Jason Denham, CEO Denham the Jeanmaker
Today is the second day of Bread & Butter trade fair. What’s your impression so far?
„We had a fantastic day yesterday. The show is great on a very international level. Of course the local customers – which is our priority here when we're in Berlin – are very important and that was very good. But from an international point of view we had great appointments with our best customers in Japan, in Korea, generally from Asia. That was great. And I think the energy and positivity is higher than people anticipated.
There have been a lot of question marks recently about trade shows and about Berlin, but we saw a lot of very positive people yesterday who were surprised at the good energy and the good activity and the fresh ideas and changes which are coming up for the shows and for the city. I’m very proud that we are here in Berlin. I think it is an amazing city. Every time I come here I find new treasures. Every time I walk around a new corner I see a new cool building or a new cool store or I see cool street art. It is an amazing city with great energy and young creativity which I’m a big fan of. That’s why I really believe in Berlin’s future as fashion capital because it has so much to offer as a city. It is a cool place.
And last night we opened a pop-up store in Berlin Mitte. We did a pop-up cinema. So we had a great event with a lot of cool movers and shakers. There was a lot of fun. Day one was very good, we are very happy.“
What do you think about Karl-Heinz Müller’s new plans – opening the trade fair to the public?
„I’m a big fan of it. I really believe in progress and I think Karl-Heinz was radical in the past when he changed the concept of trade shows from the old days of Inter-Jeans and how it used to be and he transformed them with different ways of thinking. He was brave when he took it to Barcelona. And I think he was even smarter when he brought it back to Berlin. But I think it is good that we get the end consumer involved. Because that’s the most important customer in the end. That is what it is all about. And I think for brands to engage with the end consumer is an important thing. And what I love about the coolest fairs in the world is: fashion needs this. If you think about the Milan furniture fair or Art Basel, 70 percent of the visitors are real people there and I think Berlin to be a cool place to do that. So I’m very positive about the new plans.“
Thank you for talking to us. 
