Pure London Announces Empowering Change Theme and Keynote Speakers

Pure London, the UK’s leading trade fashion buying event taking place on 17th – 19th July 2022 at the iconic Olympia London, has announced that ‘Empowering Change’ is the overarching theme for the show, and reveals two exciting retail industry legends as keynote speakers; Ed Burstell and Alan O’Neill will bring their retail leadership and international experience in fashion to the Pure London audience.

On Monday 18th July, the flamboyant and seasoned retail executive Ed Burstell will discuss fashion expansion, growth and bounce back. His adept leadership of Liberty during his near decade at the department store saw double-digit year-on-year growth driven by a renewed focus on young British designers like Mary Katrantzou and Peter Pilotto, as well as spearheading a host of collaborations with brands like Nike, Barbour, and Levi’s, to highlight Liberty’s renowned floral prints. In 2015, Burstell released his autobiography ‘At Liberty: From Rehab To The Front Row’. The tell-all book recounted his personal experiences with loss, tragedy and hedonism alongside his longstanding career in America's retail landscape.

Alan O’Neill, managing director of Kara and the man who has helped Selfridges, Fenwick, Primark, Ann Summers, and Harrods thrive, takes to the stage on Sunday 17th July to share his experiences of supporting these iconic brands to grow their physical store sales. Talking to the Hyve content team this week he said: “This is an exciting time for the live fashion events industry - there is an upbeat mood around returning to the live events and I look forward to speaking to UK fashion retail at Pure London about changes in the retail sector and customer behaviour.”

This year’s editorial theme at Pure London is ‘Empowering Change’. In a time when staying the same means you are moving backwards, expecting different results from the same tactics doesn’t make sense. But, change for most is uncomfortable, change means risk, but change can also be challenging and in the current climate it is necessary. The editorially led content programme delivered both onsite at Pure London and via its digital channels, will be full of insight, newness and trends - all designed to help retailers see change in its most positive form.

The three pillars of content which visitors will discover include ‘Sustainability and Circular Economy’, offering insights into where wins are being made, a deep delve into the circular economy, its principles and why they are so important, responsible and ethical sourcing and how it should be just the standard way of doing business. ‘Technology and Process’ looks at how technology can make a difference and opportunities the lie in innovations in product design. The third pillar tackles ‘Mindset’ – why is change taking so long and what is stopping people?

Roseanna King, Senior Content Producer, Hyve Group plc, says; “Resilient fashion retailers are turning a corner and keen to grow their businesses once again. In spite of rising costs, delivery challenges and fallout from the unstable environment, retailers have the appetite to rebuild back a better business. Growth is taking place in various forms: from developing an online presence or developing the shopping experience of an existing one, to recruiting new job titles for new areas of business, and expansion of product ranges to 'ethical growth' - where retailers aspire to grow a more sustainable business, by making changes to the supply chain. Covid has stress tested the operations of business, and retailers are now embracing new things as they seek to be enlightened - from new tech to streamline processes to opening up to new buying options. There is so much to discuss and Pure London in July aims to deliver so many insightful conversations as it tackles all of the above across the three days.”

Visitors to Pure London will also discover a new floorplan edit with five destinations: Womenswear, Footwear, Accessories and Pure Jewel with Design Lab across these destination areas showing the newest and most innovative collections, and Pure Origin.  A host of brands will showcase their Spring/Summer 23 Collections including One Hundred Stars, Brodie Cashmere, Onjenu, Lily & Me, My Doris, Meraki Beach, Bl^nk, Jayley, Alpe, Sonatachic, Joko Edu, ArtLove, Vilagallo, Envy Jewellery, ShanShan, Tale The Label, Italian Closet, Asiana, and so many more.

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