Our time at BREAD & BUTTER in Barcelona was great. The sun was shining, the atmosphere was relaxed and fun yet focused on work.

Our teams from Berlin and Milan came together for the event, fitting well with this years motto “United Nations of Bread & Butter”. We all want to thank the organisation!

At our booth in the Sport & Street area we had a z-machine that spins up Frisbees very fast. The boys were nail delaying and showing (off with) their freestyle tricks all day long. Furthermore we had competitions where visitors could win one of our mini discs as well as record their thoughts for our podcast on an original 80’s Ghetto Blaster, kindly lent to us by Frank from Paul’s Boutique .

The most exciting part however was the fact we had the first real dummy copy of our Freestyle Magazine, issue 0, in our hands. People were outrageously interested in the project and reactions to it were very extremely positive!

Playing Freestyle

Beside us some other exhibitors were promoting themselves (or just having a good time?) playing and showing freestyle. For example, you could find Jeff Staples and friends on a Ping Pong table.

Style Sight, apart from giving several trend seminars, offered a huge booth with sofas, pool table, table football and photo wall. By the way the CEO Franklin Bober is a Freestyle Frisbee player himself. When Jason and Greg Catch went on tour around the arena they had a beautiful throw and catch session with him.

And if you were lucky you could visit Wrangler in the Luna Park where they built a spectacular vertical wall ride where old school motorbikes were racing.

G-Star Raw

During the first day of B&B Linda and myself attended the G-Star Show.
The brand always has a huge tent in the Luna Park where long lines of people waiting to enter the next show are a common image.

We never miss a show; they are energetic and always inspire us somehow.
This season they started up with a dancer a bit of modern Mohican warrior style, followed by a fine and accurate choreography of models walking, standing, back and forth under spot lights. Moving parts of the catwalk, elevating some of the models, still are part of the show, but with less importance than in last seasons.

With regards to Fashion, I must admit there were collections I identified more with, but as always I loved their styling; especially the white gaiters and strange insecticide sunglasses on men and one green hat for a girl.

Flea Market

For the first time there was a flea market where several brands sold selected pieces to the fine tunes of alternating DJs.
I made it away with a cool Wood Wood overall.

New Faces

Some of the next generation designers were also represented.
Selected students of “Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts” had the chance to exhibit their 1st years final project: consisting of skirts made of denim.

The creative direction was in the hands of Walter van Beirendonck. Some of the designs and especially the cutting techniques really impressed me.

Migration

Since the beginning there were rumours about B&B leaving Barcelona and returning to Berlin…
At the press conference last Friday Karl-Heinz Müller finally confirmed that January 2009 was to be the last event in Barcelona. He underlined how thankful he and his team were to the city and that the decision to move was based on the companies philosophy of steady development in reaction to the fashion market.

There were some sad voices from the Spanish press but the mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, announced a following event.
Big Spanish brands such as Armand Basi, Camper and Desigual are certain of Barcelona’s potential as a venue last two yet at the same time assuring they will follow B&B wherever it goes.

Referencing this mornings German radio stations and posters seen all over town, B&B have confirmed they are coming back to Berlin. The tradeshow will find its new location at the disused Flughafen Tempelhof and tonight they are hosting a press event entitled “The Future” at the same site.
We, Berliners and Freestylers are all very happy to welcome Bread & Butter back home.

Ps. Sorry for the quality of my pictures.
Make sure you check out our upcoming B&B video.