Bread & Butter was an annual Berlin-based event and a year-round online shopping hub by Zalando.
The company offers access to pre-launches and rare items, with a particular focus on streetwear and sneakers. Brands including Vans, Adidas, Eastpak, Nike, and others have created unique products specifically for release at Bread & Butter.
The last Bread & Butter weekend took place at Arena Berlin from August 31- September 2, 2018, with the tagline, "The Pop-Up of Style and Culture" and a "see now, buy now" concept. The three-day weekend showcased fashion, culture, and music, and attracted around 35,000 visitors.
International music artists performed live each evening at the venue, as well as DJ sets scheduled on different stages throughout the day. The weekend drew influencers and celebrities from around the world to Berlin to take part in various activities as well as in live panel discussions on current cultural topics.
Pop-up fashion shows were a key highlight during the weekend, showing new season collections and limited edition products from a selection of brands. A variety of food stalls were set up across Arena and the surrounding areas, offering popular street food dishes and drinks to guests.
History The original "Bread & Butter" tradeshow was founded by German entrepreneur Karl-Heinz Müller together with Christian Geyr and Wolfgang Ahlers and premiered in July 2001 in Cologne-Deutz. It was initially conceived of as a bi-annual fashion industry trade show "for the progressive, contemporary clothing culture". It had a spin-off in Barcelona in 2005 and completely relocated there in 2007. The tradeshow came back to Berlin in the summer of 2009 and relocated to the historical hangars of Tempelhof Airport.
In June 2015, the trade fair was acquired by Berlin-based fashion and tech company Zalando. The e-commerce platform relaunched it in 2016, turning the fashion industry event into a weekend open to the public. It hosts pop-up stands from the brands available on zalando.com, with the aim to "democratize fashion".
Past music lineups have included various international headliners such as A$AP Rocky, M.I.A and FKA twigs, as well as supporting local DJs from Berlin. Each day of the event culminates in an after-party at the venue.
The 2017 fashion shows included collections from HUGO, Topshop and G-Star, as well as a retrospective show by couture designers Viktor & Rolf. The same year, Vivienne Westwood opened an onsite exhibition dedicated to her work, as well as hosting an inspirational talk on stage at Festsaal.
2017 also saw several panel discussions with a variety of topics. Adwoa Aboah hosted an empowering Girl's Talk session and Wyclef Jean told his life story during an intimate live discussion.
2018 edition focused on fashion accessories, music, and other consumer electronics.
After the 2018 event, Zalando announced that they will discontinue the event, because "It doesn’t fit into our long-term strategy".
List of B&B shows Schedule of Bread & Butter shows, their locations and mottos:Bread & Butter History , including all show posters Date Location Motto July 13–15, 2001 Cologne – January 31 – February 2, 2002 Cologne – August 1 – 3 2002 Cologne – January 17–19, 2003 Berlin-Spandau – July 18–20, 2003 Berlin-Spandau Berlinlove January 16–18, 2004 Berlin-Spandau Next Move July 16–18, 2004 Berlin-Spandau Berlingold January 21–23, 2005 Berlin-Spandau Selected July 8-10 2005 Barcelona Eurovision July 22–24, 2005 Berlin-Spandau Eurovision January 18–20, 2006 Barcelona Eurovision January 27–29, 2006 Berlin-Spandau Eurovision July 5-7 2006 Barcelona COMMUNITY July 14–16, 2006 Berlin-Spandau COMMUNITY January 17–19, 2007 Barcelona Active January 26–27, 2007 Berlin-Spandau Active July 4–6 2007 Barcelona Fly BBB January 16–18, 2008 Barcelona King Size July 2–4 2008 Barcelona New Order January 21–23, 2009 Barcelona United Nations July 1–3 2009 Berlin-Tempelhof Berlin, Berlin January 20–22, 2010 Berlin-Tempelhof The Original July 7–9 2010 Berlin-Tempelhof Premier League January 19–21, 2011 Berlin-Tempelhof Absolute July 6–8 2011 Berlin-Tempelhof Supershow January 18–20, 2012 Berlin-Tempelhof High Fidelity July 4–6 2012 Berlin-Tempelhof The Rock January 15–17, 2013 Berlin-Tempelhof Big Time July 2-4 2013 Berlin-Tempelhof Connect January 14–16, 2014 Berlin-Tempelhof Ich bin ein Berliner. July 8-10 2014 Berlin-Tempelhof Carnaval do Brasil January 19–21, 2015 Berlin-Tempelhof July 7-9 2015 Berlin-Tempelhof September 3–5, 2015 Seoul September 2–4, 2016 Arena Berlin NOW September 1–3, 2017Arena BerlinBoldAugust 31 - September 2, 2018Arena Berlin
References
External links
Official Bread and Butter website Official Bread and Butter website Bread and Butter at Tempelhof website Trade fair stands at B&B, gallery (2012)