Highlights from the Paris Trade Shows and Showrooms for Fall 2026

PARIS — In tough times for brands small and large alike, the trade shows and showrooms here during Paris Fashion Week doubled down on boosting excitement, desirability and discovery. Trends gave way to statement pieces and storytelling in a drive to stand out.

“What’s catching my eye is the people who have real skill and a point of view, and that’s not easy to find. I want something with a soul,” said New York-based marketer Justine Potashnik, who is looking to innovate with a new concept for international brands to show in New York this fall, based on the loss of high-end retailers in the city creating a gap in the market and consumer frustration with e-commerce. Founder stories are key, she said. “If I met the person who made it, I’d buy it full price,” she summed up.

Accessories show Première Classe teamed with “Emily in Paris” costume designer Marilyn Fitoussi on a curated space at the entrance. “It was a playground to create my own curiosity cabinet,” Fitoussi told WWD. “When you go to a trade show, you really have to seek things out, this was conceived as a way of making things easier.”

The colorful selection was presented like an art display and without brand labels. “It’s a little bit my purpose in life to [shine a light on] young designers, young brands who maybe do not yet have much visibility, to amplify them and make them shine,” Fitoussi said during a presentation. She addressed brands: “With your heart, your creation, you give the audience the desire to buy new pieces.”

At Tranoï, the Canex space for African designers continued to gain traction and praise for its increasingly elevated offer. There were also new spaces for designers from Hungary in partnership with Budapest Central European Fashion Week and Denim Artistry, with creators from Hong Kong, allowing the show to take a more curated position in denim, chief executive officer Boris Provost explained.

Man / Woman moved premises to a new space near République, and welcomed regulars including Jungmaven and Handvaerk alongside newcomers like Jiwya, from India. Run, hosted by WSN and Andam alongside Première Classe, welcomed 11 brands including Tommazo, from Cyprus; Laformela, which introduced brushed denim and bonded mohair designs, and Rappaz, with an expanded ready-to-wear offer. At the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode’s Sphere showroom at the Palais de Tokyo, Italian brand Act N.1 by Luca Lin, a semifinalist for this year’s LVMH Prize, was among buyer highlights.

There was also a new show in town, The Cut, from London-based Claret Showroom, which also operates growing resort show Splash. Held at the Le Pavillon Elysées Té on the Champs-Élysées, the event centered on contemporary ready-to-wear and accessories. “We wanted to extend what we do with Splash into the contemporary world, and the feedback has been strong,” said director of operations Anna Brown. The event will return for a second edition in October.

With retail in the doldrums, smaller brands continue to seek alternatives like celebrity dressing, storytelling, direct-to-consumer and pop-ups to stand out. Jewelry brand Alt Paris, at Première Classe, which introduced its first diamond pieces ahead of a fine jewelry launch this summer, now has two stand-alone boutiques and opened a corner at Printemps Haussmann in February, with a broader selection than for wholesale. “We’re moving toward a retail model,” said brand founder Théo Jaquet.

For Paris-based hatmaker Anthony Peto, also at Première Classe, “The role of a company like us is to do something different, something that stops you in your tracks,” he said. “The moment you stop doing that, you go out of business.” The brand increasingly does most of its business out of its Paris boutique and online, he said. New designs this season included marabout feather pillbox shapes and colorful Sherlock Holmes caps.

Increasingly, retailers shopping the Paris trade shows are looking for slow fashion and designer stories that spark a conversation. Alby Thomson, owner of Woven Store and Agency in Brighton, U.K., said the retailer has been successful both on Instagram and in its store, which is housed in an art space in a former garage, precisely because of its “unsalesy” approach. “Last year we had an incredible year,” she said.

Highlights From the Paris Trade Shows and Showrooms

Nubu

Category: Ready-to-wear

Showing at: Tranoï

Hungary’s Nubu, founded in 2007, has three flagships and a regular runway show at Budapest Central European Fashion Week, but is only now opening up to international distribution. The brand offers creative yet minimalist layered silhouettes inspired by artists, with subtle design and layering details and a focus on ancestral fabrications, hand dyeing and painting techniques.

