California Apparel News

After a successful four year run in Los Angeles at the W Hotel, the West Coast Collective, a boutique show of upscale menswear, plans to expand its show, taking it to the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas next February, to coincide with MAGIC International's biennial show, while maintaining its local presence. The move is designed to allow West Coast Collective exhibitors the opportunity to meet with more of the buyers who shop at MAGIC, while still keeping the smaller, more intimate setting of the Collective show, according to Larry Hymes, Collective co-founder.

“We started [at the first Collective] with 35 exhibitors, with about 75 lines,” said Hymes. “Today we have more than 70 exhibitors, with about 300 lines.What we found is that there were not enough retailers on the West Coast to expand this show [in Los Angeles].”

Hymes said that the Collective has become successful at attracting retailers who opt to skip other shows. The move to Las Vegas will let the Collective reach those who want to shop at a more focused show than MAGIC.

“MAGIC has become too big,” said Hymes. “We have the kind of lines that allow a store to come in and do one-stop shopping. We’re going to take the same menu and launch the West Coast Collective—Las Vegas.”

The planned move to Las Vegas was well received by both veteran and neophyte Collective exhibitors.

“A lot of designers get in the industry and the first thing they want to do is MAGIC,” said Wendell Williams, who launched his wholesale line at the Collective’s Aug. 5–7 run in Los Angeles. “MAGIC holds 5,000 vendors. What can I do to stand out above 5,000 vendors? You can call it arrogant, but I don’t like being ignored.”

Hymes said that many exhibitors like the Collective’s layout, which features individual showrooms.

“We’ve been asked why don’t we do an open-booth show,” Hymes said. “We’ve taken surveys and [found that] people like doing [the show] in a hotel as opposed to doing it in an open venue. You have the person’s attention, and they’re here to see you.”

Williams also mentioned the cost of exhibiting at MAGIC as a drawback, noting that it is not worth the return. “I’ve seen too many people go out there and spend $15,000 to $20,000 and come back with $2,000 in orders,” he said. “I got more than that sitting here.”

Larry Butterfield, who reps Golden Bear out of San Francisco, has been with the Collective since its inception. He said he finds value in attending both the Collective and MAGIC and is looking forward to the new added show.

“MAGIC’s a very good show for us,” said Butterfield. “It works really well. [The Collective] is a good show for people up and down the coast, but MAGIC is good for both national and international.”

The West Coast Collective—Las Vegas will start the day before MAGIC and run through the second day of the veteran Las Vegas show. Hymes has already contracted 25 rooms in the Four Seasons and said that he will only go up to a maximum of 30.

“I want to keep the show focused,” said Hymes. “The manufacturers are excited that they can be in a place where they are surrounded [by similar] lines. There is no young men’s, no streetwear, no urban[wear], no skateboard [clothing]. It’s just better menswear.”

Williams found that exhibiting his wholesale sportswear collection amidst other better menswear lines at the recent Collective helped his business. At the show, Williams’ showroom was next to that of Kenneth Cole.

“When the buyers came in and wrote the first order, that let me know I’m doing something right,” said Williams.

Not all of the Collective’s exhibitors were happy. Ashraf Bassili, who represents Safrin, a designer of upscale men’s shirts and jackets, found the show to be “extremely slow.”

“We [haven’t seen much foot traffic] except the appointments other exhibitors have made,” said Bassili. “Most of the attendees have been people who have made appointments. They come to see their appointments and maybe they’ll stop in an extra exhibitor’s room. They seem to be targeting exhibitors they have a relationship with or who have a name brand.”

Butterfield, who had a showroom right off of the elevator, was satisfied with the show’s results.

“Traffic’s been good,” he said. “Not strong, but steady. Those people that we wanted to see and needed to see have been here and they’ve been shopping. We have both appointments and the traffic, being where we’re located.”

Many buyers were focused on appointments, but others, like Joe Rossini from Rossini’s Menswear in Modesto, Calif., walked the show between appointments.Rossini said that this was a busier year than normal for him at the show. “I took three days this time,” he noted. “I normally do the show one day or two.”

Hymes noted that there is a visible trend in terms of the numbers of exhibitors and retailers appearing at the Collective.

“[The number of exhibitors has] leveled off at 70. But the attendance of the retailers is increasing and that’s our main goal—to get the retailers here. We’re not looking to go against anybody; we’re looking to carve our own niche,” he said. He added that the move to Las Vegas will allow the number of retailers to continue rising.

Hymes pointed out that one of the aspects of the Collective that made it especially enticing this year for buyers was the event expansion. The show featured a cocktail party on the opening day and added a fashion show to the second evening, featuring male stars of daytime television as models (click here for more on this).

“We’ll do the same kinds of things in Las Vegas that we do here. We want to make the show fun,” Hymes said.