Businesses from across the South West are preparing to showcase their products to thousands of retailers when Autumn Fair returns to the NEC Birmingham next month.
Almost 40 businesses from Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire will be represented at the major retail event, which runs from 6 to 9 September.
The exhibitors cover everything from gifts and jewellery to fashion, fragrance, homewares and lifestyle products, with sustainability, craftsmanship and provenance featuring strongly across many of the collections.
Among the businesses heading to Birmingham are several from Wiltshire and Swindon.
Royal Wootton Bassett-based Jess & Lou will showcase accessories and jewellery, including bamboo and wool-blend socks, hats, gloves, scarves and slippers alongside gold and silver-plated jewellery.
The business, named after mother and daughter Jessie and Louise, has grown over the past decade while retaining its emphasis on personal service and affordable luxury.
Swindon-based Oak & Willow Designs will also be represented, bringing gift products designed around the emotion of giving. Its range includes pieces presented in glass containers containing colourful wildflowers grown from seed paper.
Meanwhile, Trowbridge-based Heaven Scent will bring more than three decades of experience in natural fragrance to the event. The company produced its first natural plant-wax candle in 1993 and now uses plant-based, renewable and biodegradable wax, vegan ingredients and cotton wicks.
The business also supports tree-planting charities and uses renewable energy at its UK factory.
The wider South West contingent includes a mixture of long-established family businesses and newer companies with sustainability at the heart of their products.
Devon company adhock has turned discarded wine bottles into hand-cut candles filled with natural soy wax. Everything is handmade in Devon and plastic-free, with the range also including refillable tealights, wax melts and reed diffusers.
Cornwall’s Sea Gems will mark more than 40 years of family-run jewellery design with new silver, enamel and gift collections inspired by the county’s landscape, wildlife and Celtic heritage.
Another Cornish business, Puckator, began as a small family-run wholesale gift company in South East Cornwall in 1990. It has since grown into an international supplier, exporting to more than 30 countries and developing hundreds of products each year.
The company will use Autumn Fair to introduce new collections and licensed products, alongside its Relaxeazzz travel pillow range.
There will also be plenty of family business heritage on display.
North Cornwall company CGB Giftware has been serving the trade since 1967 and now offers more than 2,500 products across 60 collections.
Powell Craft, meanwhile, has been supplying clothing, nightwear, toys, gifts and homewares since 1962. The family business has retained long-standing relationships with manufacturing partners in India while also working to reduce its environmental impact.
Fashion will be represented by Weird Fish, which began in Cornwall in 1993 and has built its identity around distinctive, practical clothing inspired by an active outdoor lifestyle.
Launceston-based Nomads takes a more ethical approach to fashion, using natural fibres and GOTS-certified organic cotton, alongside Azo-free dyes and biodegradable, plastic-free packaging.
From Dorset, Reeves & Reeves will showcase jewellery and gifts inspired by the countryside around its home at a converted blacksmith’s forge at Forde Abbey.
Home and interiors will also have a strong South West presence.
Somerset-based Forever England will introduce new Soho, Waffle and Heritage Loom throws and cushions, as well as vintage table linens.
Jarapa, also from Somerset, will bring recycled glassware, lighting and ceramics, including new lampshade designs. The family business has worked with artisans and family-owned factories in Spain and Morocco for more than 20 years, while its recycled glass lamps are assembled at its Somerset workshop.
Cheltenham-based La De Da Living will showcase its handmade gifting range, including its popular Pebble Art collection and personalised products.
In Somerset, Blue Lily will present its boxed sterling silver jewellery alongside a new silver-plated range and a compact fashion jewellery collection aimed at retailers with limited counter space.
Autumn Fair Event Director Matthew Mein said the South West had developed a strong reputation for independent businesses with distinctive products and a clear sense of identity.
“The South West has a fantastic reputation for creativity, craftsmanship and independent businesses,” he said.
“These businesses showcase the extraordinary breadth of the South West’s retail community, from family businesses with decades of heritage to emerging brands built around sustainability, ethical production and contemporary design.”
The show comes as independent retailers increasingly look for products with a story behind them and something different from the high street.
For the South West exhibitors, Autumn Fair offers the chance to put their products in front of buyers from department stores, independent shops, garden centres, museum shops, online retailers and destination stores.
More than 1,250 exhibitors are expected at this year’s event, with more than 500,000 products on display and more than 20,000 buyers expected to attend during the four-day show.
For businesses from the South West, it will be an opportunity to demonstrate that good design, traditional skills and a little entrepreneurial spirit remain very much alive across the region.
