The ‘Make it British Live!’ sourcing show has been postponed amid the health concerns and travel restrictions linked to the coronavirus, with organisers saying plans are now underway for a virtual event.
In an email today (12 March), organisers said following the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration yesterday that the Covid-19 outbreak is now a pandemic, they have taken the “very difficult decision” to postpone Make it British Live! until further notice.
“This has been a heart-wrenching decision to make, but in light of recent developments of Covid-19, and after extensive conversations with many of our exhibitors and visitors over the last few days we feel this is the right thing to do to protect those that we all hold dearest.”
The event showcases British fashion and textile manufacturers and producers and was due to take place on 17-18 March at the Business Design Centre in London.
“This is not a decision we have taken lightly and we have tried hard not to do this, but we no longer feel that the decision to keep ‘business as usual’ is in line with worldwide medical developments. By the time the event is due to take place we will be in the midst of a national emergency,” organisers said. “Whilst we really want to continue with the event, we believe the right thing to do is to make this decision now to give enough time for everyone to cancel travel arrangements or hotels.”
The team added it is in discussions with the venue but has no confirmed date for a rescheduled event. It is, however, planning a Make it British Virtual Expo which will take place online at the end of May.
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By GlobalData“The virtual event will include everything that the live event does, including the conference, the networking and the workshops. Each exhibitor will have their own virtual booth that they will be able to ‘man’ for the duration of the show using a webcam that can be attached to any computer.”
All visitor tickets will automatically be transferred to the virtual expo in May as well as being redeemable against tickets for a re-scheduled live show.
Make it British Live! said it will provide an update regarding the virtual expo as soon as possible.
A number of industry events have been either cancelled or rescheduled amid the Covid-19 outbreak. Earlier this week, denim trade show Kingpins confirmed it will be cancelling its upcoming Amsterdam event, following a similar move by organisers of the Copenhagen Fashion Summit who said last week they would be pushing the event back from May to October.
