A recent LinkedIn post from Nico Blauw of Boti reopened a familiar debate. He argued that the toy industry is driven by fear of missing out, that we chase fairs because we worry everyone else will be there. There is a sliver of truth in that idea. Anyone who works in this field knows the pressure to stay visible. Yet most travel decisions are far less emotional than they appear. When margins are tight and retail influence sits in fewer hands, missing one timely meeting can cost you a season. What looks like FOMO is usually a practical calculation.
Fairs rise or fall for the oldest reason in commerce. They either provide value or they no longer do. Distoy is a clear example. At its peak it was efficient, compact and genuinely useful. When it stopped evolving, the return weakened and exhibitors quietly stepped away. No dramatic ending, no heroic intervention, simply a market deciding that the cost no longer matched the benefit.
Some of the new European attempts are already showing similar weaknesses. Amsterdam does not fill a real need and relies on the hope that enough companies will feel obliged to attend. Many have already chosen not to. Prague presents itself as a lower cost alternative to Distoy, although the pricing does not support that story. It deserves to be observed, although it must prove it solves something meaningful rather than becoming one more date in an already crowded year.
The rise of Los Angeles in September is the clearest contrast. LA in April has little purpose. LA in September has become one of the key fixtures on the international calendar. Not because of aggressive promotion, but because the industry itself chose it. Two weeks in El Segundo is long and costly, although the value is obvious. In earlier years the faces were mostly familiar. This year they were not. That alone says everything about how quickly the event is expanding.
LA did not grow by accident. The reason it works is that people who actually operate in the industry built it from the ground up. One of them is Jonathan Busher, who played a central part in shaping the September cycle long before others attempted to align themselves with it. His work created the environment that many now rely on.
This rapid growth has also led to new structures. The TA has now taken a significant step by leasing a building in Los Angeles, which shows far more than casual interest and reflects how firmly the September cycle has established itself. Separately, the International Toy Board is taking shape as a non-profit created to support the growing number of overseas companies operating from El Segundo during this period. Its focus is practical: providing visibility, maintaining a directory, and helping international participants navigate a city that is not naturally designed for spontaneous meetings. One of its founding members is Jonathan Busher, which fits naturally with his long involvement in building the September presence.
While LA grows, Hong Kong in January continues its steady decline. Exhibitors fall, visitors fall, and the fair feels smaller each year. The private showrooms still function, and business still gets done behind closed doors, although it is reasonable to question how long that model can survive if the show around it keeps shrinking.
Shanghai sits at the opposite end of the spectrum. This year’s fair was confident, busy and increasingly international. It has not yet taken a firm place in the global calendar, although it is moving in that direction and arguably deserves one.
Local fairs such as London, Melbourne, Mumbai and Deauville continue to serve their domestic markets well. They play an important role regionally, although they do not position themselves as global gatherings, which is why they sit outside this discussion.
So are we sheep, as Nico provocatively suggested, or are we simply navigating an industry where every decision counts? The answer is simple. We are not sheep. We are responding to commercial realities. Some choices look like FOMO from the outside, although many are calculated steps to avoid missing opportunities that genuinely matter.
A fair must earn its place. Those that generate real meetings, clear progress and actual orders will remain. Those that rely on habit or nostalgia will fade, and the industry will be better for it. If anything, the real challenge is not the number of fairs, but recognising which ones still deserve the time, the money and the miles.
Thierry, a seasoned international sales and marketing expert, founded Konomocha in 2015. With over 20 years of experience, he helps toy and stationery brands expand into EMEA and APAC markets.
This article also appeared in Edition 18 of The Toy Universe Magazine
