as seen in
$3.50 VOLUME 66, Number 46 October 22–28, 2010
Trade Show Report
Focused Buyers Home In on Accessories, Immediates at L.A. Market
By Andrew Asch, Erin Barajas, Deborah Belgum and Alison A. Nieder
Fewer buyers but more orders. That was the report by many of the
showroom representatives at the Spring 2011 Los Angeles Fashion Market, held in downtown Los Angeles.
Buyers navigated the many wholesale showroom buildings, as well as
temporary trade shows, to place orders for Immediate goods and Spring
merchandise.
“Every season is booking,” said Lisa Fabian, national sales manager for
Torrance, Calif.–based AStars and Alpinestars by Denise Focil, which
were showing at the Designers and Agents show at The New Mart. “It’s
a day-by-day business, and it is very price-point driven.”
Showroom owners and reps reported buyers coming to Los Angeles
from as far as Japan, Mexico and Canada, as well as across the United
States, including major retailers such as Macy’s, Holt Renfrew, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue Mexico, Amazon.com and Zappos.com.
Cruising at the CMC
A certain buzz permeated the California Market Center during the
five-day Los Angeles Fashion Market, which attracted buyers from points
as far away as Japan, Mexico and Puerto Rico. While the CMC does
not release figures for buyer attendance, building officials noted there
were representatives from Nordstrom, the Marshall Retail Group,
Metropark, Saks Fifth Avenue Mexico, Macy’s and Amazon.com.
The CMC organized a number of events, from free haircuts by Oliver
Ifergan on the fifth floor to fashion shows.
While showroom owners felt there were fewer buyers than in the past,
those who showed up were writing orders for Immediates as well as
Spring merchandise.
“Traffic is as expected, meaning there are fewer specialty stores in the
market today,” said Chris Meyers, who represents the XCVI brand and
operates the company’s fifth-floor showroom. (XCVI is 96 in Roman numerals, a reference to the year the company was founded—1996.) “With all
the new buildings and shows in the Fashion District, I think it has diluted
the market,” he said.
But business for his collection of casualwear for women ages 35 to
65 was great. “I couldn’t have been happier, but I would like to see more
cohesiveness in the market,” Meyers said.
About 40 percent of his showroom’s orders were placed for Immediates
with an 11/30 delivery date, and the rest was for Spring. Meyers’ collection
of knits and linen tops, bottoms, jackets and dresses had wholesale price
points ranging from $34 to $79.
Nearby, representatives at the HaleMary Showroom also felt there
were fewer buyers this season. “The people who were here wrote, but
there were fewer people,” said Haley Miller, co-owner of the showroom.
Popular items from the showroom’s several lines of women’s apparel
and accessories included furry sandals and knit hats with crystal pins,
wholesaling for $22 to $32. Other popular items were State of Grace
military and cargo pants made of stretch twill, which wholesaled for $45
to $57.
Buyers were definitely being cautious and carefully selecting their
merchandise. Gerry Puhara, who launched her Tender Treasures store
in Altadena, Calif., in 1982, said that over the past two years she has had
to drop her higher-end lines for more moderate price ranges that appeal
to her middle-aged customer. “It has taken every bit of creative energy I
have to make it work,” she said, noting she has survived several downturns, but this has been the most sustained.
Linen clothing has been popular with her clientele, but at this market
she was hunting for something artsy and out of the ordinary to entice
more people into her store and to her online site.
Attendance rebounding at
The New Mart
The New Mart was “almost” back to normal, according to the showroom building’s general manager, Ethan Eller.
The “normal” that Eller was talking about was buyer attendance. For
the October 2010 fashion market, 1,050 buyers registered at The New
Mart before browsing the building’s showrooms as well as the Designers
and Agents show, which rented space at the building.
