First of all, stop focusing on awards, recognitions, runway shows and the famous "visibility". Your main objective is one: generate revenue.
As an emerging fashion brand operating in a hyper-competitive global landscape, your survival depends on a clear strategy, smart brand positioning and an understanding of how fashion distribution and fashion buyers actually work. Full stop. Everything else may feel nice and boost your ego, but it does not pay suppliers, taxes, employees or partners. Visibility is not a valid currency.
Avoid blindly following what everyone else is doing. In the fashion industry, especially for emerging fashion brands, this is one of the fastest ways to disappear in the noise. Smart market entry, clear positioning and choosing the right geography matter more than ever. What everyone else is doing. Just because most brands sell in Europe does not mean it is the right direction for you. In fact, France, Italy, Spain and Germany are often the worst markets for an emerging brand.
Look around: millions of brands are fighting for a tiny corner at La Rinascente, Selfridges, Galeries Lafayette or any concept store willing to consider new names.
Do you know the Blue Ocean theory? If not, study it before continuing, because it can genuinely shift your perspective. It is a concept I personally applied in my work: the Red Ocean represents saturated markets, full of competitors fighting over the same customers and opportunities. The Blue Ocean is the unexplored space, where you can create value without price wars or fighting for visibility. Understanding this difference is one of the most important steps for any emerging brand.
Starting with generic lines like "my products are for a confident, sophisticated, independent woman" places you in the same box as millions of other brands. And emerging brands, more than anyone else, must avoid this trap. You don’t have the budget to create full collections like established brands, nor do you have enough past seasons to build credibility solely through product.
This is why your storytelling needs to be authentic, personal and different from everything else out there. Share your struggles, why you started, what drives you. In the end, the key question is: what truly sets you apart?
If you begin assuming you are special by default, you are already creating unnecessary distance between you and those who should believe in your project. Believing in your value is fundamental, but flaunting it is counterproductive.
The "I know everything" attitude is one of the most disliked in the sector because it signals a lack of openness and an inability to listen. Professionals notice it instantly: in your emails, your messages, the way you present your collection or respond to feedback. And just like with unpleasant smells, they prefer to stay far away.
Here is a simple truth: those who are truly competent rarely need to prove it. Operational humility (the ability to listen to a buyer, accept criticism, adapt a proposal) is a massive competitive advantage for an emerging brand. The companies that grow the fastest are not the ones who talk the most, but the ones who sit at the table and understand what the market really needs.
And arrogance strips away one of the most powerful assets an emerging brand has: likability. When you are new, small or growing, you can win people over with your energy, your availability and your willingness to learn. If you turn this into arrogance, you burn one of the few truly strong cards you have in the early stages.
The product is only one part of the equation. What really makes a difference is the service. That means:
punctual and well-handled shipments
ongoing support for the buyer
smart stock management
fast replenishment
availability for events, launches, meetings
flexibility in payments and collaboration models
Service builds loyalty. Product alone does not.
There is the right buyer. The one who believes in your brand, pushes it, talks about it and guarantees you stable revenue for years. Seen this way, the buyer’s size becomes irrelevant. Even more so because test orders are almost always the same quantities, whether it’s the boutique down the street or Galeries Lafayette.
If you need to work within budget constraints, do it with surgical precision. Every choice must have a clear purpose and produce a measurable return. Emerging brands have no margin for error: every euro must generate something real.
This means you cannot afford activities done out of trend, imitation or because you want to feel “part of the scene”. You must invest only in what gets you in front of the right buyers, builds real sales or opens a door to a market.
And you must avoid the most common trap: scattering your budget across dozens of disconnected micro-actions. Those with limited resources must adopt a simple but solid strategy. Choose one direction, one geography, one customer type. Better to do one thing well than ten poorly.
Remember a golden rule: when you have little budget, your greatest weapon is focus. Those who focus win. Those who try to do everything, with little, go nowhere.
Many brands tell me, "I came without expectations, it was my first time".
Wrong!
You must always have clear KPIs. Not necessarily orders, but contacts, feedback, new markets, benchmarks. Without goals, a trade show only wastes your time and money.
You may not have sold anything, it happens often, but there are always positive outcomes for those who have a clear strategy and backup plans B, C and D. These could be:
understanding the market better
building contacts for future seasons
creating synergies with other exhibiting brands
All these actions can generate long-term value. Even if a buyer didn’t place an order this season, it doesn’t mean they never will. If you got the contact, now you can use it.
Don’t fly across the world to attend a show just because your government financed part of your booth. It’s not a gift. It’s an investment you still need to make sustainable.
Many emerging brands mistake reimbursements or grants as a green light to jump anywhere. But a trade show without continuity is just an expensive holiday.
Before deciding, ask yourself:
is this market truly aligned with my product, or am I going just because “everyone goes”?
do I have a local partner who can support me after the show, or will I be completely alone once it ends?
are my prices, positioning and products compatible with that market?
can I afford a second, third or fourth visit in the next months or years, or will this be a “one-shot” operation doomed to die there?
99% of brands cannot build continuity without someone on the ground. I have seen it dozens of times. The result? Wasted contacts. Interested buyers who are never followed up. Potential partnerships that die after the first email. All the work of the fair evaporates within two weeks.
Trade shows are not meant to test a market for your emerging fashion brand. They are meant to capitalize on work that must already be happening: analysis, positioning, early contacts, at least one local partner ready to welcome your presence.
If you arrive in a market without foundations, the trade show won’t build them for you. It will expose the gap.
And if you don’t have the structure, save your money and your frustration. A show without strategy does not help you grow — it can actually damage you. It sends signals of improvisation, misalignment and lack of readiness to work seriously with buyers.
A fashion fair should be done only when you can sustain it before, during and after, especially if you aim to attract serious fashion buyers and build long-term distribution channels. Everything else is just noise.