ETO Show 2011
The 2011 ETO Show took place in the middle of a mini heat wave in the UK. With temperatures reaching 32 degrees celcius the exhibition hall sizzled at times as the air conditioning struggled to cope with the weather. However it was not the only thing that the visitors found scorching hot.
Although the show has seen lingerie before from specialist and general adult product distributors this was the first year where a catwalk show took place. With ranges from Veritus, Blue Moon Lingerie and 4Play the area around the bar was packed and not for the usual reason!
On hearing about the catwalk show before the ETO event we were a little sceptical as to whether the shift of emphasis towards lingerie would be a good thing. How wrong could we have been? The answer is that we were totally wide of the mark and were very impressed by the quality of the production, models and the lingerie on display. The frequency of the catwalk shows was perfect, often enough for visitors who were only there for a couple of hours to catch a show and far enough apart to ensure that the booming music didn’t disrupt business too much.
The presence of a lot more (tastefully presented) naked flesh certainly changed the atmosphere, though the one thing missing was male models. Perhaps something that the organisers could correct in next year’s show.
As for adult products there were new lines on display, many of which you will be seeing on our sister site SexToysBuzz.com in the coming weeks. Scala Playhouse, 1on1 and ABS were all showing off their new wares.
Attendance at the show was good; We saw good footfall on both days of the show and personally found it the most productive year for B2B since we started attending 4 years ago. The organisers too felt that 2011 was a good year, especially in light of the current economic climate. Dale Bradford told us “We’re very pleased with attendance at this year’s show. Both in terms of exhibitors and visitors.” While a small number of exhibitors did cancel at least one of those was for reasons other than the prevailing trading conditions.
The ETO awards ceremony saw our SexToysBuzz.com site nominated for the second year running and we were thrilled when we were awarded the “Best Online Resource” award.
Well done to the rest of the winners and here they are:
Best Adult Product – PeneXt (Planet Earth)
Best New Product Range – Fetish Fantasy Extreme (Pipedream)
Best Consumable – ID Glide (ID Lubricants)
Best Film Brand – Harmony
Best Sex Toy Brand – Rocks-Off
Best Erotic Books Brand – Xcite Books
Best Erotic Clothing Brand – Baci Lingerie
Best R18 DVD Distributor – Darker Enterprises
Best Erotic Goods Distributor – ABS Holdings
Best Overseas Distributor – Scala
Best Gay Interest Distributor – Mister B
Best Lingerie Distributor – Veritus UK
Best Retail Chain – Nice ‘n’ Naughty
Best Individual Store – Soho Original (Brewer Street)
Most Innovative Retailer – Sh!
Best Online Retailer – Lovehoney.co.uk
Best Online Resource – Sextoysbuzz.com
Best Stand at ETO Show – Net 1on1
Innovation in Adult – Fetish Fantasy Extreme (Pipedream)
Success Story of the Year – Lovehoney
Best Sales Team – Net 1on1
Services to the Industry – Simon Prescott
Sex Toys