The recent attendance numbers were in grasping distance of the robust
attendance figures of the October market in 2007, when 1,195 buyers
registered at The New Mart. (Attendance declined during the recession,
with 988 registered buyers at the October 2008 market and 880 registered
buyers at the October 2009 market, Eller said.)
“It’s only guesswork, but I believe we will see a slight uptick in Christmas spending,” he said. “I think things will remain well short of 2007 levels
at the height of the boom and before all this economic woe took over.”
The New Mart showroom owners reported good business. Jackie Bartolo, owner of the Jackie Bartolo Showroom, said buyers seemed confident about the economy. “People were ready to buy. They gave me less
notes than at the past couple of markets,” she said of buyers who were
ordering, not taking notes, on her showroom lines Members Only, Costa
Blanca, Velvet Heart and Urban Behavior.
Bartolo said price continued to be important; her lines’ price points all
retail for under $200. Joel Gossman, co-owner of The New Mart’s The Gig
showroom, said buyers were still looking for novelty and unique styles.
During this market, his showroom, which focuses on fashion underwear
and sleepwear, introduced Spanx for Men T-shirts, which offer men shaping and support.
Retailers shopping The New Mart, D&A and other shows in the Intersection said accessories have increasingly made a difference in a boutique’s bottom line. “Bags have always been fabulous,” said Diane Merrick, owner of the Los Angeles–based Diane Merrick boutique. “Belts
are more important this year than they have been in a long time.”
She also ordered T-shirts from Los Angeles label Cotton Citizen during the show.
➥ Market page 2
www.apparelnews.net
trade show report
Market Continued from page 1
During this market, retailer Thora Dowdell emphasized ordering jewelry and accessories. “People are
much more willing to invest in jewelry, which they
can wear over and over again, rather than a high-end
T-shirt that will go out of style in a season,” she said.
She is co-owner of Club Tattoo, a Tempe, Ariz.–based
chain of five stores. The flagship store is located in the
Planet Hollywood hotel and casino in Las Vegas.
Holiday soft at Cooper
Reports from showrooms were mixed at the Cooper Design Space, with some noting steady—and,
others, slow—traffic. Many pointed to a lack of interest in Holiday Immediates as a reason for the sluggish
market.
Meghan Kratochvil, owner of the Sabrina Showroom in the Cooper’s lobby, said she relies on walk-in
traffic and had expected a strong Spring market. But
buyers, she said, are still writing close to date, and
Holiday simply isn’t a huge business for many West
Coast buyers. “The March market, I think, will be decent.”
Diana Vilato, owner of The Style Assembly showroom, said Holiday goods aren’t checking on the West
Coast in general right now. “I think it’s really tightly tied
to the weather. Holiday is starting to check on the East
Coast, where it is just beginning to get cold,” she said.
Finances, too, continue to play a role in buys. “All of
[retailers’] money is tied up in Fall clothing stock right
now. I think there’ll be a last-minute rush in November
for Holiday.” Still, she said, there were bright spots at
Market. “Thank God for the Japanese [buyers]!” she
said, noting that while her apparel brands didn’t do a
lot of business, Japanese buyers kept her accessories
business strong throughout the market. “They bought
tons of jewelry—80 percent of our accessories business
came from them.”
Ted Baker, which opened its first Los Angeles
showroom and U.S. “Ted-quarters” at the Cooper this
summer, reported a good market thanks to interest in
its casual menswear and quirky feminine Spring offerings. “A lot of majors came through,” said Patrick
Heitkam, Ted Baker’s executive vice president of
wholesale and licensing for the United States. Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor, Zappos and Amazon.com all
made an appearance, he reported. “We did learn that
this is an appointment-driven market. In the future, we
will make more appointments.”
ACCESSORIES FOCUSED: Sales
of jewelry and handbags outpaced
apparel at The Style Assembly
thanks to interest from international
buyers.
shirts collection, wholesaling for $24 to $48, did well
with a new category—oversized fleece cardigans for
Fall. Alpinestars, which focuses on premium fabrications in silk and washed leather, earned interest in its
fitted leather tuxedo jacket, but price-conscious buyers
held off on placing orders, opting instead for slouchy
silk tops.
