Poland's NecroExpo: Where the Grim Reaper cashes in

This season, grey is the new black. And pale pine is in.

If you're a trend-conscious undertaker looking for the latest in funeral-wear and coffins, or simply hunting for a hearse, then Poland's annual NecroExpo is where it's at.

The three-day event, which just wrapped its third edition in the southern town of Kielce, is a magnet in a business where the Grim Reaper is as much about rewards as souls.

Like any trade fair, NecroExpo has its share of scantily-clad hostesses - but in this case they pitch high-end Italian hearses or kitsch white coffins lined with lace.

At one stand, exhibitor Grzegorz Szymanski showed off swish ensembles including ceremonial undertakers' outfits.

"Contrary to what people think, really dark colours don't dominate. Only 10 per cent of what we sell is black. The rest are in greys, graphite, and so on," said Mr Szymanski.

"There's no rule saying it has to be black. Black's out," he said. Mr Szymanski also produces coffin-wear to make corpses look at their best.

"There really isn't much difference between suits for the deceased and those for the living," he said, fingering the lapel of a smart three-piece.

"And for the ladies, it can't just be any old thing. It has to be tiptop," he added, pointing out a retro-style black and white dress.

Trends are equally marked in the coffin business, said Bartlomiej Lindner, whose family firm is Poland's largest producer, turning out 132,000 caskets a year.

"It all depends on the season. In the spring, for example, we sell many more clear colours," he said.

Mr Lindner, whose firm exports to the German-speaking world, explained that foreign markets have quirks.

"For example, you can't sell this in France or Britain," he said, tapping a rectangular pine coffin which is the norm in Germany.

"In the trade we nickname this the 'Dracula'," he added, pointing to an elongated hexagonal-shaped casket, favoured in Poland, Britain and France.

Coffins range from €35 for what the company calls, discreetly, its "Model S" - for "social welfare" - to €1,500 for a top-of-the-range carved casket. "Right now, given the crisis, we're probably selling more of the cheaper models. But we still sell high-end ones. It all depends on the customer's budget," said Mr Lindner. More than 90 per cent of Poland's 38 million inhabitants are professed Roman Catholics. While the Church has dropped old objections to cremation, habits die hard with many priests. Burials remain the norm: There are around 300,000 a year, compared to 25,000 cremations. "The market's very competitive," said Karol Czartoryski, 24, of a family-run funeral supplies wholesaler's. "I was born into this business. I knew from the start that I wanted to do this," he added.