California Apparel News

Sportswear for both men and women moved briskly during the sixth installment of the Urban Suburban trade show, held April 2–4 at the California Market Center in Los Angeles.

Karen Mamont, the CMC’s director of merchandising, described the event as “the best show for urban lines in Southern California for the wholesale-to-trade business.”

Mamont said retailer awareness of the three-day show is growing.

“As we continue the show, more retailers are becoming aware of the convenience of shopping here,” Mamont said.

“Our show enables reps to see their retailers locally and can work with them at home, one-on-one. That includes our core group of tenants and the visiting reps who make appointments to see their retailers where it is most convenient.”

Convenience for buyers was the numberone draw for reps such as Barrett Moll, who moved baseball caps and jerseys from the old Negro Baseball League at the show.

“We’re here every day, and we do a lot of business every day, so we’re getting people that we can’t go see,” Moll said. “I’m working with stores from Phoenix, Tucson and Oakland, who are coming in because there’s multiple shopping for them.”

Moll, who recently regained the Snoop Dogg Clothing line for his showroom, said buyers were focused on sportswear that sells quickly in stores.

“We’ve got the license for jerseys and caps from the Negro League from the early 1900s to 1952, and we can’t keep enough,” he said.

Moll said he also carried another sports-inspired jersey line called Streetball, which displays names of cities instead of team names and logos.

West Moore, a rep for the Urban Apparel Association, reported similar results for the Unique Sports Generation label for men and the Mitchell & Nash label for men and women.

“The hottest thing out right now is the casualwear with sports logos for men, but now we have women’s,” said Moore. “The key is that now they are starting to make the sports gear with flavor and designs going back to the old school. At this show, anyone who has activewear, like the Negro League stuff, is on fire.”

Moore said sports-inspired clothing drove appointments and walk-in traffic from department stores and specialty chains, such as Los Angeles–based Hip Hop Connection.

Hip Hop connection’s Ali Elreda focused on shopping for sports designs at the show.

“That’s the hottest item on the market right now,” said Elreda. “You can’t really push jeans or nothing else too much, except for jerseys and hats. It’s a heavy trend right now, so you have to hit it fast because you don’t know when it’s going to go out.”

Stevan K. Hill, senior vice president of Los Angeles–based Bernini’s, also focused on sportswear. Hill said he used Urban Suburban to follow up on shopping initiated at MAGIC International.

Hill also looked for at-once goods and new clothing lines.

“We want to see anything that will generate sales in today’s economy—whatever we think would be hot for right now,” he said.

One new line showing at Urban Suburban was Los Angeles–based Guapo Wear, a Latino-inspired collection of streetwear that includes baseball caps, workmen’s shirts and pants, corduroys, soccer jerseys, jackets, T-shirts and muscle shirts.

Antonio Cowser, a sales rep for the line, said he gathered information for one year before the show and sent out business cards to invite buyers to his showroom. One of these buyers was Cobo Fashions, which placed the first order with Guapo Wear at the show.

“They liked what they saw, and a couple other stores liked it but have to get back to their management before ordering,” said Cowser. “I had my own list, so I was a hundred strong.”

Cowser said interest in the brand was inspired by the Latino portion of the urban community and because of the brand’s difference from current urban offerings.

“This collection is taken straight from the streets of East L.A.,” he said. “We worked with the Latino community to come up with a style that was distinctive and represented their version of urban. The African-American version of urban fashion has had a long reign and will continue, but people are looking for something different from what’s already out there.”

New York–based Vintage by Jordache was another new line that used the show to establish its brand. Designer Chinyere Ugoji described the two-year-old brand as “urban contemporary for the urban woman who likes more fashion-forward, athletic-based clothing.” Fred Segal, Metropolis, Up Against the Wall and D.E.M.O. carry the line.

Ugoji said her goals were to get business and reach out to buyers on the West Coast.

“We’re just starting out, so our main goal is to show people we are here,” she said. “We had mostly appointments, but we had some walk-ins too.”

“This is the only show for the West Coast right now, except for MAGIC,” she added.