California Apparel News

NEW YORK—Femme, the MAGIC International womenswear show held May 6–8 at New York’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, drew high marks for both presentation and the caliber of retailers shopping the show from several West Coast exhibitors.

The consensus among many exhibitors at the show seemed to be that God—or at least a positive show experience—is in the details.

“They’ve gone out of their way to make everyone happy,” said Ace Ross, president of Los Angeles-based junior and tween manufacturer Ace Ross Studios.

“I like the hard-wall booths, the colors they’ve chosen, the ambience, the friendliness. They even came around with gift boxes of snacks for everyone.”

Alex Berenson, president of Los Angeles-based young men’s and junior line Kikwear, said the layout was “consumer friendly” and well organized—signaling to the manufacturer that the organizers were “committed to making this work.”

“When I walked in this morning, they were playing the Sting CD—that’s a small thing, but I liked it,” he said.

Femme was designed as a new show replacing the recently cancelled Style Industrie and the International Boutique Show. The two were among the trade shows acquired by MAGIC parent company Advanstar when it purchased the Larkin Group. MAGIC decided to cancel the two shows, which were held 10 times a year and form a new show—Femme—to be held three times a year in January, May and September, according to Camille Candella, marketing director of MAGIC.

“We’ve completely relaunched and repositioned the show,” explained Candella.

“We’re bringing the expertise of MAGIC to Femme. For example, we have an entire department dedicated to attendees—they visited more than 700 stores last year. And our salespeople are going to meet with exhibitors in the different categories after the show to ask them how they think we can improve. ’Help us to help you’—that’s what we’re telling people. Because if you’re not doing well, we’re not doing well.”

Organizers did not have final exhibitor and attendance numbers at press time, but the show’s aisles were busy, and registration lines were long. But, the measure of any trade show is gauged in the prominence of the buyers who attend and the number of orders they write. Among the retailers present were Barneys New York, Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor and Jacobson’s, as well as specialty chains Gadzooks and Hot Topic, according to Candella.

The presence of so many heavy hitters was encouraging, said Berenson. “We started writing orders at 9:01 a.m. on Sunday. With the show cut back to three days from four, I think people feel they have to get things done, which encourages business.”

Melanie Deans, senior designer for Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Trails Clothing, said the show was a good place for West Coast companies to meet with East Coast accounts.

“The smaller East Coast boutiques don’t necessarily go to MAGIC, but they will come here,” she said. “So if you’re trying to establish yourself, it’s a good start.”

There were some concerns, however, particularly among streetwear exhibitors, that the show’s name and its perceived emphasis on the junior and contemporary markets would harm their chances for sales.

“People have been telling me they don’t like the name,” said Christopher Garcia, sales rep for Los Angeles-based YMLA.

“It’s too feminine, and it goes against the streetwear aesthetic, which is supposed to be edgy and fun.”

Kikwear’s Berenson agreed. “My only real complaint is that it’s been so heavily marketed to juniors,” he said “Streetwear is deeply embedded in the young men’s market and that’s not reflected in the marketing.”

Candella stressed Femme’s commitment to serving a wide array of exhibitors and retailers. “It’s a women’s market but with an extremely important streetwear segment. That’s always been a part of the New York market, and we’re going to continue to help grow that market on the East Coast, absolutely,” she said. “I’ve had exhibitors who are 70 percent menswear tell me that they’ve had great orders. Things have been good across the board.”