Childrens fashion trade news statement from Playtime

“PLAYTIME – Press release

We are living in exceptional times – we have never experienced anything like this in the past – and no one is able to say exactly what the results will be. At this point, we know that almost all businesses will suffer from it, that many retailers will have to face at least two months without business, and that some brands will not be paid for deliveries already made, nor will they be able to pay their suppliers.

It is evident from this point on that almost all the sectors of the economy will be impacted.

Numerous brands have already signed up for the next edition of our trade shows. However, we have decided after much deliberating, that in good conscience, we cannot accept that a business would profit from the losses being felt by everyone else as we suffer through these exceptional times.

Playtime is a small family business that has always been devoted to all the individuals in this profession, and a small business has a soul! Perhaps this is the time to reach out even further to each other and engage in a new type of relationship in which we don’t just work as individual entities, but rather all together as parts of a whole.

For all these reasons, we have decided to conduct ourselves this season as a non-profit business.

We are making this choice so that everyone can survive through this period and we will continue to support it until the economy is stable again. We are aware that this is placing us at risk, but aren’t we all at risk at the moment?! Let us act together and refuse the “survival mode” that pushes people to grab all the pasta from the shelves in the supermarket in order to survive alone!

Specifically, we are doing the following:

1. A discount of 20-25% on all booths in Playtime Paris and New York* (for Shanghai, we are working on a financial help for international exhibitors who must travel)

2. A discount of 50% for a subscription to the Playtime digital platform (https://www.iloveplaytime.com/join-us/marketplace)

3. A redirection of ALL our financial efforts, before, during, and after the shows, to the promotion of your brand as well as your products sold on the platform.

We also are negotiating for lower prices from our suppliers at the shows for their additional services. We can’t speak for them but we will keep you informed as we continue to negotiate.

It is essential that the economy continues to function and that you have a presence both at the shows AND on the digital platform. Today we can tell you with assurance that we have one of the highest performing platforms in the world on which to send and receive your orders, and to increase the visibility of your brand throughout the year.

We are determined to do our part and hope that you will all work with us to maintain this industry in a truly “collective survival mode”.

If you have any ideas that you wish to share with us, don’t hesitate!

Don’t hesitate also to share this information with your colleagues.

We are thinking of each of you and, after the isolation that we are all experiencing now, we are very much looking forward to seeing you again this summer!

Sébastien de Hutten, CEO

Chantal Danguillaume, Event Director