The mix of high fashion, high street and retro brands compliment one another to create a showcase of product that leaves no stone unturned. The event has, however, still a little way to go on the footwear front..although ranges on show alongside a superb accessories collection included designers like Terry De Havilland , top end brands such as French Sole and Irregular Choice as well as popular favourites like Birkenstock, Unze, Platino and Per Tu, the amount of brands showcasing at the event seemed a little thin on the ground. Pure has the potential to be a mind blowing event that stands closely to the likes of Bread and Butter in Barcelona with its sheer range of fashion forward,statement brands.. but the footwear section has a few more steps to be made to get as far as the exciting womenswear.

The event in general is an enjoyable one. Although hectic and bustling, aisles feel spacious and easy to manoeuvre around and the organisers (Emap) pull out all of he stops to create an environment which is high fashion. The regular seminars held by industry officials such as fashion editor of Drapers, Khabi Mirzar are informative for buyers who are facing a tough struggle following a difficult season this summer with adverse weather conditions and the catwalk shows were spot on the mark and great fun to enjoy.

ONES TO WATCH

Pure only attracts those brands who are keen to make a fashion statement. The footwear section was no stranger to this fact with stands hotting up the competition with cutting edge design to catch the eye. Platino, part of the larger Jay Bill Wholesalers were newcomers to the event. In celebratory form, their stand was designed with sexy padded leather walls and a mirror disco ball to liven up the top floor. For Platino as a brand, showcasing at Pure demonstrates the change in their product to a more fashion conscious brand.

"We have improved the quality and design of the brand significantly this season" Explains David Buchanan, Group Marketing Manager "We have far more leather finished products this time around and have taken care to be on trend.. it has certainly paid off, we have been inundated with orders, a fantastic show for us."

With several styles gracing the Pure Catwalk Show, the lines for Spring/Summer 2008 looked very strong including their range of leather ballet pumps in a variety of colours, selection of glitzy sandals and wonderful ethnic inspired toe thong sandals, with jewelled finishes. A great seller for the brand were their range of canvas shoes for s/s 2008, which included a nautically themed flat pump in blue and white stripe and preppy lace up sneakers, both of which caused a stir.

Emotion shoes, known mainly for their alignment with comfortable style for women with larger and wider feet have also upped a notch in the fashion stakes for next season. Although all styles still come in an E and EEE fitting this does not mean they gave up with fitting trends and beautiful styling. We particularly liked their selection of jewelled ballerinas. metallic wedge sandals and beautiful flat sandals with metal discs.

Vagabond, a Swedish brand in existence since 1967 are easing their way nicely into the British market, and with success according to their level of interest on the stand at Pure. They are set to open a new standalone store in Covent Garden very soon, which is the first edition in the UK. Operating in 30 countries already, the UK is one of the last on the map for attack by this company, whose range featured retro citrus brights and music inspired brogues alongside vulcanised shoes, gladiator sandals and pumps. The 80s trend couldn't be more clear with this brand who align themselves with the more discerning rock and roll fashion customer.

Similarly, Melissa are a brand that are set to hit the UK market with a bang. Produced in Brazil these beautiful finished shoes are made exclusively from PVC, for a "jelly shoe" finish to even the most fashion conscious towering wedge or funky sneakers. Their level of design is second to none as they are produced exclusively by designers famous for art and architecture. Artists such as Judy Blame, Alexandre Herchovitch, the Campana brothers and J Maskrey have been involved with the brand. Karim Rashid, the celebrated New York based Egyptian designer, who has previously worked with Issey Miyake, Prada, Georgio Armani, Artemide, Cappellini, Edra and Sony is also one of the head designers at Mellisa to add to the modern appeal. The theme for this season is "Bedtime stories", encompassing traditional fairytales with a modern, grown up edge. We loved citrus brights and bold colours in towering wedges with ankle straps and the wonderful range of brushed flat pumps that gave the material a suede like look. This brand is one of the most prominent in Brazil, celebrating its 25 years in the business with its own edition of Brazilian Vogue. Here at Footwear Today, we say- watch out UK, this is going to be huge.

Fashion favourites, Irregular Choice, were on display with their usual range of quirky fantastically designed shoes, This season sees the launch of Irregular Choice clothing, and the introduction of several new and exciting characters that theme both shoe and clothing items including quirky unicorn prints. This season also saw the introduction of the typically funky Japanese style Geisha Sandal, with removable sock, a shoe that was entirely different to any other gracing the floor of Pure. Danny Sullivan, designer and MD of the brand said "We are not here to follow trends, more to break them. This season, we have a lot of big trims and buckles alongside our traditional spilt toe ranges and vulcanised shoes. Pure is always a good show for new and returning customers, and we hope that the Irregular Choice clothing range will make as big an impact as the footwear."

Bumper is set to be the name on everyone's lips in the next few months, as it is the leading brand in homeland of Denmark. Although the chunky boots in quirky colours and prints as well as basic leathers are much more of an autumn/winter brand, Suzanna Paludan Jordan, Director for the brand was excited by the response at the Pure event.

"Retailers have had such a difficult season this year due to the weather conditions. A lot of retailers are ordering for short order, which benefited us immensely"

The boots are the ultimate fashion, comfort accessory, hotting up the competition against some of the traditional brands in the same calibre.

Ballerinas were definitely still the theme of the moment, with brands such as French Sole and Riva offering a tremendous range of styles and materials from glitter, quilted, metallic and patent. The New Roberto Grevi range at Riva, both leather lined and soled give this brand an eternal expensive feel and the sheer number of customers on the stand showed that it had certainly paid off.

Per Tu are another brand whose reputation has improved season on season with explosive sales results. This season they presented a great range of glitzy fashion forward styles, from pink croc metallic leather high sandals to block heel trendy styles with buckle detailing. Bold colours were aplenty in blue, red and green suede. We particularly liked a large buckled t bar sandal in mix-match tan and red leather, a best-seller at the show.

NEXT SEASONS EVENT

The next edition of Pure is on the 10/11/12th February 2008 at London's Olympia.

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