The International Festival for Garden, Leisure and Pet will expand crucial product sectors at the 2023 event (27th – 29th June, NEC Birmingham).

Renowned for years as the ‘must-visit’ show for garden centre buyers, Glee is set to expand its offering into a dedicated Home, Gift & Clothing ‘village’ for the 2023 event, reflecting the central importance of these categories in garden centres around the UK.

This expertly curated sector of the show will incorporate a wealth of inspirational new products that are especially suited to the home and gift trade within garden centres. Products will include outdoor clothing, footwear and fashion accessories, greetings cards, stationery and books, home fragrances and decorative accessories, toys and other gifts for children.

For garden retailers who are seeking to diversify their offering, Home, Gift & Clothing at Glee will have the trend-led solutions they need, whilst traditional gift shops and homeware retailers will have the opportunity to see stand-out suppliers in a different setting and discover the new product innovations that will inspire their customers in seasons to come.

As the most important UK exhibition for the garden centre trade, Glee offers access to hundreds of brands across multiple show sectors, with thousands of new product innovations under one roof and an exceptional programme of content. The event offers a golden opportunity for home, gift and clothing retailers who seek to bring the outdoors instore and build an all-round lifestyle merchandise mix for their customers.

The late June timing of Glee is also ideal for gift, homeware and apparel buyers in search of the hottest new merchandise ahead of Christmas. This was demonstrated at last year’s edition of the show, where buyers turned out in droves to do some serious ‘Christmas shopping’. The introduction of a dedicated ‘village’ for Home, Gift & Clothing will facilitate show navigation for retailers seeking exciting new brands, trend-driven collections and Christmas-ready ranges across complementary merchandise categories.

As the first Q2 trade buying show ahead of Christmas 2023, retailers in search of exceptional new launches won’t want to miss this, as Glee will put them at the front of the ordering queue for the hottest home, gift and clothing products of the season.

Glee Director, Matthew Mein comments: “We are incredibly excited about the next edition of Glee, where so many plans for the future of both this event and the garden retail trade will finally start to manifest. We have a lot to share with our audience and look forward to welcoming suppliers and retailers from across the home, gift and clothing spectrum to the NEC next June, where they will find a natural home alongside our fabulous garden offerings, DIY and retail solutions. All these elements together will help make Glee into an event which really taps the seismic consumer lifestyle shift towards gardening and pet care, grow-your-own and houseplant cultivation – all-round outdoor living with a strong sustainable ethos. Home and Garden are as one at Glee.”

Home, Gift & Clothing Exhibitors

A host of new names will join important returning exhibitors across the home, gift and clothing spectrum, including: Legendary greetings card publishers, Woodmansterne, UK Greetings and Museums & Galleries; British arthouse providers of candles and home fragrance, The Candle Brand and Freckleface; crafting king specialist, Search Press, The Crafty Kit Company; eco-friendly and fairtrade home and gift supplier, Tilnar Art; APAC, which has major brands including Bolsius Candles and a beautiful range of silk flowers, eco-friendly gift and homeware supplier, Jarapa (a specialist in beautiful recycled glass products); major wholesale supplier, Global Journey Gifts, whose original gift ranges are supplied on customised displays with vibrant Point of Sale; handmade wooden plaque and giftware supplier, The Giggle Gift Company; international supplier of candle holders, Hellmann-Versand GmbH, Little Karma, The Wheatbag Company and garden lighting specialist, Lighting Legend.

For the first time in 2023 they will be joined by licensed gift wholesaler, GB Eye (Abysse UK), which has a huge array of branded products featuring a multitude of top licenses from across the

worlds of music, film and television. Toy companies joining the fantastic line-up include Hippychick Ltd, Playmonster UK, Playpress Toys, Robbie Toys Ltd and Toyway by Bachmann.

On the Clothing side are hard-wearing outdoor sock brand, HJ Hall (a great gift for hikers and outdoor workers); fairtrade knitwear supplier, Black Yak, Soake Ltd, and ultra-lightweight wellington boot brand, Leon Boots Co, which can effectively cross the divide from garden centres to specialist shoe shops and department store retailers.

Elsewhere at Glee, buyers in search of the latest trends in home accessories will have the chance to discover the luxurious, design-led gardening, houseplant and outdoor accessories of garden centre favourites such as Burgon & Ball, Ivyline, Capi, KW Metal Flowers and Jonart.

New Look for Glee!

Reflecting the great diversity of companies and brands who come together under one roof at Glee, the show has unveiled beautiful new-look branding which starts its roll out this month (December 2022). Featuring bright colour palette and icons representative of Glee’s product categories, the branding’s rich visual tapestry captures the fresh and forward-thinking lifestyle ethos of an event where consumer trends take shape and come into bloom.

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