Los Angeles–based designer Minden Chan used
D&A as a platform to help reintroduce his eponymous
brand to buyers. Formerly a full contemporary collection, Chan pared the line back to T-shirts made of linen
and Tencel when the economy hit the skids. “It’s been
mainly T-shirts for two years. Now I’m pushing it back
into more of a contemporary collection,” he said. He’s
optimistic that the contemporary market is strengthening, he said.
For Spring 2011, Chan added lightweight cashmere sweaters and shrunken blazers to the collection.
Wholesaling for $130 to $145, the cashmere pieces
outpaced the jackets, which wholesale for upwards of
$265. “It’s a combination of the fact that the jackets
may be too heavy [for West Coast stores] for Spring,”
Chan said, but price resistance also played a role. “It
was important to have them, though, because they
pave the way for Fall, when layers become key,” he
added. For Fall 2011, Chan will add more cashmere
knits to the line, grow its jacket offerings and shrink
its T-shirt offerings.
Brighte shines
On the first floor of the CMC, nearly 50 vendors
crowded into the Fashion Theater for the Oct. 15–18
Brighte show, organized by ENK International.
CMC CENTRAL: Chris Meyers saw
Some vendors felt there was very little business writfewer buyers at this market, but the
ones that showed up were placing
ten while others were over the top about the recent show.
orders.
Success hinged on reasonable prices and merchandise
selection.
“We have had an amazing show, maybe the biggest
show in 10 years,” said Bruce Moore, director of sales
for the women’s shoe line Boutique 9, owned by the
Jones Apparel Group. Vintage casual shoes are popular right now, which explained the popularity of the
label’s oxfords, ankle boots and high-heeled sandals,
wholesaling for $44 to $70. “If you have a trendy item
that consumers are responding to, the buyers are attuned
to that,” Moore said.
Not far away, Christa Lubeck was standing in the
Dress to Kill booth, filled with flowy garments whose
color range of blacks, beiges, grays and celery greens
HOT SELLERS: Bright and fun
was
modest but elegant. “We’ve had a very good maraccessories, such as these knit hats
ket, one of our best shows,” said Lubeck, a design
with a bit of bling, were selling well
assistant with the Los Angeles–based label. The colat the HaleMary Showroom at the
Key buyers at Designers and Agents
California Market Center.
lection, made of cotton, was wholesaling for $59 to
$390.
Normally held in both The New Mart and the CooA few aisles over, Jamie Connolly was waiting for buyers to take a
per Design Space for Spring markets, this season, Designers and Agents’
look at his collection of occasional dresses and evening gowns, which
organizers opted to limit the show to The New Mart’s third floor. “We
wholesale for $139 to $229 under the Issue label. He complained he
could have gone bigger, but we decided to really focus the show in one
had seen only 10 buyers in four days, yet he still was able to pick up
area,” said Ed Mandelbaum, D&A’s co-founder. In all, 132 collections
one or two store accounts. “In the past, the shows, in general, have
showed at D&A, with attendance shrinking by 3 percent compared with
been okay, but this is the first one where traffic was not that heavy,” he
the market six months prior. Buyers from Len Druskin, Canada’s Holt
observed. ●
Renfrew, Wendy Foster, Beams Japan, Pitkin Country Dry Goods,
For additional coverage
Scoop and Ron Herman shopped the advanced contemporary boutique
of
Focus, the Gerry
trade show.
check
the
web
Building,
the Lady Liberty
Exhibitors reported slowed traffic, with buyers’ attention divided bebuilding, the Academy
tween Fall/Holiday 2010 and Spring 2011.
Awards Building and the
According to Alpinestars’ Fabian, AStars, the company’s fashion T-
ApparelNews.net
Primrose Building