California Apparel News

Textile buyer turnout was good but fell below expectations at the Los Angeles International Textile Show, according to several textile reps and organizers who said they were hoping the Oct. 22–24 show at the California Mart would draw traffic from buyers who skipped earlier textile shows.

The Cal Mart does not release attendance numbers for its shows, but executive marketing director Trish Moreno said early indications point to a slight decrease in attendance from last year.

Moreno said show organizers expected to pull attendance from regional designers and buyers who normally source fabrics at Premiere Vision in Paris or at the International Fashion Fabric Exhibition (IFFE) in New York. Both shows, held earlier in October, reported a drop in attendance. “Some of us were expecting the show to be even stronger because the [regional] people who are less likely to travel wouldn’t hit Premiere Vision this year or the IFFE show in New York and would maybe come here,” said Moreno. “But what we did find was that was not the case and instead the [attendance] numbers were a bit down. But a lot of people did do business and were happy with the results of the show.”

Attendees included designers and piece-goods buyers from Guess?, Karen Kane, William B., Tadashi, Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit, Arden B., Private Circle, 10:02, Paper Doll, Estevan Ramos, Anna Huling and Hanna Hartnell. Sales reps reported meeting with visitors from Southern and Northern California, Texas, Florida and Illinois.

This run of the show included a new configuration on the 13th floor of the Cal Mart, as the “B” suites have been renovated as an open space with room for open booths. The show also featured 22 Italian mills exhibiting in the Texitalia group in the Cal Mart Fashion Theater and a new French Pavilion on the 13th floor.

Designer Hanna Hartnell was shopping the French Pavilion before heading downstairs to Texitalia. Hartnell said she was looking for great ethnic pieces and floral tapestries.

“I’m happy to see more people [exhibiting],” the designer said. Hartnell said she does her sourcing locally by working directly with mills and reps or at the Los Angeles textile show.

The three-day show typically starts slow and sees the strongest traffic on its second day. But this season, the traffic started strong, dropped off and then picked up at the end of the third day, according to several reps.

“Today was overly busy,” said Melissa Gibbs, rep for New York-based M & M Industries, on Oct. 24. Gibbs said that, at times, she had customers lined up to see the line.

The company drew several new-to-the-show exhibitors, including Italian Trend, which set up a booth as part of the Texitalia show. The two-year-old Italian company carries novelty leather, suede and denim, including patched and embellished goods, and dyed fur. The company, which sells to companies including Versace, Dolce & Gabbana and Gianfranco Ferre, met with local lines, among them Guess? and Hippie Jeans, according to sales rep Claudio Collino, who will head the new West Coast sales office for the line.

Business was “over what we expected,” according to Collino, who noted that he had run out of business cards by the second day of the show.

Shawn Hakimi, owner of Los Angeles-based converter Assaltex, said the seven-year-old company decided to join the show to expand its customer base and “sell some stock goods to open up space.” The company set up a booth in the Exhibition Hall with prominently displayed signs for its jerseys in a range of stock colors.No Consensus on New Layout

The new configuration on the 13th floor left some exhibitors in closed showrooms and others in open booths. But, while many attendees said they preferred the open booths to closed, “intimidating” showrooms, many exhibitors in that area said they missed the privacy of the showrooms.

“We’d rather have our old booth back,” said Ben Katz, president of Los Angeles-based importer Caravan, noting that closed showrooms offer privacy and the opportunity to personalize and decorate the exhibition space. Plus, he said, “People remember me [when I have a showroom].”

Longtime textile show attendee Gail T. Rabideau, president of You & Me Naturally, based in Waipahu, Hawaii, said she liked the new configuration—although she added that the area needs better lighting.

Rabideau, who was working for the third time with M & M Industries’ Gibbs, said she used to bypass the New York converter when the company was in a showroom.

“I never went into the showroom because it was too intimidating,” she said. She added that in the open booths, “you can feel the fabrics as you are passing them and look in detail.”Signs of Slowdown

Reps said they were pleased to see regular customers plus meet some new ones, but many said they had seen signs of a slowdown coming.

Katz said he expected traffic to be slow at the show.

“All the stores’ budgets are on hold or only partially open,” he said, adding, “Many stores are not even walking. They’re crawling. And watching.”

Katz said he sees the present economic conditions continuing over the next two months “if not more.” Caravan imports prints from Korea, China, Taiwan and Turkey. Katz said his company does package programs for major retailers, as well as sell yardage to manufacturers. But Katz said that because the package business requires advance planning, “it’s going to be chaotic” when the retailers begin building inventory again.

But Stephen Wald, president of Gastonia, N.C.-based Naturally Knits, said that doing business in these uncertain economic times is “intense.”

“Deliveries are obligatory, alibis are not accepted, quality is imperative and [problems] cannot be remedied—there’s no time,” he said.

But Wald said Naturally Knits felt so strong about the Los Angeles market that it introduced six new collections at the show. He added that the company opted to skip the IFFE show in New York but did attend the Fabric Trim Fiber Show in Portland, Ore., in September. The company is focusing its marketing efforts on small and mid-sized companies ranging from $1 million to $25 million in sales, according to Wald, who noted that many Los Angeles companies fall within that range.

New exhibitor Ben Paniri, president of New York-based knit converter Ben-Tex, said he also was focusing on the West Coast market.

Paniri said he saw an immediate change in business following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks but noted that he had made several new contacts at the Los Angeles show and saw hope for a return to normalcy over the next few months.

“We expected a bounce to business overall but it’s been nice to see normal customers still around and functioning,” he said. “Perhaps we’re on the road to recovery.”