulated itself for a very high visitor's satisfaction (93%) and with attendance figure of some 15 000 visitors. Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, President and CEO of Messe Düsseldorf said: “We have welcomed exactly the same number of visitors as one year ago and our exhibitors have reported avid interest in their collections. You can feel that the retailers who attend GDS use it proactively as an information platform – in terms of content the developments are very positive. After the positive response in the press for the past two events, however, I would have liked to see the same trend for visitor attendance, too.”

Kirstin Deutelmoser, Director of GDS, said: “Needless to say we are pleased with exhibitors’ praise and the very high visitor satisfaction. This cannot blind us to the fact though that the general “footfall” is not sufficient to satisfy all exhibitors. We are getting an extremely positive feedback from the retailers who were here – it’s just a shame there were not more of them coming.”