Posted by Louise Prance-Miles on 18 May 2020
The online show will be open to registered and approved buyers from 14th-15th June, from 10am to 5pm via the BCTF website (www.bctf.co.uk), with this year's BCTF award-winners being announced on Monday 14th June 14 at 5pm.
The next physical edition of BCTF will run as usual at the Yorkshire Event Centre in Harrogate from 11th-13th April, 2021.
Show organiser, Margeret Bunn, said, "Like other exhibition organisers, we were forced to cancel this year's Fair, which under normal circumstances would have been held at The Yorkshire Event Centre in April. Although we were devasted, an immediate decision was made to hold an online exhibition. Since then we have been putting in motion all the elements required to host a fantastic event, whilst continuing to support our community of designer-makers through online channels, with constant social media promotion and through our extensive business Help and Advice programme.
"The uncertainty around whether scheduled Autumn gift fairs will be able to go ahead means more buyers will source from online initiatives. The timing of the event fits nicely into the Autumn buying period, giving retailers the opportunity to select and order stock for the reopening of their shops and for the Christmas period.
"I'm encouraged by the fact that the public is very keen to support local independent retailers and British-made products; in that respect we really are all in this together."
Margaret continues, "A lot of exhibitions have been seeking to run online shows but the scale of BCTF and the close-knit nature of our community means we've been able to do something that I hope will be quite special. We already have an exceptional online catalogue which constitutes a mini online exhibition and which we've been able to build on substantially for the June event.
"Designers who were due to exhibit in April 2020 have already been invited to submit up to 20 new product images and introductory videos to BCTF online, which will be accessible to registered trade buyers from June 14 – 15. We are also working on the introduction of fully interactive, live elements, but as these are still in the development phase full details will be announced shortly."
The online event will be supported by an extensive and interactive new show preview which will be emailed to thousands of buyers ahead of the event. BCTF 2020 award winners are in the process of being selected by sponsors.For more information and to register for the event, visit www.bctf.co.uk
