Who's Next Paris: why it's the best B2B trade show for a fashion brand

If you want European buyers to write you a wholesale order, you have to stand where they walk. For contemporary fashion and lifestyle, that floor is Who's Next in Paris.

It's the show we send most of our brands to first, and it's the one I'd point to if someone asked where a serious label should start in Europe. Here's what it is, who actually attends, what it can do for your order book, and the honest version of who it suits.

What Who's Next is

Who's Next is the leading B2B fashion and lifestyle trade show in Europe. It's run by the WSN Group and has been going since 1994 (WSN). It takes over the Parc des Expositions at Porte de Versailles in Paris twice a year, in September and January.

The next two editions are 5 to 7 September 2026 and 16 to 18 January 2027 (WSN visit page). The September edition sets the spring-summer buy; January sets autumn-winter. Two windows a year, lined up with how European retailers actually budget.

The numbers that matter

Trade shows live or die on who walks in. Who's Next brings the right traffic.

• Around 38,000 visitors per edition, and 70% of them are buyers from retailers, multi-brand stores, department stores and e-commerce.
• About 1,200 exhibiting brands, French and international, across ready-to-wear, accessories and lifestyle.
• Buyers from 125+ countries, so a single stand puts you in front of markets you'd spend years reaching one by one.

Those figures come straight from the organiser and from the show page we run for it (WSN, Expo Connexion). The point isn't the size. It's the ratio. Seven in ten visitors are there to buy, not to browse.

Who actually walks the floor

This is where the show earns its name. WSN publishes the buyers who come, and the list reads like a map of global retail (WSN):

• Galeries Lafayette and Le Bon Marché in Paris.
• Selfridges, Fenwick and Fortnum & Mason in the UK.
• Bloomingdale's and Anthropologie / Urban Outfitters in the US.
• Isetan, Takashimaya and United Arrows in Japan; Lane Crawford in Hong Kong.
• El Corte Inglés in Spain, Beymen in Turkey, plus e-commerce names like Zalando and Smallable.

You won't meet all of them. But you only need a handful of the right ones to change a season. That's the bet a stand at Who's Next is really making.

It helps that the show sits in Paris during the trade-show season, when buyers are already in town to write their budgets. They're not making a special trip to see you. They're a few aisles away, in buying mode, with the order pad open. That's the difference between a show buyers attend and a show buyers buy at.

What sets Who's Next apart

Plenty of cities run fashion trade shows. What's rare is the combination Who's Next puts in one place.

It's in Paris, the wholesale capital, during the season when buyers are already in town with budgets open. It's big enough to pull global retail, 38,000 visitors and buyers from 125+ countries, and curated enough that those buyers still find their category fast. And it doesn't stop at clothing. Fashion, accessories, footwear, beauty and lifestyle sit together, with jewellery and home a few halls away. One trip covers a whole market, twice a year, on a calendar that matches how Europe actually buys.

Scale, curation, location and timing. Most shows give you one or two of those. Who's Next lines up all four, which is what makes it hard to replace and the reason it's the room we point brands to first.

What you can show

The floor is built in clear zones so buyers find their category fast. Ready-to-wear, accessories, footwear, jewellery, bags and leather goods, contemporary fashion, designer collections, streetwear, beauty and lifestyle (categories here). Whatever corner you sit in, there's a part of the show built for it, which means the buyers walking your aisle came looking for what you make.

It's more than booths

Alongside the 1,200 brands, Who's Next runs conferences, masterclasses, workshops and trend forums. You go to sell, and you leave knowing where the next season is heading.

It also sits inside a cluster of WSN shows, so one trip covers more ground. Bijorhca for jewellery and Interfilière Paris run alongside it, with Shoppe Object Paris for home and gift. There's a dedicated sustainable-fashion space too, IMPACT and Neonyt Paris, if that's your story. The synergy is the point: more buyers, more reasons for them to stay on site.

September or January?

Both editions are strong. The difference is timing.

September is the bigger, busier edition and sets the spring-summer buy. If you're launching in Europe, that's usually where to start. January sets autumn-winter and runs a touch calmer, which can suit a first-timer who wants more time with each buyer. We'll tell you which fits your collection and your readiness, not just which is sooner.

What a stand can actually do

A booth at Who's Next isn't an ad. It does three jobs at once.

First, orders. The buyers who stop at your stand can place wholesale orders during the show or in the weeks right after. That's the headline, and it's the reason to be there.

Second, agents and distributors. Plenty of brands leave with a European agent who carries the line into accounts you'd never open on your own. One good agent can be worth more than the show itself.

Third, market intel. You learn fast what European buyers want from a brand like yours: the price points, the colours, the minimums, the deliveries. A season of that feedback pays for the trip even before the orders land.

How to make Who's Next pay off

The brands that come back happy tend to do the same things before they arrive:

• Bring a tight, edited collection, not the whole catalogue. A clear point of view reads faster than a wall of product.
• Price it for Europe before you land, so you can answer a buyer with one number, not a maybe.
• Have your linesheet, minimums and delivery dates ready. Buyers decide in minutes and want the terms clean.
• Book meetings ahead. Don't wait for footfall, invite the accounts you actually want.
• Follow up within a week. The order often closes after the show, not on the floor.

None of it is glamorous. All of it separates a stand that pays for itself from one that doesn't.

The honest part: it's the best show only if you're ready for it

Who's Next is the right room. It isn't a magic one.

A stand only pays off if your product is built for European wholesale. That means pricing that survives the markup a European retailer puts on top, a collection that's coherent enough to buy in a line, and the basics in place: a linesheet, order minimums, delivery dates you can hold. Buyers at this level decide fast. If the product or the pricing isn't ready, the traffic won't save it.

So it isn't for everyone, and it isn't for the brand chasing a photo. There are paid “Paris Fashion Week” side events where no buyers show up. Who's Next is the opposite: a working floor where the buying actually happens. We'd rather tell you to wait a season and come back ready than sell you a booth you can't convert.

A price break for young brands

Worth knowing if you're early: Who's Next backs young designers. Brands less than three years old can access preferential pricing on a stand, which lowers the cost of a first season at exactly the point most labels feel it.

The exact terms shift from one edition to the next, so they're not a fixed list. If your brand is under three years old, contact us and we'll tell you the current rate and whether you qualify.

How to get a stand

Brands don't apply to Who's Next in a vacuum. As the show's agent for India, we assess your collection, recommend the right zone, and handle the application and booth booking directly with the organiser (apply here). You get a read on fit before you spend, and a hand through the parts that trip up first-timers.

If your line leans into accessories or curated ready-to-wear, Première Classe during Paris Fashion Week may be the better room, and we'll say so. And if you're still building your credibility base at home, start with our piece on FDCI membership first.

If your collection is wholesale-ready and priced for Europe, Who's Next is the most direct route to buyers I know. The September floor is the one to aim for.

Tell us about your brand and we'll tell you straight whether it's a fit, and which edition. Start your application, or book a 30-minute call.