Our busy trade show season continues next week – we’re showing 2012 Men’s and Women’s Accessory Collections at Moda, at the NEC in Birmingham, UK, from 19 to 21 February. You’ll find our Men’s Collection at Stand MA30, and our Women’s Collection at Stand M11. We’re expecting a busy show, so contact us for an appointment.

We’re launching our 2012 Women’s glove Collection in the USA at Coterie, which runs from 21 to 23 February at the Javits Centre in New York City. We have some fabulous new styles to show you, and you’ll find us at Booth 5526, which we are sharing with our sister company, Corgi Hosiery. For appointments contact our US representatives Jim Seaman or Jan Mehalick, of A Kuehnert & Co., Inc., 845-781-8185

After the successful launch of our 2012 Glove Collection in Florence and New York, our next stop is MrKet, Las Vegas, at the Venetian Hotel, from 12 to 14 February. You’ll find us at booth 264. New this year are fantastic new colours in contrast stitching and luxurious cashmere linings, apple, purple, tangerine, yellow, to name a few, as well as a greatly expanded range of casual gloves.

For an appointment, contact our US representative, Jim McKenry, at 212.757.4664, email Jmckenry@birddoggroup.net

Dents 2012 Collections will be presented at the world’s top accessory trade shows over the next two months:

Europe: For Men - Pitti Uomo, Fortezza da Basso nel padiglione Centrale, Florence – January 10,11,12 and 13 – Stand 20-57 * Moda Menswear, NEC, Birmingham – February 19, 20 and 21 – Stand MA30 * For Women - Premiere Classe, Tuileries, Paris – January 21, 22, 23 and 24 – Stand TBA Moda UK, NEC, Birmingham – February 19, 20 and 21, Stand M11

North America: For Men - Mrket NY, Javits Center, New York City – January 22,23 and 24 – Booth 861 Mrket LV, The Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas – February 12, 13 and 14 – Booth TBA For Women - CoterieNY, Javits Center, New York City – February 21, 22 and 23 – Booth TBA *

* We will be sharing our stand / booth with our sister company, Corgi Hosiery.

Chris Jones of Corgi Hosiery, Chris, and Deborah at Moda August 2011

This is one anniversary we just couldn’t let pass! Chris Johnson, Dents’ agent for the south east of England, celebrated his (first?) 50 years with Dents at the UK’s leading international fashion show, Moda, in Birmingham last weekend.

Chris first joined Dents as a trainee representative, and later became our most successful sales agent ever,  of the 43 countries we sell to.

When Chris first started with Dents, each trainee representative had to understand how the product was made – this meant actually learning to cut and sew a pair of leather gloves! Chris still has a copy of his Dents training manual from those days.

Over the years Chris has become very much a part of the Dents family.  He has given sterling service to both Dents and his customers, who we know would wish to join us, along with many others, in thanking him for his contribution to Dents and the fashion industry over half a century.

Some mixed feelings, maybe, as we see the bulldozers arrive at our old building in Fairfield Road – as the BBC has reported, demolition day is finally here.  Sally’s personal report, marking this important day in Dents’ history, with pictures and interviews, will follow…

In the meantime – it’s back to business, with Dents exhibiting at Moda at the NEC in Birmingham from August 14 to 16. You can see our spring / summer 2012 men’s collection on stand MA30, and women’s collection on M11

Finally, a note for those of you who can’t wait to fill your shopping trolleys – I hear Waitrose won’t be up and running until the New Year after all…

I snuck  a peek at our autumn / winter collection, and this one caught my eye – a fabulous handbag in a fabulous setting, that photographer got this one just right… more to follow.

Wow, what a busy month it has been already! Last week I was in Florence for the men’s trade show, Pitti Uomo. I had a fabulous time meeting our Dents customers from around the world – including Italy, Belgium, Spain, Norway, the Netherlands and Japan, to name but a few. It is so great to get out of the office to meet our buyers and show them our winter 2011 men’s glove collection. The collection was very well received – especially the Men’s Made In England gloves, made just along the corridor from the design office! We have some wondeful new designs, with bright cashmere linings, and contrast stitching, which add an understated elegance to the classic styles. They’ll be in the shops next winter so I won’t show them here – instead the image alongside is of “Il Porcellino” (the little pig), from near the Florence market – you are supposed to rub his nose for good luck, and to ensure you come back and visit him! Florence is a stunningly beautiful city! I spent many an evening after the exhibition sightseeing – the Duomo (the city’s cathedral), the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge), the Uffizi art gallery and the impressively tall town hall tower. With stunning architecture, gorgeous restaurants and great shops, it is definitely a city I want to return to! It has been even busier back in the office this week, as we are fast approaching our winter 2011 sales conference to launch all of the new accessories. Wish us luck – it’s going to be a busy couple of months! Laura x

Dents will be showcasing their new 2011 glove collections at the world’s top fashion accessory trade shows for men and women.

January 11 -14 Pitti Uomo, Italy – Fortezza da Basso, Florence, stand location Padiglione centrale|Salone m p.inferiore|stand :20-57

January 17 -19 MRKet NY, USA – Javits Center, New York City, booth number 436

January 22 -25 Premiere Classe, France – Tuileries, Paris, stand location TBA

February 14 – 16 MRKet LV, USA – Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas, booth number TBA

February 20 -22 Moda, UK – NEC, Birmingham, stand number TBA

February 20 -22 Coterie, USA – Javits Center / Show Piers, New York City, booth number TBA

For further information, or to make an appointment, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We had a very successful men’s show in January at MRketNY, so we’ll be there again in July. The show is at the Javits Center, New York, July 18th - 20th. You’ll find us where we were last time, boothnumber 434 .

We’ll be adopting the same format we used last time. Dentswill be sharing the booth with Corgi Hosiery of Wales, Breuermenswear of France, and Codis Maya cufflinks of England. All four of us share the same US sales agent, Jim McKenry of theBird Dog Group.

It’s your last chance to fill in your Dents glove fall offerings after a very cold winter last year – as it is production on many styles is already sold out. Our sister company, Corgi Hosiery, has a new offering – a fine gauge version of their colourful cotton socks, made in Wales and complete with hand linked toe!

Contact Jim or ourselves for an appointment.

From Laura, Design Department…

British Glove Association Glove Competition

It’s been a little crazy here recently as the volcano disrupted many of our travel plans – first the design team and the Creative Director were stuck in Rome unable to fly home …. and then our factory manager was stuck in the USA!

Thankfully it is all back to normal now and all have returned home safe and sound!

Last week I travelled to the far away land of … Birmingham, to join leading industry designers on the judging panel of the BGAglove competition. The competition has been open every year since 1975 to all students across the country. As usual the standards were exceptionally high! It was great to see so much talent coming through from our universities. The winning entries had to answer one of the following categories…

1. Design a pair of gloves for the Lady Mayoress to wear at the Lord Mayor’s Procession in November 2010.

2. Design a pair of warm winter gloves for Kids for AW2010.

3. Technical category: Design a pair of gloves for use in an industrial environment.

With the chance to earn industry work experience it is well worth entering… and no, I can’t possibly tell you who won! You’ll just have to wait for the names to be announced!

Laura