Progressive Gifts & Home February 2025 Issue Out Now

Welcome to the fabulous February 2025 issue of Progressive Gifts & Home!

Hot on the heels of the January trade shows, Harrogate Christmas & Gift, Giving & Living, Top Drawer and Scotland’s Trade Fair Spring, there’s a heightened sense of anticipation surrounding this year’s Spring Fair, (2-5 February), which will be celebrating the show’s all-important milestone 75^th anniversary.

Above: Queen Elizabeth is shown officially opening the NEC in 1976. — **Above:** Queen Elizabeth is shown officially opening the NEC in 1976.

Of course, we all enjoy looking forward to celebrating something special, especially in today’s uncertain times, and what could fit the bill better than four days that bring gift industry colleagues and friends together? Click through to page 11, and also to pages 37-41, to discover how a selection of exhibitors are approaching Spring Fair. The ‘live’ Gift of the Year judging will again be taking place in Hall 5 for the second consecutive year. And as a long-standing Gift of the Year judge, I, for one, can’t wait to see and pick up the fabulous shortlisted products!

Above: The Gift of the Year judging at last year’s Spring Fair. — **Above:** The Gift of the Year judging at last year’s Spring Fair.

Meanwhile, with less than favourable analysts reports on Christmas trading, we wanted to know how, specifically, independent gift retailers fared. Click through to pages 21-25 to see if they bucked the trend (spoiler alert, thankfully, it was a Christmas cracker for the majority of gift indies), and to Gift of the Gab – click through to page 29 – for more upbeat feedback from PG&H’s columnist Bill Nettelfield, owner of Bill & Bert’s in Colchester.

Above: Team Bill & Bert’s at Christmas. — **Above:** Team Bill & Bert’s at Christmas.

On the product front, we highlight the new launches for Spring/Summer, with floral and fruity fragrances among those trending in home fragrance – click through to pages 65-69 – and earrings among the stars in the jewellery firmament. Click through to pages 93-97. We also follow the sustainability journey of manufacturers and suppliers across the spectrum, ranging from gifts, home fragrance, plush and stationery to tabletop and food, as we go into 2025. To discover what’s next as companies continue their sustainability quest, click through to pages 77-81.

Above: Colourful earrings from Hot Tomato. — **Above:** Colourful earrings from Hot Tomato.

Elsewhere in this issue, we hear what suppliers have to say about the ‘will he, won’t he?’ possibility of Donald Trump bringing in universal import tariffs of between 10 to 20% in 2025. Click through to pages 31-33. We also turn the spotlight on Lesser & Pavey and the company’s new launches for the coming season – click through to pages 34-35. Plus, we discover more about the ambitious plans that are in the pipeline for The Herdy Company – click through to pages 74-75 – and learn more about cult-favourite Legami. Click through to pages 62-63.

Above: Eight new Lynsey Johnstone designs from Lesser & Pavey. — **Above:** Eight new Lynsey Johnstone designs from Lesser & Pavey.

With our thoughts now turning to retail excellence, The Greats Gift Retailer Awards are still very much open for entries – the closing date is 11 February – so if you think you’re a retailer that’s a cut above the rest, please take time out to enter this year’s competition. Simply email your entry to me directly at suem@max-publishing.co.uk while, if you’re a supplier, we’d love you to tell us which retailers you’d like to nominate! Click through to page 9 for more about the competition.