Post Show Report CJF – Child and Junior Fashion 2021. Spring

10 / 03 / 2021

25th anniversary edition of the International Exhibition for Child and Junior Fashion,
Maternity Wear – CJF – Child and Junior Fashion 2021. Spring

CJF – Child and Junior Fashion 2021. Spring opened EXPOCENTRE’s season of offline trade shows and congresses after a long lockdown period. The show is organised in close cooperation with Russian federal authorities, business support organisations and industry associations. It is a universal marketing tool for industry recovery for both Russian and foreign markets. 

CJF – Child and Junior Fashion is a traditional meeting point for manufacturers, distributors and representatives of trading companies. It has a reputation as an effective business platform, organised twice a year in February and September, in line with the wholesale buying cycle in this market segment.

Despite all the difficulties, the show exceeded the expectations of both organisers and participants. It was great success and was held at the traditionally high level of representativeness, product coverage and commercial efficiency, keeping all of its major product sectors.

Dates: 22–25 February 2021

Venue: EXPOCENTRE Fairgrounds, Moscow, Russia  

Organised by EXPOCENTRE AO

Under auspices of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Attendance: 7,634 professional visitors (7,451 visitors from Russia, 183 from other countries)

Exhibitors: 172 (157 of them are Russian)

Countries: 11 (Austria, Belarus, Finland, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Russia, Spain, Turkey, the UK, Ukraine, Uzbekistan)

Russian regional group stands: Krasnodar Krai, Omsk, Orel, Penza, Ulyanovsk and Yaroslavl Oblasts

Exhibiting companies: Incity, Keddo, Kerry, Losan, Nikola, Pablosky, Tiflani, Tugi, Dimark, G’n’K, Fantarezi, Noble People, Platin, ROSTISLAV, Truvor, UNONA D’Art, VaN Cliff, Vester, Andersen, Crossway, Malenkaya Ledi, Naslednik Vyzhanova, Edelveis TH, etc.  

Product sectors: clothes for children, footwear for children, accessories for children, clothes for pregnant women, fashion and design solutions, school uniform

Show Highlights 

The CJF event programme included 21 events with 100 speakers, who are the industry’s top experts, participating. The total number of attendees was more than 2,000 professionals. In order to ensure a wide coverage of foreign and Russian regional professional audiences, the events were organised in both online and offline formats.

Traditionally, there has been a strong focus on effective social media promotion, which is why the event programme was opened by the three day marathon Community Management & Social Media in Promotion of Fashion Products. It was held within the Expo-Academy project on 22–24 February and was organised by digital-agency OLYMPX jointly with the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics with media support of EXPOCENTRE AO. The main topics were Community Management. The Basics of Community Building; The Visual Design of a Blog. How to Design Your Blog in Style; and How to Sell Via Through Instagram Effectively? Report were made by Director of the Competence Development Center in Fashion Industry and Fashion Retail of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics Svetlana Kostenko, managing partner, director of the Internet Advertising Department of OLYMPX, consultant for strategic marketing and web marketing special projects, lecturer at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics Anna Kilimnichenko, and well-known brand designer Sergey Derkachev.

Svetlana Kostenko, Director of the Competence Development Center in Fashion Industry and Fashion Retail of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics

“I am positive that the buyers at CJF – Child and Junior Fashion will find what they are looking for and what will be popular with their customers.”

On February 24, the Expo-Academy featured the Master Class on Taking a Video for TikTok Together. Five Principles of a Successful Video. Everyone participating in the event had an opportunity to shoot their own videos under the guidance of an experienced expert on the specially equipped premises of EXPOCENTRE Fairgrounds.

The online Forum CJF Blogger Day was organised by EXPOCENTRE AO jointly with digital agency OLYMPX on February 25. It generated a lot of interest. Anna Kilimnichenko, managing partner, director of the Internet Advertising Department of OLYMPX, consultant for strategic marketing and web marketing special projects, lecturer at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, not only moderated the event but also told about trends and tendencies of Social Media 2021, and effective strategies for working with bloggers. She also introduced a new media trend – JTBD (Jobs To Be Done) – which helps to create only those products that the user wants and needs, and therefore are in demand. Blogger Iloba Fionova shared her secrets of presentation in New Media and gave advice on how to interact with bloggers in order to actively sell on Instagram. Vladislava Smurygina, Head of Influencer Relations at Digital Milestone, spoke about strategies for working on YouTube.

Anna Kilimnichenko, managing partner, director of the Internet Advertising Department of OLYMPX, consultant for strategic marketing and web marketing special projects, lecturer at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics

“I am happy to see that the organisers have managed to organise this exhibition, invite so many exhibitors, and arrange such a great event programme.”

