Back to Europe…and not a minute too soon

It was a fantastic holiday season, wasn’t it? For starters, we actually got a white Christmas, and how often does that happen anymore? And most of the people we spoke to actually took time to relax over the break. They stayed home. They saw family. They ate and drank too much. And they slept. A lot.

Yes…sounds a lot like our 2017 holiday season. And it was just what the doctor ordered after a successful but VERY busy year.

But now we’re refreshed and ready to get on with it.

What better place to start that Europe?

Belgium? Yup. Belgium.

We’re hitting the usual suspects on this buying trip: Paris, Milan, Dusseldorf. But we added Brussels this year, mostly for Caroline Biss. We’ve been offering her line for years, and we love her bright, elegant approach. Her spring line was a top seller, and we can’t wait to see what she’s come up with for next winter. Her studio is about 40 minutes northwest of the city so we’ll do a breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien (a Bruxelles must) and then hit the road.

Italian Cashmere

Here’s a fun fact about cashmere: the word is an old-world spelling of Kashmir (the region of India where the style was first noticed by European fashion houses.

Cashmere differs from wool in that it’s made from the underbelly hairs of goats. This is what gives it its softness, and why it’s so much more expensive than wool. Unfortunately, the market is flooded with cheap cashmere knock-offs that aren’t close to worth the price.

That’s why we’ll be spending some quality time in Italy sourcing high-quality, locally designed cashmere pieces for fall/winter 2018. The Italians pride themselves on producing the finest cashmere on earth, and there are few activities more fun for us than travelling around Milan and its surrounding areas validating that bold claim.

The Paris Tradition

We’ll end our trip in the City of Lights as we always do. We’ll visit Valerie Khalfon, Devernois and Bleu Blanc Rouge to line up our Fall/Winter collection. And when we’re done, we’ll celebrate another successful jaunt with a cocktail at La Societe where we’ll rub shoulders with all our colleagues from around the world, find out what they found on their buying trips and get some fresh ideas for our next trip across the pond - which we’re aiming to take in the spring.

While we’re gone, please feel free to visit. Our amazing team will be in the store and ready to help you with anything you need. And if there’s something you feel strongly about us seeing before we come back (or you have any restaurant tips for us), drop us a line at mail@petrakarthaus.com.