Womenswear event Scoop AW25 impressed this week as the once-again-standalone show defied gloomy weather and a gloomy economic backdrop to bring a bit of cheer back to the UK fashion sector. 

And there was plenty of cheer on the colour front and pattern. Despite a mainly muted palette of tonal greens (think sage, olive and low-key emeralds) and burgundies with plenty of variations on Pantone’s Mocha Mousse colour of the year, there were some brights, as well as plenty of embellishment, textural twists and autumnal florals brightening the mood.

No surprise then that it looks set to be a big season for statement slouchy knits with a big play of motifs, contrast trims, and experiment textures. Faux furs should shine too, their ability to ape the real thing being even more impressive as each year goes by. Think “are they real?” faux shearlings, Mongolian lamb, fox, lynx and mink in ultra-long lengths or with bulky cuts.

In day and eveningwear there were plenty of textural plays and subtle sheen too, but with a move away from the in-your-face sequins of recent seasons. That means metallics with silks, solid/sheer contrasts, smooth ‘brocades’, and 3D appliqués.

Alone again, naturally

As mentioned, Scoop is back on its own after multiple seasons running alongside Pure London (now in Birmingham) since it moved from the Saatchi Gallery to Olympia West. 

How did it fare? Perfectly well, it seems. Despite Scoop’s off-the-beaten track location, buyers found their way to its door and the exhibitors FashionNetwork.com spoke to shrugged off the removal of big draw Pure. As busy Paris brand les Filles D’Ailleurs told us: “It’s been good. Most of the customers we have say they never go to Pure.”

As that comment suggests, the buyers were out in force from both independent boutiques and major department stores. Premium independents such as The Place London, The Hambledon, Cordelia James, Doyles, The Mercantile, Jules B, Kiti Cymru, The Dressing Room, and Sass and Edge attended, alongside buying teams from Galeries Lafayette, Le Bon Marché, Hoopers, John Lewis, Jarrolds, Anthropologie and Morleys. Irish retailers, including Emporio, Nu Chic, Sorrento, Rococo, Macbees, Ribbon Rouge, and Sybil, were also in attendance.

The multinational mix at the show went down well with buyers Amaya Jais and Philippine de Boisgrollier of Galeries Lafayette (even though they clearly have brands from anywhere and everywhere beating a path to their Paris door). They called out in particular the fact that labels at Scoop came from multiple countries of origin, and said the Spanish brands were very strong. They also said they liked Black to Grey, Dr Bloom and Indi & Cold in particular.

Meanwhile, Amy Cook, owner of Eighty Seven, praised the show’s manageable size (something mentioned to us many times by exhibitors who were actually shying away from mega-sized shows). She was also happy to discover affordable streetwear-meets-daywear label Loreak Mendian there. 

Nailing newness

While organiser Hyve doesn’t share attendance figures, the show seemed busy with plenty of orders being written. In total there were over 250 collections on show and this edition in particular just seemed to nail it both for old-timers and newcomers.

Hester Moore, owner of Helen Moore, said: “This has been the best show yet, and we’ve been coming for five years. Something just clicked this year. We’ve been busy every day with buyers – it’s been non-stop.”

For Juls Dawson of Just Consultancies it was the first time the company had exhibited at Scoop in several years, “and it has been the best trade show we have attended in a long time. The timing is perfect… as the market is 100% looking for newness and brands that hit the spot from a pricing perspective. The quality of customers aligns with our expectations, with the best boutiques across the UK attending. We have been extremely busy and have met several retailers we have been trying to connect with for a long time. At one point, we couldn’t keep up with the traffic on our stands.”

That point about newness was key for product with the season feeling like it was maybe on the verge of some change as dresses slightly lost their all-encompassing dominance and separates, knits and outerwear had a chance to shine.

Newness was also important for the brands themselves and there’s no denying that Scoop continues to be the go-to event for any brand wishing to enter the UK premium market.

That holds true for Paloma and Cristina Rato, the sisters who founded Spanish footwear brand Augusta in 2019 as an online-only operation. With a mission to get women out of 365-days-a-year trainers, their leather and calf hair boots, chunky-but-low-heel-and-feminine Mary Janes, loafers and almost-flat slingbacks (all designed in Madrid and produced in Alicante) could do just that. 

They usually show in Paris and Milan but told us they decided to add London this time “as the UK is a big market for us online and as we don’t yet have retailers here we decided it was time to do something. We were recommended to come to Scoop by some Spanish brands that show here. We wrote orders on the first day and it was very good”.

Romania’s No. 44 also thinks it’s time to break into the UK as it doesn’t sell in the country at all for now. MD Claudiu Ciubotaru is evangelical about its “timeless”, sustainable jeans. Denim is the company’s obsession (its intricately cut and tailored blazers also come in denim), as is sustainability. That means heavy use of recycled materials and a project (still under way and not yet come to fruition) to make better use of the waste created by premium selvedge denim.

The five-year-old company said the trend is definitely towards looser, slouchier cuts with Ciubotaru also wearing one of the slouchiest styles (yes, it’s womenswear only in theory, but he said the cuts are versatile enough to be adapted).

Ciubotaru said the brand saw plenty of interest at the show and was keen to try it because of its strong “design” focus, which meant visitors would ‘get’ the brand.

Meanwhile, show newcomer and New York brand Avec Les Filles (the French name comes from the Paris runway inspiration) was bucking the wider Scoop trend with slightly lower pricing than the average and a more exuberant approach to colour. The company’s Lexi Michelotti said it was the right time and venue to launch the brand into the UK market.

“Why the UK? We feel London and New York are in a ‘friends across the pond situation’. We know all the stores here so we felt it was a similar enough market. We’ve had a good reaction and we’ve written orders even though people seem to be slowing down from writing orders directly at shows. People were looking at the really eye-catching pieces, the faux furs, some of our flashier dresses.”

Established names

But Scoop wasn’t all about new-to-Britain labels. Emily Lovelock for instance is a well-established, eight-year-old name (and an Indian one despite the very English monicker) that was making an impact with its day and partywear.

Emma Chapman of the Morris Fyffe agency (which has only been handling it since the SS25 season) said it has done particularly well with the partywear this time, adding that “maybe in down times people tend to go for something a little bit more unusual”.

And what they get with the label is lots of small but crucial detail, from heart buttons to lace inserts, ric rac edging, other unusual fastenings, cuff trims, embroideries, decoratively topstitched denim and more. And it seems to be paying off with Chapman saying that it was pieces with those details that were proving a big hit.

The brand works predominantly with boutiques and the stand was continuously busy.

Another established label, Stand Studio — the Scandi cool outerwear specialist — is already stocked in Selfridges and END. But is aiming to re-energise its UK business with indies and department stores post-pandemic. Laura Robertshaw from agency 360 Group that’s now handling Stand Studio said the show got off to a good start for the label, even though what it was showing there was just a tiny percentage of its full offer. 

And it seemed to be getting a good response to its long faux furs (as mentioned, long coats are key for the season) and curly faux furs, writing orders from day one.

And when it comes down to summing up the success or failure of a show, that’s what it’s all about — orders. From that point of view, we should be able to say that Scoop’s AW25 event was an undeniable success.