You can watch the Blogger Day events here:

-          Trends and tendencies of Social Media 2021

-          How to work with YouTube influencers in 2021: strategies and tactics

-          Successful strategies for Instagram and TikTok. How to build effective promotion at minimum cost

-          Storytelling, stories making, guides in Instagram

-          The art of presenting products in New Media 

The development of retail technologies was also in the spotlight. Boris Agatov, consultant and expert in retail innovations, co-founder of New Retail and Project Line and EXPOCENTRE AO with media support of New-Retail.ru organised the Conference on Store 4.0: Innovations. Technology, Development Strategies for the Children’s Fashion Industry at a Time of Rapid Changes on February 22. Conference participants are confident that offline shops have a future, they are not going anywhere, but they will have to change. Boris Agatov, who is also an author of the Store 4.0 concept, talked about how a new type of children’s offline shops will be set up in the post-Covid era. For the first time, CJF – Child and Junior Fashion featured the Store 4.0 Consultation Centre, where experienced experts helped everyone interested to have a new shopping experience of the future. 

Boris Agatov, consultant and expert in retail innovations, co-founder of New Retail and Project Line

“I spoke on the first day of the show and was pleasantly surprised that the audience was full. CJF – Child and Junior Fashion is the first major event after the long lockdown period. People understand how important the offline networking is. They come to ask questions and get into discussions.”

Every day, the presentation area of Expo-Academy hosted various activities during which renowned industry experts shared their experience in a wide range of aspects of successful business building.

The Workshop on Inventory Management and Reduction of Inventory in a Store was a success. It was held on February 22 by Practical Fashion Solution and EXPOCENTRE AO. General Director of Practical Fashion Solution Ekaterina Eliseeva in her presentation talked about the goods handling system, in particular about the specifics of inventory management after the Covid-19 related lockdown. Among the most effective methods of managing product surplus, the speaker highlighted three areas: redistributing goods for next year's sales as part of a discount programme, adding old products to the new collection (where possible), and special promotions, the so-called "flash or elimination shots".

To celebrate the anniversary of CJF – Child and Junior Fashion, Elena Pismenskaya, founder of Kids Fashion Retail, expert, lecturer at the Creative Industries Center of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, the Russian School of Style, the Academy of Fashion and Style, and the Russian Fund of Educational Programs “Economy and Management” held the Workshop on 25 Years of History of the Children’s Fashion Industry Through the Lens of the History of the CJF Exhibition on February 22. She also shared unique analytical data from her research on the children's clothing market.

Other events of the Expo-Academy project were:

-          the Workshop on Shaping a Chain Store’s Product Grid (Clothes and Accessories category) by Tatiana Matveeva, marketing specialist at the Schelkovo Knitwear Factory

-          the Master Class on How to Sell Children’s Shoes by Svetlana Dolzhenko, expert in sales of children’s and teenagers’ shoes, and staff training, founder of the Shoes by the Rules retail project

-          the Workshop on Cases and Secrets of Working in the FMCG Market. PR Development Vectors for Businesses by Maria Pogoraeva, Head of the FMCG practices at PR Partner

The Workshop on Secrets of Working with Marketplaces: How to Increase Sales (or seven rules for working with marketplaces) was one of the most attended events of the exhibition and deserves a special attention. It was organised on February 23 by Kids Fashion Retail with support of EXPOCENTRE AO. Elena Pismenskaya, founder of Kids Fashion Retail, expert, lecturer at the Creative Industries Center of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, the Russian School of Style, the Academy of Fashion and Style, and the Russian Fund of Educational Programs “Economy and Management” reviewed the main trading platforms from the perspective of the fashion industry. The speaker formulated the main rules for working with marketplaces, which today are gradually changing the traditional strategy of seasonality of collections – two collections a year. Elena Pismenskaya gave practical advice on how to organise effective work from regular assortment replenishment to creating a unique quality product card, which is as important today as the product itself. The expert advised retailers to separate their assortment into a separate brand, sort out the remainder of the seasonal collection and let it go on sale at substantial discounts.

