From October 10 to 13, the International Exhibition of Light and Textile Industry "Fashion Industry" was held – the only industry exhibition in the North-West region. The exhibition was held in a new format exclusively for the business audience and was held for the first time at the EXPOFORUM Exhibition Center, which is deservedly called the most modern exhibition venue in Europe. 

The entire area of the exhibition was divided into two zones: the Bayerskaya and the fashion show. In the first part, the stands of the participants of the exhibition were located, where new collections were presented. In the new format of the exhibition, these were selected enterprises of the textile industry of the region and foreign brands. Buyers of retail chains and store owners were able to evaluate collections of brands and trademarks, among which were Pskov sewing factory "Slavyanka", the company "TRUD" (St. Petersburg), the company "ELNI" (St. Petersburg), the St. Petersburg Fashion House "Stranger",Gerry Ross (Republic of Belarus)and many others. New companies were also presented at the exhibition: Xenia Design Fashion Group (Croatia), Complices (France), LM GmbH (Germany), SODA (Russia), Kariant (Russia).

The business program of the exhibition was also organized in a new format. In the space of the Buyer Consult Workshop, master classes of industry experts were held. This season they were more like round tables or a platform for exchanging opinions. All participants of the seminars were involved in the process of discussing the problem, asked questions and, together with experts, found solutions to pressing problems. 

 Arsen Ohanyan, owner and director of the boutique M63, spoke about the labeling of goods, delivery and transportation of light industry goods. The executive director of the group of companies SODA shared her vision of the features of working with different suppliers themselves, the experience of managing a store and a look at modern methods of promotionYana Zavyalova, who has more than 17 years of experience in the fashion business. How not to get lost in retail online was told by stylist, TV presenter of fashion programs and ex-director of the company «Vis-a-vis» Svetlana Starostina.After her seminar, she conducted a trend tour of the participants' stands, the purpose of which was to help in the formation of a specific outlet assortment. At the request of the exhibition participants, an unscheduled seminar of the multi-channel fashion platform "Fashion magazin" was held, at which the co-founder and ideologist of the platform Denis Fomin told about the features of wholesale promotion and the work of the wholesale sector on the Internet.

In addition to the expositions of the companies participating in the exhibition and the communication zone, the outsourcing section was presented for the first time for specialists, where enterprises offered their services for sewing clothes to order in small series. It was also possible to see presentations of new projects and business ideas that young entrepreneurs presented at the START-UP site. Special attention was paid to the section POP-UP STORE, where young designers and artisans presented their products.

Traditionally, the exhibition opened with the eventEconomic Forum of the Fashion Industry – The Retail conference solves everything?». Heads of government agencies and trade organizations of the region took part in the discussion. During the live dialogue, the key problems of retail were considered: stimulating demand and retaining sales volumes. 

A large audience of specialists was gathered by the author's seminar by Lyuba Popova "Fashion trends: key trends in fashion for the spring-summer 2019 season", which provided an analysis of the leading fashion trends in men's and women's clothing for the spring-summer season, as well as prospects for trends in color and textiles 2020.

In addition to the main exposition, the three main days of exhibitions were accompanied by runway shows of the collections of clothing and accessories of the participants of the exhibition "Fashion Industry". Buyers were able to evaluate the colors of the autumn-winter 2018/2019 and spring-summer 2019 seasons live, and not on hangers. The shows were attended by leading clothing manufacturers: Sharkan-Knitwear, Trud factory, Fashion House "Stranger", ELNY. No less interesting were the displays of collections of trade brands: Urban Tiger, Lady Charm, TRUVOR, FreeAge, Blueberry Nights, Mari's&#strong>and designer brands: SEDOVA, KOGEL, Fashion House of CLAUDIA SMIRNOVA, OLGA KOLVAKH, Victoria Gaevskaya and Veronica Kalneus. According to the general opinion of experts present at the exhibition, this form of collection displays best shows the models of the collection, helps to check the consumer's reaction to the product and, possibly, make necessary adjustments to the design and cut before launching into mass production.