Exhibition organiser Haymarket Exhibitions claims to have seen a nine per cent rise in visitor numbers year-on-year (pre-ABC audited) for its Clothes Show Live consumer show at The NEC in Birmingham.

According to the organiser, paid visitor numbers rose to 149,000 from 137,670 in 2009.
 
“Come snow or ice, shoppers came for their fix of fashion and beauty,” says show MD, Gavin Brown. “We had over 149,000 visitors who braved the terrible weather to make it to this years’ Clothes Show Live.”

Held from 3-8 December, the 22nd edition of Clothes Show live claims to be one of the UK’s largest fashion and beauty events with six days of fashion, beauty brands, musical performances and dance and catwalk shows.

Haymarket launched a new area at this year’s show, The Sknitch Zone, which included exhibitors themed around sewing, knitting, needlework and stitching. Exhibitors at the Sknitch Zone included Clothkits, Janome, Tigerlily Makes, and Josy Rose, who displayed their products for the first time.

Haymarket also co-located its inaugural The Dance Show consumer exhibition with Clothes Show Live at The NEC, 3-5 December.  Dance act Flawless took centre stage alongside performances from So You Think You Can Dance and Britain’s Got Talent contestants.

One exhibitor, Lee Stafford, claims he sold fives times more stock than last year, and fake fur coat brand Furnatic sold a record number of fake fur coats and hats.

Presenting from Friday to Sunday in the Fashion Theatre, TV presenter and fashion expert Gok Wan introduced musical performances including boy band Inju5tice and X-Factor finalist Lucie Jones.

Clothes Show Live will return to Birmingham’s NEC from the 2-7 December 2011. The Dance Show will return to The NEC from the 2-4 December 2011.