VM Guru with support of EXPOCENTRE AO held the Workshop on How to Increase Offline Sales and Loyalty of Buyers of Goods for Children in the New Market Conditions. Anna Balandina, expert in visual merchandising and store design, founder of the ÀrtEZ Academy had a presentation on key practical cases for building a successful brand shop. The speaker talked about how customers have changed since the start of the pandemic, and how attitudes towards goods and shopping have changed. "You can buy things online now, and it will be cheaper. And an offline shop today is not just a retail outlet with a product but a design space. Therefore, to keep the customer coming and coming back, you need to create a visual frame for your product," stressed Anna Balandina. Why focus on a visual story? Why is the new generation of customers – generations Y and Z – ready to go to offline shops and why? How to create a separate brand from the shop? What kind of mistakes in visual merchandising seriously affect sales? These and many other issues were addressed during the workshop.

The Workshop on Promotions and Sales Incentives for the Children's Store was organised by Fashion Consulting Group with support of EXPOCENTRE AO. Natalia Chinenova, lead expert in retail business technology at Fashion Consulting Group, talked about three main methods of sales promotion: co-promotion, price reduction promotions and interactive/reputational promotions, how reputation promotions attract customers and why they help selling, how to properly implement omni-channel sales promotions and how to do co-promo within your own sales channels, and what kind of price-cutting promotions really increase sales.

Natalia Chinenova, lead expert in retail business technology at Fashion Consulting Group

“I am absolutely overwhelmed by the number of visitors who have come to the exhibition. People are buying, making orders. I am happy to finally see everyone offline… The composition of visitors to the exhibition has changed. Now there are more visitors with real targets. For many other them the priority is to find local manufacturers.”

The CJF Forum on Clothes and Footwear for Children and Teenagers: the Present and the Future was organised online by the Russian Quality System (Roskachestvo), Innovative Center of the Textile and Garment Industry OAO and ProKachestvo with support of EXPOCENTRE AO on February 24–25. The forum opened with the plenary session on the state of the clothing and footwear market: the children and teens segment. It was moderated by Deputy Head of Roskachestvo Yulia Mikhaleva

Yulia Mikhaleva, Deputy Head of Roskachestvo

“CJF has always been a mirror of the industry and a universal marketing tool, currently contributing to its recovery. It is symbolic, that during the forced hiatus caused by the pandemic, the industry was able to prepare for exhibitions and congresses, and EXPOCENTRE is opening its exhibition season this year with such a remarkable event.

The children's goods market must constantly modernise and offer better solutions for consumers. CJF – Child and Junior Fashion acts as a convenient platform for professionals to discuss the latest trends, exchange expert opinions and find joint solutions to improve clothing and footwear for the most important customers: children and teenagers.” 

Online, experts in the children's fashion industry discussed the changes in the children's clothing market in the pandemic, trade in children's products, different issues related to school uniform, the use of animation brands, and the development of the industry in Russia. 

The speakers included Manager of the Valentin Yudashkin Fashion House, Assistant to the Rector of the Kosygin Moscow State University of Design and Technology Dmitry Savchenko, Deputy Head of the Children's Goods Industry Department at the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade Alexandra Ryabova, Head of the Analytical Group of RBC Market Research Sergey Khitrov, Coordinator of the Project "Time to Give Birth" and Chairperson of the Council of Mothers Tatiana Butskaya, Executive Director of the National Parent Association for the Social Support of Families and the Protection of Family Values Larisa Sanatovskaya, General Director at the Russian Tanning and Shoes Union Alexandra Andrunakievich, Head of the Provision of General Education of the Voronezh Region Department of Education, Science and Youth Policy Oksana Kuznetsova, Executive Director at the Russian Animated Film Association, Member of the Public Council of the Russian Ministry of Culture Irina Mastusova, CEO at b4r Group Denis Kulakov, CEO at Ariadna-96 OOO Tatiana Kabargina, and other experts.

According to Alexandra Ryabova, Deputy Head of the Children's Goods Industry Department at the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, the year 2020 has seen major changes in all areas of the pandemic economy, affecting the production of children's goods as well. But it has been possible to prevent a shortage of children's goods on shop shelves. Exports of children's goods continued to grow, which shows that Russian products are in demand and highly competitive. Head of the Analytical Group of RBC Market Research Sergey Khitrov gave a presentation on online trade in children's goods in the COVID-19 pandemic. The range, quality and preferences of Russian-made children's clothing and footwear buyers and the results of consumer surveys were discussed by Tatiana Butskaya, Coordinator of the Project "Time to Give Birth" and Chair of the Council of Mothers. The participants of the plenary session also discussed trends in children's fashion, specifics of school uniform tailoring, changes in demand in different price segments of children's clothing and footwear, and other issues of concern to manufacturers and consumers.   

Tatiana Butskaya, Coordinator of the Project "Time to Give Birth" and Chair of the Council of Mothers

“Finally the event was held offline. We are happy to meet the organisers, manufacturers and experts. Offline gives you a sense of a dialogue which can hardly be reached online.”

