When Harrogate becomes Tinseltown

It may be January, but don't forget your shades

By James Arnold BBC News Online business reporter

Sherry trifle is delicious, but eat a large bowl of it, and you probably won't want another straight away.

Tradition is at the heart of this business, but if you don't come to Harrogate with something new, you're in trouble

John Athwal, Premier Decorations

Christmas is a bit like that: it may be fun while it lasts, but in the queasy gloom of mid-January, the main emotion is relief that the whole sorry business is over for another year.

So raise a glass to the brave workers of the Christmas decorations industry.

While normal folk are drawing up detox plans and filling out gym memberships, the makers of tinsel, fairy lights and dancing Santas are gathering in Harrogate for one of the biggest events of their commercial year.

In the bleak midwinter

Welcome to the other Christmas rush.

The Harrogate International Toy and Christmas Fair - or 1st! Fair Harrogate, as it now calls itself - is a crucial date in the festive industry's calendar.

This market is no place for the faint-hearted, says Mr Bromley

Starting on the second Saturday in January, it opens a frenzied selling window which, for most decorations manufacturers, has already slammed shut by Easter.

"We're already working on projects for Christmas 2004," says Raymond Jones, managing director of Festive, a major Welsh manufacturer.

"Frankly, if you haven't finished your business for the year by March or April, you'll never catch up."

'Tis the season

In the tinsel trade, timing is everything.

While manufacturers such as Mr Jones are frantically selling now, retailers anticipate an equally hectic period later in the year.

Shops place their decorations orders now, expecting delivery in mid-summer, and then wait for the public to turn up - something that we are leaving until later and later every year.

"The retail rush is happening at least a week or two later than it used to," Mr Jones reckons.

Mervyn Wainwright, who runs a garden centre in Buckinghamshire, says this results in an annual poker game among retailers.

"Come mid-December, everyone wants to see who's going to cut their prices first.

"It can get pretty nerve-racking."

Bearing gifts we travel afar

The industry's peculiar time-frames - combining meticulous forward-planning with wild frenzies of selling - are the product of an increasing demand for innovation.

Whatever the ups and downs of the market, you're working with beautiful things and giving pleasure to people

Clive Capel, Noma Lites

"Every year, you have to balance traditional elements with new ideas," says John Athwal, managing director of Premier, Britain's biggest decorations producer.

"Tradition is at the heart of this business. But if you don't come to Harrogate with something new, you're in trouble."

Indeed, most manufacturers reckon that about two-thirds of their decorations are designed afresh every season.

Jingle all the way

This constant turnover is partly the result of the fragmentation of the retail end of the business.

Fibre-optic trees are so 1999

Twenty years ago, the business was dominated by a handful of High Street names - chiefly Woolworth, says Martyn Bromley, managing director of wholesaler PSL International.

Now, garden centres, often small operations with highly idiosyncratic tastes, dominate the trade.

And at the same time, the public has become hugely fussier.

"People pay so much more attention to their interior decor these days," says Mr Athwal.

"And Christmas decorations are part of that. This is now a design-driven business."

Deck the halls

It shows.

Lovingly putting the old tinsel in the attic for next year is a thing of the past

Martyn Bromley, PSL International

At an agenda-setting event such as Harrogate, the cheerfully garish baubles of the traditional British Christmas are - almost - impossible to find.

The modern tinsel merchant is keen to tone with, not stand out from, the ambience of a home.

"Our designers plan ahead by spotting and working with trends in interior design," boasts Mr Jones.

"We can now offer Christmas in a choice of nine decorative schemes."

Christmas crackers

This keen eye for the popular taste can provoke violent swings in fashion.

Recession? What recession? asks Mr Athwal

Three or four years ago, fibre-optic lighting set the industry afire. At Harrogate 2003, delegates are already dismissing it with a yawn.

"Yesterday's news," drawls one buyer.

This year, it seems, there are three main trends.

First, colours are becoming ever more adventurous: Christmas 2002 was all about soft blues and lilacs - didn't you notice? - while creams and other pastels are the ones to watch this year.

Second, trees are getting fancier: Mr Jones reckons this year's hot product will be the fully pre-decorated artificial tree, retailing at upwards of £200.

"People want something they can just pull out of a box and not worry about - and they are willing to pay big money for that."

In thy dark streets shineth

Third, the real buzz at Harrogate is exterior lighting.

Many Britons already deck their houses out with lights but, says Martyn Bromley, we ain't seen nothing yet.

"This is an American import, and shows how quickly we are catching up with the market there," he says.

"I am staggered by the amount some people spend on exterior lighting - it's not uncommon for a household to spend over £1,000."

A winter wonderland

While this sort of behaviour is still unusual, it is now the norm to buy a new set of decorations every year.

Success means balancing tradition with innovation

"Lovingly putting the old tinsel in the attic for next year is a thing of the past these days," says Mr Bromley.

This, in turn, has transformed the decorations market from a dowdy backwater into a wildly lucrative sector.

The average British household now spends £45 a year on Christmas decorations alone - a sum that has jumped from the low single figures just a decade ago.

"Trouble is, everyone wants a piece of it now," Mr Bromley says.

"Until not long ago, the business was dominated by half a dozen firms. Now, there seem to be hundreds."

This competition has piled increasing pressure on costs, forcing almost all the big firms to divert production to the Far East.

Only Festive, with a factory in Cwmbran, Wales, is holding out.

Although the firm imports some of its more basic lines from Asia, Mr Jones still insists that only locally-produced tinsel or garlands can retain their bushiness from factory floor to shop window.

Let nothing you dismay

While competitive pressure keeps Mr Jones and his rivals awake at night, they seem to have few worries about the wider economy.

Christmas decorations, expensive and wholly without function, may seem like just the sort of luxury that consumers trim back on when times get hard.

But the opposite is true.

"There is no real effect of a recession on this business," says Mr Athwal.

"Christmas is the one thing people don't want to economise on."

Asked to think of a factor that could derail the market's relentless growth, Harrogate delegates just shrug.

Christmas every day

Not that anyone seems to be in it for the money.

In many ways, visiting an event like Harrogate so soon after Christmas demands a strong stomach.

But like all Christmas stories, it is hard to resist.

Far from being hard-hearted profiteers, the delegates at Harrogate display a touchingly childlike enthusiasm for all things Christmassy.

"It's a lovely business to be in," says Clive Capel, managing director of Noma Lites, a lighting manufacturer.

"Because whatever the ups and downs of the market, you're working with beautiful things and giving pleasure to people."

And a very merry Christmas to you all.