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This Month Welcome to the October/ November issue of Progressive Gifts & Home, and what a rollercoaster few weeks it’s been for the industry! The good news is that we were absolutely thrilled to recognise and reward the cream of gift retail at the fabulous Greats awards in September. The sun shone, the champagne glasses clinked, and the joy of being out and about at such a fabulous event, enjoying the late Autumn sunshine, was just the thing to make everyone come together as an industry. If you weren’t able to be there, turn to pages 18 and 19 to see our joyous party pics, and to pages 20-27 to see who this year’s winners are (if you don’t know already!). Also, re-uniting us as industry were trade shows Autumn Fair and Top Drawer. The shows may have been smaller, but both exhibitors and visitors were there to do business, with retailers out in force to buy not browse. For me, a highlight of Autumn Fair was being offered an exclusive interview with retail entrepreneur Theo Paphitis following his packed seminar. Read Theo’s words of retail wisdom on pages 43-45. Meanwhile, with Christmas around the corner, we’ve tracked down what’s trending this year - the gifts that will be popped into stockings or under the Christmas tree and more. Turn to pages 31-37. And if it's licensed giftware that you’re after, we’ve got some more gift ideas on pages 47-49. Talking of celebrations, it was lovely to reminisce with Nigel Biggs, ceo of Rex London, which is currently celebrating its 40th anniversary. It was fun looking back at some of the ‘80s ‘hot hits’ while discovering what will be taking the company forward in 2022. Turn to pages 28-29. Unfortunately though, it hasn’t all been good news. Stock issues have continued to dominate, leading to de-motivating ‘Christmas is cancelled’ headlines in the media. We asked a cross-section of gift suppliers and gift retailers for the current lowdown. Turn to pages 14-17. And finally, back to some good news; we’re delighted to welcome Ali Farrell (see below) to the PG&H team as advertisement manager. Previously with Housewares magazine, many of you will already have met Ali at trade shows and at The Greats awards, so expect to see and hear much more from her over the coming months!
Sue
Sue Marks, Editor
@Prog_Gifts
Inside 5-13 14-17 18-19 20-27 28-29 31-37
News Industry Issue: Stock issues Greats party pages Greats 2021 winners In Profile: Rex London Spotlight On... Christmas gifts
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43-45 Feedback: In conversation with Theo Paphitis 47-49 Licensed giftware 56-57 Best Sellers
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Above: Sue Marks (far left) and Max Publishing’s joint MD Jakki Brown (far right) with Lark’s Priya Aurora-Crowe and Dominic Crowe; Jumping Bean’s Nilou Noorbaksh and Terry Newton and The Indigo Tree’s Harriet and Adam de Wolff at The Greats Awards.
The UK gift and home industry is dynamic, innovative and vibrant and The Greats Awards reflect all of this and much more. Be a part of it! Visit www.thegreatsawards.co.uk
Sue Marks Editor
Ali Farrell Advertisement Manager
Jo Pilcher Commercial Manager
Ian Hyder Publishing Director
suem@max-publishing.co.uk
alisonf@max-publishing.co.uk
jop@max-publishing.co.uk
ianh@max-publishing.co.uk
Subscribe to Progressive Gifts from £60 (UK) to £90 (International) You can organise this quickly and easily online at our secure site: www.max-subscriptions.net For assistance, please email subscriptions@maxpublishing.co.uk ISSN 2515-7523
www.max-publishing.co.uk The home of market leading trade magazines Publishers: Jacqueline Brown, Warren Lomax, Ian Hyder and Rob Willis Max Publishing Ltd, United House, North Road, London N7 9DP. Tel: 020 7700 6740 Fax: 020 7607 6411 www.progressivegifts.co.uk Copyright 2021. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the information in this magazine was correct at the time of going to press, the publishers cannot accept legal liability for any errors or omissions, nor can they accept responsibility for the standing of advertisers nor any organisation mentioned in the text. Views of contributors do not necessarily reflect those of the publishers.
Progressive Gifts & Home Worldwide
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