Domestic pricing: From 34,900 to 449,500 Hungarian forint ($101 to $1,300 at current exchange)

The Wild

Category: Jewelry

Showing at: Première Classe

Belgian jewelry brand The Wild proposes delicate stackable piercings and rings made from 14-karat gold featuring tiny diamonds and precious stones, crafted in India in a family-owned factory. Entrepreneur Gaëlle Verwest created the brand in 2023 when, faced with increases in raw materials prices, she saw a gap in the market for affordable yet elevated jewelry pieces, which she keeps accessible thanks to their light weight, she explained. Bestsellers include square rings, and the brand was presenting its first designs for men.

Pricing: 190 to 1,250 euros (retail)

Kaai

Category: Leather goods

Showing at: Première Classe

After executive careers in fashion and retail, Ine Verhaert and Helga Meersmans founded their leather-goods label in 2017 based on their frustration with a lack of elegant yet practical business bags for women. Their robust yet stylish designs in Italian leather or suede, available in a range of sizes, colors and surface finishes, have different-sized pockets for everything from a laptop to lipstick, with interiors crafted in blue suede to highlight belongings and avoid dirt. Kaai has two boutiques in its native Belgium and a strong online following Stateside, where it launches with Nordstrom this spring.

Core pricing: 595 to 775 euros (retail)

Cèucle

Category: Ready-to-wear

Showing at: Première Classe

With her Cèucle label, named after the Occitan word for “circle,” designer Auriane Blandin-Gall, a Chambre Syndicale school graduate, sums up her minimalist, subtly asymmetric unisex designs as “vêtements timides,” or “shy clothing.” With inspirations ranging from collage and hip-hop to deconstruction and Japan, the patternmaking specialist works with repurposed materials and local ateliers including social integration workshops, valorizing a closed loop system and connection between different players in the value chain.

Pricing: 200 to 350 euros (retail)

Laruicci

Category: Ready-to-wear and jewelry

Showing at: Run

Best known for her bold jewelry pieces and celebrity dressing, Lauren Laruicci collaborated with Paris-based designer Cem Cinar, who cut his teeth at Rick Owens and Y/Project, for her Paris-based ready-to-wear studio, launched in 2020. The brand’s clothing combines reconstructed tailoring with glam rock attitude, mixing heritage fabrics like Harris tweed with draped velvet and glittering lamé in bold, size-inclusive silhouettes punctuated by metallic hardware details.

Pricing: $60 to $1,550 (retail)

Dye Lab

Category: Ready-to-wear

Showing at: Tranoï

New in the Canex space for African designers at Tranoï was Dye Lab, from Nigeria. The brand’s bright, maximalist universe, which founders Rukky Ladoja and Ozzy Etomi describe as a “culturally curious wardrobe,” is built around hand-dyed fabrics and local, small-batch production. Alongside its cotton caftans, dresses and separates, bestsellers include a twist on traditional bibs that offer an entry-level product to be styled with a range of looks for a contemporary silhouette.

Pricing: From 38 to 245 euros (retail)

Jesse Lee

Category: Denim

Showing at: Tranoï

Hong Kong native Jesse Lee’s time studying in the U.K. provided inspiration for his innovative experimentation with denim. Referencing Mary Anning, one of the first fossil hunters on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, he created textured silhouettes with techniques like needle punching and embroidery details. His fall collection featured a fun tailcoat, designs inspired by Victorian cycling garb, and contemporary silhouettes in fruit-dyed fabrics. Cutouts served to create frayed appliqué details for a zero-waste approach.

Pricing: $279 to $799 (retail)

Kiriko Sato

Category: Hats

Showing at: Tranoï

Originally from Japan, Paris-based Kiriko Sato twists classic forms into subtly quirky headwear, with cloth berets made from deadstock fabrics, felt fedoras and cloche hats with grosgrain ribbon details. The artisan hatmaker, who previously worked in clothing and leather goods, notably alongside Olympia Le-Tan, designs the blocks for her unusually shaped molded designs herself.

