The influence of fashion events on retail destinations
This article explores the impact of fashion events on shopping centres, looking at how they influence footfall, visitor behaviour and overall activity.
Managers from Centre:mk, Metrocentre, Victoria Leeds and St James Quarter share their perspectives on the role these events play in their calendars, their collaborations with leading brands, and how they create memorable experiences for their communities.
Helen Atkinson, marketing manager at Metrocentre
How important is the fashion event to Metrocentre’s community, and how do you ensure you continue to engage positively?
Subscribe to TRBThe fashion event is a popular one in our events calendar as it is the most high-impact activity that draws a large and mixed audience. As one of the largest shopping destinations in the country with over 270 brands, one of our challenges is to make sure we can showcase our diverse offer, one that caters to all ages, shapes, and sizes. Many of our shoppers are already fashion savvy and just want some inspiration for the latest trends, whereas others are looking for support on how to dress for their body shape or a specific occasion. The challenge comes in curating an event which caters to all of these shoppers and brands. We usually see around 30 brands participating, and over the years we’ve polished the event, and now produce a show which features a mix of both high-impact dance shows to showcase brands such as JD and Footasylum, and more traditional catwalk shows for the likes of M&S, Hobbs, Phase Eight etc. The addition of a celebrity stylist to the event has also helped us amplify our digital reach and appeal to a broader audience.
How do the yearly Fashion Weekends impact the centre commercially?
During our last event, dwell time increased by 30 minutes, bringing in an additional 14,000 people compared to an average weekend. In conversion terms, we estimate this brought in circa £900k of additional revenue to our retailers. Some brands that took part in the show reported a 23% increase in footfall and an increase of 20% in sales conversion, with shoppers looking for specific items featured in the show, highlighting the significance and demand for this event.
Steph Glendinning, retail relations manager at Centre:mk
How does your Fashion Weekend benefit the destination’s relationships with tenants?
Commercially, fashion retail events are all about driving footfall and sales back to our stores. We strategically host the events across pay weekends, activating the space where there is a high proportion of available spend. These events give our tenants the opportunity to showcase their ranges to an audience that might not be a a current shopper of the brand. The catwalk shows and pop up brand experiences cover over 80 brands and reflect the variety of styling options for both clothing and footwear as well as health and beauty, really showcasing the wearability of stock packages. Our focus on making sure trends are brought to life whatever your size and shape , ultimately positions brands in a way that captures the interest and spend of the broadest audience possible.
Furthermore, we capture marketing content across the two days that then creates content that we can be used over time to benefit our stores and, ensuring a two-day event has “eyes on it” over three months. The reach for the fashion show social media content alone is over 50,000 while year on year sales can be as much as 40% up.
How do you make sure the fashion shows have impact?
Centre:mk’s Fashion Weekend is the largest, most extensive retail fashion show event in the country. Essentially, our event spans the size of a football pitch, and features over 80 brands activate the space in a varied and engaging way. With an average audience of 140,000 visitors across the weekend, the event delivers impact above and beyond a traditional shopping centre fashion show. For us, Fashion Weekend is not just about fashion. Centre:mk’s event hosts brand pop up activations and stores, beauty and fashion demonstrations, panel discussions, and even includes homeware elements, all driving footfall straight back into stores. We give brands full freedom to make the most of the event, with the likes of H Beauty taking over the beauty stage last April.
Our Fashion Weekend in April saw 44 retailers get involved, including John Lewis, Mango, JD, Primark, River Island, Reiss, Mint Velvet and Phase Eight, showcasing over 80 brands, across 16 retail pop-ups. This translates into positive impact for our retailers at Centre:mk, with sales increasing by 12.6% compared to the same period in 2024, and footfall while footfall to the event was over 140,000.
Rachel Bradburn, head of leasing at Redical
Most destinations tend to do a Fashion Weekend. How has doing a whole fashion week of activities benefited Victoria Leeds?
Hosting a whole week of fashion-focused events fundamentally creates more opportunity for us to appeal to different customers and allows us to build the event out further than the fashion show itself. This fringe activity means we can focus more on speaking to current trends. For example, we have previously hosted colour theory sessions following the increased demand we observed, and the stellar success of these sessions show us that customers actively want and seek out experiences that are tailored to them.
Not only does a whole week of activity mean we can dedicate more time to fashion itself, but it also attracts an increase in footfall across the destination that will impact the surrounding tenants. We have certainly felt the benefit of this, with our last fashion week instigating an 8% uplift in sales across Victoria Leeds as a whole.
Do you think the destination’s premium tenant mix and brand involvement contrasts other fashion events, and to what effect?
The involvement of our premium brands allows us to construct an elevated experience that exceeds what you may expect from similar events in the region. Coupled with showstopping entertainment, we are able to showcase our brands in a creative way, above and beyond what you can see on a day-to-day visit to Victoria Leeds.
The brands’ involvement in our Fashion Week allows them to explore the key trends in more detail, particularly with added-value activations such as live styling advice that help visitors create a personally tailored wardrobe for themselves. It’s especially successful given the fact that many of our leading brands make the effort to take part, with tenants spanning fashion, fragrance, and even our restaurants getting involved. This ultimately sets us apart as we can take customers on more of a holistic journey through Victoria Leeds, with all parties working together to make our events the success they have been.
Susan Hewlett, brand & marketing director at St James Quarter
As a city, Edinburgh is a hotspot for events, theatre and unique festivals. How does St James Quarter align with this identity and what role does Edinburgh STYLE play too?
Edinburgh’s global reputation as a cultural capital is built on its rich heritage of festivals, creativity, and community and the St James Quarter events and enlivenment activity reflects this. As one of our four flagship events, Edinburgh STYLE reinforces St James Quarter’s role as the city’s leading fashion lifestyle destination, offering experiences that go far beyond retail. It brings together catwalks, pop-up masterclasses, art installations, industry expert panel discussions, and collaborations with emerging local talent, including students from Edinburgh College of Art, to create a standout celebration of style and culture.
Developed to enrich the city’s cultural offering during the shoulder months (Feb–Apr), the vision for Edinburgh STYLE is to extend beyond our boundaries to activate the wider city through exclusive events, in-store activations and meaningful creative collaborations with partners such as Essential Edinburgh. More than a destination, the Quarter is a lifestyle district that is culturally connected, consumer-responsive, and woven into the fabric of the city, helping to shape Edinburgh’s evolving cultural identity.
Anne Ledgerwood, estate director at St James Quarter
How did you measure the success of Edinburgh STYLE?
Our aim is to make Edinburgh STYLE even bigger and better each year, reaching more fashion-lovers and capturing the interest of our community again and again. The numbers from STYLE 2025 show that we achieved this and more – welcoming almost 200,000 visitors over the weekend, an uplift of 3.7% when compared with our STYLE event in 2023. Instagram engagement was boosted by 123%, and we raised over £2,000 for charities through the W STYLE Sessions.
The positive impact of the event did not end there either, with sales across the Quarter’s brands increasing, and F&B operators experienced a 9% increase in spend across the three days too.