The participants made many proposals. The plenary session will result in a resolution which will then be forwarded to the relevant authorities.

You can watch the plenary session 

The two-day forum included the panel on the opportunities for cooperation in the textile and garment industry within the Eurasian Economic Union and with third countries. Promising areas (watch it), the practical seminar on the changes in certification and declaration (watch it), the workshop on labelling: experiences and practical recommendations (watch it), and the workshop on decorating and digital printing on clothes and cutouts. Correcting mistakes. (watch it).

During the panel on the opportunities for cooperation in the textile and garment industry within the Eurasian Economic Union and with third countries. Promising areas, the Mir Detstva and CJF – Child and Junior Fashion international exhibitions were presented to the EEU professional business community as universal marketing tools for the children’s industry recovery.

The preliminary figures show that the CJF Forum on Clothes and Footwear for Children and Teenagers: the Present and the Future welcomed about 600 professionals not only from all regions of Russia but also Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

The event programme was continued by the Conference ‘The Results of the Russian Nationwide Action “Save a Child”.  It was organised by the Council of Mothers Russian Public Organisation with participation of the Federal Technical Regulation and Metrology Agency (Rosstandart), the Main Directorate for Road Safety of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Russian Quality System (Roskachestvo), the Clinical Hospital MD Group (Mother & Child Group), the Association of Manufacturers and Consumers of Goods and Services for Children “Parents’ Choice”, and with media support of EXPOCENTRE AO. The participants discussed the problems related to transporting children in vehicles. The aim of the Save a Child is to identify companies selling child safety restraints called seatbelt adjusters (or so called triangles). The use of such products when transporting children in a vehicle poses a potential threat to their life and health. 

Tatiana Butskaya, Coordinator at the Project “Time to Give Birth”, Chair of the Board of the Council of Mothers Russian Public Organisation, opened the event and pointed out that it was too early to sum up the results of the Save a Child action, but it was safe to say how the campaign was progressing and what problems were arising.

Elena Shadrina, coordinator of the Council of Mothers, talked about the reasons why customers still continued to buy these devices and the results of the Council of Mothers' work in 2020. "As a result of the campaign, the Council of Mothers volunteers identified 190 shops selling “dangerous triangles”, 8 federal districts of the Russian Federation were checked and more than 50,000 people took part in the campaign. Information on shops that, despite warnings from the Council of Mothers, continue to sell “dangerous triangles” is posted on a Wall of Shame on the project’s website,” said Elena Shadrina. 

Aleksey Kuleshov, Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology (Rosstandart), stressed the importance of informing buyers about the danger to which children may be exposed when using "dangerous triangles" in the car and supported an initiative to publicly condemn those shops that continued to sell these devices.   

Elena Sarattseva, Deputy Head of Roskachestvo, said that in 2021 Roskachevo would monitor the sale of banned car components in retail chains and monitor the use of banned car components in taxis. This topic will also be on the agenda of the State Commission (at the initiative of Rosstandart).

Sergey Khrantzkevich, Deputy Head of the Road Safety Promotion Department of the Main Directorate for Road Safety of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, talked about accident statistics and stressed that “identifying and removing dangerous child restraints from online and retail sale is a very important mission and a major contribution to road safety.”

The discussion was continued by Orthopaedic Doctor of the Clinical Hospital MD Group (Mother & Child Group) Vardan Khalafyan and Head of the Central Interregional Territorial Department of the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology Marina Kalinnikova.

The meeting participants unanimously agreed to continue to actively inform the parent community, drivers, carriers, taxi aggregators and retailers of the dangers posed by dangerous seatbelt adjustors when used to transport children in cars. 

At the end of the conference, the participants were presented with certificates of acknowledgement from EXPOCENTRE AO.

Elena Sarattseva, Deputy Head of Roskachestvo

“We are very pleased that we have reopened trade shows and congresses after a long break. Combining offline and online formats will enable us to attract more participants and listeners.”

The 21st Trade Forum ‘The Children’s Market in the Times of Covid-19’ was organised by Imperia KVK with support of EXPOCENTRE AO on February 24. The industry’s specialists gave an overview of the pandemic-distorted children's goods market. They talked about new trends and consumer preferences inherited from 2020. They gave an answer to what retailers are staking on in the crisis year of 2021 and what goods suppliers are waiting for in the first place. In addition, they talked about typical mistakes made by suppliers when entering retail chains. 