Core price range: 130 to 160 euros (wholesale)

Finoacinque

Category: Footwear

Showing at: Tranoï

Inspired by Dadaism and created by a second-generation shoemaker six years ago, this South Korean footwear label cultivates subtle tweaks on classic styles in its minimalist yet playful leather designs, with bestsellers including square-toed shapes or pumps with outsized leather bows. The brand name references the brand’s maximum heel height, 5cm, for enhanced comfort. New this season was a block shape inspired by a ballet pointe.

Average retail price: 400 euros

M/SA

Category: Ready-to-wear

Showing at: Tranoï

M/SA stands for “Makers of Sustainable Aesthetics” and is also a twist on the surname of Sakina M’Sa, the sustainable fashion pioneer behind the brand, which was launching its first wholesale collection. M’Sa works with deadstock fabrics and social insertion workshops helping victims of domestic violence. Her collection referenced a range of artists and creatives, from Yves Saint Laurent to Bridget Riley via the traditional floral prints of the M’Sa’s native Comores. The brand produces only to order to avoid overproduction.

Average wholesale price: 180 euros

Pleatsmama

Category: Bags

Showing at: Tranoï

Pleatsmama works with industrial partners in its native South Korea to recycle plastic bottles, fishing nets and bedding to create its visually striking zero waste bags. Three-dimensional knitting ensures the designs hold their shape over time and that there are no offcuts, while the brand’s yarns are dyed with a water-free technique. Glitter-flecked pieces feature what Pleatsmama claims is the world’s first commercialized 100 percent recycled spandex. Created in 2018, the label has collaborated with a number of leading brands including Olive Young, Innisfree and 10 Corso Como, and is looking to expand international distribution.

Core retail price range: From $50 to $180

Jiamini

Category: Jewelry and accessories

Showing at: Tranoï

With its name meaning “believe in yourself” in Swahili, this jewelry and accessories brand from Kenya is managed by mother-and-son duo Jennifer and Anthony Mulli. They take references like vertebrae, symbolizing strength, as well as an abstract elephant’s head motif, which has become a bestseller since it launched last year, to craft bold jewelry from pure brass plated with 24-karat gold or silver. The brand works with local artisans, with 99 percent female employees — the only male artisan on the team is in charge of the brass casting. Stockists include New York’s Museum of Arts and Design.

Pricing: $75 to $800 (retail)

Queens of Archive

Category: Ready-to-wear

Showing at: The Cut

Queens of Archive was created in 2020 by womenswear designer Nicola Orme, a passionate vintage hunter, and has cultivated a strong celebrity following in its native U.K. for its modernized silhouettes inspired by the ’60s and ’70s. The collection centers on colorful dresses and girly prints, and the brand recently launched its first outerwear, with Alexa Chung and Lily Allen both spotted wearing the designs.

Core price range: 188 to 531 euros (retail)

Talis Chains

Category: Jewelry

Showing at: The Cut

London-based Dee Vesali worked in PR before launching her “lockdown baby” jewelry brand from home. Talis Chains started out as something intended to fill a gap in the market — stylish glasses chains — and has since expanded into a full jewelry line. Designed to be stackable, the pieces feature good luck talismans like clover and fishes made from hand-cut semiprecious stones on 18-karat-plated gold chains.

Core price range: 95 to 230 pounds (retail)

Matho

Category: Knitwear

Showing at: Sphere

Matho, from Ecole Duperré and Institut Français de la Mode graduate Léa Mathonière Fallot, a knitwear specialist, started with a mistake that has become her signature. Her colorful unraveled-looking pieces in organic shapes are the starting point for a full collection centered on knits and reprising yarn motifs with innovative fabrications including 3D printing, laser engraving and spray painting to create trompe-l’oeil effects.

Core price range: 200 to 800 euros (retail)