California Apparel News

The Los Angeles swimwear industry’s biannual swim show, International Swimwear/Activewear Market (ISAM), is considering moving its venue from the California Mart to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, according to show director Barbara Brady.

ISAM’s Task Force Committee/Board of Directors on Oct. 1 voted 9 to 1 in favor of moving the show. ISAM plans to make an official announcement at the next general membership meeting on Oct. 9, Brady said.

The decision to move stems from failed attempts to resolve a leasing issue with the Cal Mart, which has hosted ISAM for the past 20 years. Brady was reluctant to give full details of a meeting with Cal Mart leasing representatives but did confirm that she would be moving her day-to-day operations to an office in the Toluca Lake section of Los Angeles.

“The board has wanted to move away from downtown for a while now; the Cal Mart’s lack of interest has only helped us take the necessary steps to move forward with our decision,” Brady said.

Cal Mart executive vice president Kit Marchel said she was very surprised to hear ISAM’s decision to leave the Cal Mart, adding that certain factors in ISAM’s leasing arrangement with the Cal Mart had changed within the past year, particularly with the onset of the building’s new leasing parameters.

The Cal Mart recently struck a deal with Dallas Market Center, dmg world media and George Little Management LLC to bring gift industry tenants to the building. Plans are underway to relocate existing tenants and renovate the building in time for a July 2002 opening. The deal will bring the Cal Mart to 100 percent occupancy, according to building executives.

“I’m a huge swim advocate and we welcome swim in this building,” Marchel said. “We honored our arrangement with ISAM without a lease because we believed in the show. We made every effort to create a mutually beneficial collaboration going forward and were surprised and saddened to learn that [Brady] decided to leave the building.”

Cal Mart officials said the building plans to continue to support a swimwear trade show in the building, with or without the participation of the ISAM organization. Marchel said she wants to help make Los Angeles a point of interest to swimwear markets.

Will Buyers Head to the Beach?

One of the main questions on the industry’s mind is whether or not ISAM’s junior and activewear buyers and exhibitors will follow the show to Santa Monica. The Cal Mart runs a concurrent junior and contemporary market that typically draws buyers from major department stores.

Stuart Berman of Bregman and Associates in the California Mart said he believes the October market is the most important women’s market of the year for California. “To separate the swim portion from juniors would be a major mistake,” he said.

“ISAM has been a fixture of the California Mart and a vital part of our Spring market for so many years,” Berman added. “Specialty stores would not be as affected as department stores because [department stores] usually cover other categories, such as dresses. However, most of our swim buyers preview swim in Miami. By making swim more inconvenient for buyers to shop in Los Angeles, [that] only makes Miami that much more important.”

Ilse Metchek, executive director of the California Fashion Association, said moving the show would pose a problem for retailers who shop the October market for both apparel and swim lines. “The object here is to make it easier to accommodate buyers, not more difficult, and this is making it more difficult,” she said.

Metchek also noted that the news comes at a time when the industry is attempting to consolidate its efforts to promote the Los Angeles apparel industry, of which the swim industry is a part.

“We invite the participation of the swim group to make this a more effective marketplace,” she said. “We invite their input. We invite their expertise and we invite an industry push for a greater focus here.”

For those retailers who are looking for both swim and apparel, the move will mean having to drive to opposite ends of Los Angeles to place orders for one season.

Retailer Pillar Jenson of Pillar’s Beachwear in San Diego said the show’s location would likely affect her routine, adding that much of her stores’ sportswear pieces are ordered at the California Mart during ISAM.

“It seems more practical to have the show at the California Mart because many retail store buyers aren’t just there to buy swimsuits only; sometimes they like to shop for new lines,” she said.

For the time being, Brady said she is focusing on swim vendors only. “Swim belongs at the beach,” she noted.

Some swim executives were more supportive of the idea.

David Burnett, president of Liz Claiborne Swimwear, said any venue would be successful “with the correct marketing auml;nd support from the vendors and local representatives.”

ISAM’s dates have also posed problems for some buyers who believe the show is set too late in the season, falling last on the swim trade show calendar behind large shows in Miami and New York. Retailer Tom O’Hara, owner of Gone Bananas in San Diego, said the show is “mostly for catching up with buyers and [finalizing] deals for the upcoming year.”

“By the time ISAM rolls around I’ve already put in my orders for Spring and Summer collections,” he said.

ISAM began 20 years ago when several swimwear manufacturers approached the Cal Mart to sponsor a “grass roots” swimwear show. Brady, who joined ISAM 14 years ago, said the original concept was to create the first international swimwear association.

Over the years, ISAM’s membership grew from 10 members to 130, including associate members.The association includes exhibitors from about 20 international manufacturers that hail from the Caribbean region, Canada, Israel, Europe and South America, among other areas.

Cal Mart executives said ISAM’s international buyer attendance is down about 2 percent, adding that the show’s focus is mostly regional now, particularly as it faces such competition as the Miami Swim Show held in July.

Brady said part of the Cal Mart’s commitment to ISAM for the past 20 years has been to provide a home base for the association, which included subsidizing the cost of its office space, as well as pay for all aspects of the show’s production.