Pure and simple – it’s a solid show

Jewellery exhibitors weren’t shouting from the rooftops about business at fashion and accessories trade show Pure earlier this week, but there were no complaints to be heard either. Trading was steady, with exhibitors divided as to whether Sunday or Monday was the best day at the show. “Sunday was a stonker of a day for us,” said crystal jewellery designer Kleshna.

This season’s Pure saw a return for some brands after a season or two’s absence from the show. Benor, which was one of the first jewellery wholesalers to exhibit at Pure, was back after missing the august show last year. Seems that brands forced out by the recession have no qualms about returning. As one exhibitor described its absence to me: “We didn’t do the show for a couple of seasons as it wasn’t the right time for us, but we’re back now and it’s always a good show for us.”

As the show is predominantly womenswear, buyers at Pure tend to be fashion shops as opposed to jewellers. However, on the stand at jewellery designer Benor they said that they had noticed quite a few IJL regulars at the show. Perhaps due to the expansion of the jewellery offer over the years, jewellery buyers are starting to take more of an interest in the show?

The biggest surprise at the show was Manchester fine diamond jewellery supplier Donns. The brand showed off its high-end pieces on the first floor, nestled among the fashion jewellery exhibitors. Truly bizarre. But buyers were surrounding the stand. Whether this was out of curiosity or genuine interest, I’m undecided.

Another stand of interest was the French Connection jewelley stand. The fashion retailer has always had a strong trend-led jewellery offer and has recently worked with jewellery wholesaler Icon Live to launch a wholesale website to sell to UK retailers online. Despite its FCUKing terrible brand issues in the past, French Connection has risen from the ashes to reclaim its position as a slick brand and could be a nice little branded jewellery seller.

Ethical jewellery was left, right and centre at Pure. Juan Munoz of ethical jewellery brand Leju talked to me about the difficulty the brand has faced as more and more fellow Pure exhibitors jumped on the vegetable ivory bandwagon, the sustainable material that the brand is famed for using. To avoid standing still, Juan and his partner have introduced silver beads and semi-precious stones to designs to ensure Leju doesn’t get lost in the melee of ethical jewellery brands.