The Focus Session on Online as a Lifeline During a Pandemic Bump: How to Pump up Online Sales of Children's Goods and Not be Afraid of New Waves was dedicated to working with bloggers. The forum participants discussed how a small supplier of children's goods can find ambassadors to cooperate profitably, how to promote and sell a children's brand on Instagram, VKontakte and Facebook, and how to make social media a powerful sales channel. 

The second part of the forum was dedicated directly to negotiations between suppliers and retail chain buyers for supply of children's goods. More than 20 representatives of 15 retail chains and online retailers came to Purchasing Centre for Retail Chains™ at CJF – Child and Junior Fashion 2021 to update the range of their stores. 

The Workshop on a Marketing Strategy for 2021. How to Develop a Plan to Increase Sales by 25% for the Season and Put It into Practice as Efficiently as Possible was organised on February 24 by the Fashion Marketing Academy and EXPOCENTRE AO. Irina Pischuk, Head of the Academy of Fashion Marketing, told the participants about applied marketing tasks which allow to build step-by-step a basic marketing system in an operating business or a starting-up project. Marketing, she said, operates with numbers and makes it possible to forecast sales growth over a certain period of time in specific percentages.

The traditional Trend Tour around CJF – Child and Junior Fashion 2021. Spring was guided by Astanda Chegia, fashion and style expert, image maker of Shopping Live, graduate from the European Image Academy and the Art in Style international image school, practicing image consultant, image coach, and coach of retail staff of Practical Fashion Solution. During the event, the participants used examples of collections of children's clothes and shoes presented by exhibitors to learn how to tailor the shop's range to the target audience, who to sell to, and how to choose the right product.

The last day of the 25th edition of CJF – Child and Junior Fashion featured a Workshop on Incentive Program for Sales Staff in an Effective Fashion Business. It was organised by the Online Fashion Advisers School and EXPOCENTRE AO. Maria Gerasimenko, expert in strategic management of the fashion business, founder of Fashion Advisers and the Online Fashion Advisers School, gave a presentation on key motivational tools for dramatically changing the attitude of salespeople towards their work and noticeably increasing sales. The expert recommended paying considerable attention to non-material motivation of salespeople, using socio-psychological techniques, creativity and free/work time balance. Competitions among employees, daily morning motivational meetings and more were suggested among the most popular and effective methods. 

The presentation area had a daily broadcast of the CJF. Catwalk Online with fashion shows of clothes, shoes and accessories for children and teenagers from the exhibitors of CJF – Child and Junior Fashion. Spring. 

Exhibitor and visitor feedback about CJF – Child and Junior Fashion 2021. Spring:

Tatiana Ogorodnikova, StepheleBeart (exhibitor), “We’ve been coming to this show for five years. We did not have any concerns. We were looking forward to it, and we are now happy to see our clients face to face.” 

Dina Ismalova, Russian representative of LOSAN (exhibitor), “Despite the unusually cold weather, we have met a great number of our clients who have come from even the farthest corners of this country.”   

Elena, self-employed, Primorsky Krai (visitor), “The show took place right on time. It is very good that it was allowed to take place. I was able to complete all the tasks in one day, concluded some contracts, and selected some products. I am already waiting for the invoices in the near future." 

Tatiana Kirushina, owner of an online store (visitor), “We have found new suppliers, who are new Russian manufacturers. We can’t be happier about it. Thanks to the show, we have added some new brands to our portfolio.”

Nadezhda, children’s clothing store, Tyumen (visitor), “Offline stay relevant both at shows and in sales. It is very important for me to see the goods, to evaluate them. It is also very important to have face-to face time with suppliers.”

Marina, retail store, Vladivostok (visitor), “It is absolutely safe and comfortable at the show. It is also very well thought out and locations are very convenient. It is very important for us to personally see all the fabrics, especially those for children. It is our second day here but we still haven’t had all meetings that we planned.” 

Lidia Sidorenko, CEO, Desty (exhibitor), “Despite a very difficult year, we have come to a decision to take part in the show. First of all, it was a wish of our customers. Secondly, the presence at the show is a confirmation that the brand is alive, that it is working and developing.” 

EXPOCENTRE would like to express special gratitude to all exhibitors and participants in supporting events, as well as the exhibition’s General Internet Partner – RDT-INFO.RU and all media partners for their support. 

We are looking forward to seeing you at the 26th International Exhibition, CJF – Child and Junior Fashion 2021. Autumn, at EXPOCENTRE Fairgrounds on 21–24 September 2021. It will be held concurrently with the 26th edition of the Mir Detstva International Exhibition. 

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Press Service, EXPOCENTRE AO