Is Who's Next Paris the best trade show for Indian designers entering Europe?

Who's Next, the B2B fashion trade show held every January and September at Paris expo Porte de Versailles, is the best entry point into Europe for an Indian designer brand. Brands are placed by DNA and price point, so buyers find them fast. 56% of visitors now come from outside France, from 140 countries. The brands that book orders share one thing: a clear, consistent message.

Why do I still recommend Who's Next after 11 years?

I've been exhibiting at Who's Next since 2015, as a brand and as a manufacturer. For 4 years we ran our own label, Me-Tisse, and it did well: we had agents and reached about 40 retailers.

Then twins arrived in our life, and we had to focus on one side of the business. We chose export, where we had started, and since then I have exhibited as a manufacturer. So I know both sides of the stand. Almost 3 years ago we started Expo Connexion, to bring Indian brands onto the same floor.

I'm just back from the September 2026 edition. After 11 years on that floor, my view hasn't changed. For an Indian designer who wants to sell in Europe, Who's Next is the right place to start.

How is the Who's Next floor organised for buyers?

The September 2026 edition gathered around 1,300 brands and close to 40,000 visitors at Porte de Versailles (more on the show here). A show that size could easily lose a buyer in the aisles.

It doesn't, because of the way the floor is made. Each brand is placed with brands of the same environment, the same DNA and the same price range. A buyer looking for contemporary womenswear at a given price knows which part of the hall to walk. They move through 1,300 brands knowing where to find what they need.

For you, it means the buyers who stop at your stand are more often the right ones. You spend your 3 days talking to people who might actually buy.

Who visits Who's Next now?

Who's Next used to be a very French show. International visitors were around 30%. In September 2026 they were 56%, from 140 countries. On the floor, you hear it in the languages around you.

The show also keeps bringing in new people. 24% of September's visitors had never been before, and half of all visitors were retailers and concept stores. On the other side, 39% of the brands were new.

So new brands meet new buyers. A buyer walking in for the first time is looking for names they don't know yet, and that's exactly where a first-time Indian brand sits.

Why does market week matter more than Fashion Week?

Who's Next runs during market week. That's when everyone who moves a collection from a designer to a shop floor is in Paris: agents, showrooms, independent retailers, department stores, distributors.

They come for that week. Fashion Week is a niche, built around runway houses and a small circle of buyers and press. Market week is where the trade happens, and one stand puts you in front of all of it.

Which shows run alongside Who's Next?

Who's Next shares its halls with other WSN shows. Bijorhca for jewellery. Shoppe Object for home textiles and home decor. In January, the Salon International de la Lingerie joins too.

For a buyer, it's a one-stop visit for everything around fashion. It also brings a different type of buyer to the show: concept stores from across the world, who buy clothing, jewellery and home in one place. And a buyer who came for one category walks past your stand on the way to another.

Where do the orders come from?

Paris is the meeting point. The buyers come from everywhere.

Season after season, the brands we bring book orders from France, and also from the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria and Greece. Then further out: Japan, South Korea, South Africa. One stand, 3 days, and your collection is in front of buyers from all of those markets.

What does WSN offer exhibitors beyond the stand?

WSN now runs the WSN Hosted Program. The show invites and looks after selected buyers, so a new brand doesn't depend only on the contacts it brings.

The WSN Academy masterclasses are great for new designers. They cover brand building, distribution and wholesale, with the French women's ready-to-wear federation. If Europe is new to you, it's one of the fastest ways to understand how this market works.

The work also continues after the 3 days. WSN partners with Ankorstore, the wholesale marketplace used by retailers across Europe, so buyers can reorder online. And PagesMode, WSN's own directory, lists 3,600 brands and 25,700 retail locations, which makes you easier to find for a buyer who met you on the floor.

Are brands coming back to Who's Next?

Some French brands had stopped doing Who's Next. In September, several of them were back: Des Petits Hauts, Bérénice, Stella Forest, Not Shy.

Brands like these know their numbers. When they come back, it's because the orders are there. That's a signal the show works.

What do the brands that get orders have in common?

If I had to name one common point between all the brands that do well, it's this: they have a story, a collection and a message that sets them apart from the brand on the next stand.

That's what buyers are looking for now. Finding product is easy for them. Finding the right message for the customers who walk into their store is much harder. When a brand gives them that message, it gives them the confidence to place a first order with a name they'd never heard of that morning.

A few of the brands that had great results in September, and every one of them walked in with a clear message:

• Calonge, bags and leather goods
• Aida by Priyanka Jain, ready-to-wear
• Beetroot, ready-to-wear
• Noib, ready-to-wear
• Mortantra, jewellery
• Saheli Women, ready-to-wear
• Ode the Label, ready-to-wear
• Payal Pratap, ready-to-wear
• Notice Me, bags and accessories
• Yavï, ready-to-wear
• Raga Designs by Neeru Kumar, ready-to-wear

The full list of Indian exhibitors from that edition, with stand numbers, is here.

Why do some brands leave disappointed?

Some brands leave less happy. You'll rarely hear one of them say the show was bad, and it wasn't. But the orders didn't come the way they hoped.

When I look at why, it very often comes back to the same place: onboarding.

How does the Who's Next committee place your brand?

When you register for Who's Next, you fill in a brand ID form and submit your lookbook and your line sheet. A committee in Paris reviews applications every week. They also look at your Instagram and your website.

From your brand codes, your price points, your story and your DNA, they decide where you sit in the show. That placement decides which buyers walk past your stand.

I've seen great collections where the communication around the brand told a different story. The product says one thing, the Instagram says another. That creates confusion, first for the committee, then for the buyer.

When a buyer meets a new brand, the first thing they check is Instagram. If the collection in front of their eyes and the brand on their phone don't match, they hesitate. And often, for that reason alone, they don't order.

Your message has to be clear, and it has to be the same everywhere: the product, the lookbook, the website, every channel. Someone who has never met you should understand what your brand is about from your lookbook or your Instagram alone. That's true for the Who's Next committee, and it's true for the buyer.

What should an Indian brand check before applying?

• Put your Instagram grid next to your lookbook. Check that they tell the same story.
• Write your brand story in 2 or 3 sentences. If you can't, the buyer won't get it either.
• Check that your line sheet prices fit the positioning your images suggest.

The next edition is 16 to 18 January 2027. We go through your lookbook, line sheet and Instagram with you before anything goes to the committee, so the brand they see is the brand you are. Start your application here.