California Apparel News

Buyers were cautiously optimistic at the recent Los Angeles gift show at the California Market Center, one of several venues where buyers could shop for gifts, home deacute;cor and accessories.

“We didn’t have the opportunity to mail invitations to our existing customers, and it’s much busier than we expected,” said Mark Wasserman, president of the Home Deacute;cor Group Inc., one of five new showrooms on the eighth floor of the CMC.

This is the first showroom for Wasserman, who said he attended the regional gift shows for years before deciding to open his own permanent space. Home Deacute;cor Group sells floral arrangements, dried flowers, artificial trees, ribbon, vases, lamps, candleholders and antique reproduction furniture to decorators, furniture stores, florists and gift shops.

The CMC opened 10 new showrooms in time for the market, which held preview days July 15–18 before the July 19–22 run of the show.

The event was held in multiple venues in downtown Los Angeles. The California Gift Show was held at the CMC and the Los Angeles Convention Center, and the Gift & Home Furnishings Market ran July 15–22 at the L.A. Mart.

The CMC does not release attendance numbers, but executives were enthusiastic about the increased traffic at the show.

“We are thrilled to have exceeded our aggressive projections of 31 percent over last year and 18 percent over our January ’03 show in retail attendance for this eight-day California Gift Show and Preview at the California Market Center,” said Cecil Strickland, executive director for retail relations. “During the first four days alone we welcomed retailers from 39 states and 9 countries.”

Among the retailers shopping the market were Lamps Plus Inc., Longs Drug Stores Corp., Marine Corps Exchange, Pier 1 Imports Inc., The May Department Stores Co., SkyMall Inc., Smithsonian Catalog and The TJX Companies Inc., according to the CMC.

The gift market is relatively new for the CMC. The building’s tenant base expanded beyond apparel and fashion accessories in 2001, when building owner Hertz Investment Corp. signed a deal with Dmg World Media, the Dallas Market Center and George Little Management LLC, producers of the California Gift Show, to bring gift showrooms to the building.

Although most of the reps in the CMC said they were pleased with the orders and contacts they made at the market, many said the traffic seemed a bit slow.

“The traffic’s been inconsistent,” said Michael McGilvray, principal of Anne McGilvray & Co. on the 10th floor of the CMC. “The good thing is that the people that are here are buying. A lot of buyers are cautious, and instead of traveling, they are relying on field reps coming to see them. My road business is great.”

McGilvray said he saw inconsistent traffic at the recent Dallas gift market, as well. But the outlook for the holiday season appears good, he said.

“They didn’t spend money in the first half of the year, so they have to going into the second half,” he reasoned.

Most of the business at the New Creative Enterprises Inc. showroom on the eighth floor was from existing accounts, said Tracie Van Eimeren, national and regional sales trainer for the company, which recently relocated from the L.A. Mart.

New Creative Enterprises— which carries Square Nest vintage-inspired home decorating products, Stitchworks flags and Hopscotch gift and home accents for babies and tweens—attends all the regional gift shows, including the Philadelphia show that runs concurrently with the California show.

Van Eimeren said some accounts were buying more cautiously than others.

“It’s a mixed bag,” she said. “Some are holding steady and waiting to see what the next few months bring. They’re filling in holes [in their inventory], but they’re not buying deep. But for some of them, the last couple of months have done really well.”

In California Marketing Associates, a larger showroom on the 13th floor of the CMC, business was looking upbeat overall, principal Carol Lang reported.

While Lang acknowledged that some retailers have been struggling, she said smart ones have been healthy.

“The ones that are doing well sell high-quality, unique products that aren’t available in mass distribution channels,” she said.

CMA carries 120 lines of home deacute;cor, personal-care items and gifts such as Demdaco’s Willow Tree collection of carved nativity scenes and figures, which Lang said she expects to be a hit this holiday season.

Also, the strong housing market continues to trickle down into the home deacute;cor category as new home buyers purchase bedding, wall hangings, kitchenware and other items, said Lang, who reported strong business with vendors such as Bailey Street Trading Co., Abigail’s glassware and Global Views bed and bath items.

There’s also the “nesting” factor—older consumers are downsizing into new housing, which has also propelled the home-furnishings sector.

Richard Firestone, chief executive officer of Firestone Associates on the CMC’s 12th floor reported similar trends but said he thought higher-end products within the home-furnishings sector were struggling.

“You’re not seeing consumers spending $1,700 for bedding sets,” he said. Instead, Firestone saw lots of interest in affordable novelty items such as Red Hat Society jewelry, Sandylion Sticker Designs paper products for children, garden gifts and partyware including wine and cheese glassware.

Retailers said they were pursuing niche marketing to stay ahead of the curve. Yvonne McFadden of Carefree, Ariz.–based Reasons in Carefree said she shopped gift markets all over the country to find the right items that sell.

“We’re doing very good right now, because we’re doing a lot of work. I find things in Boston that I can’t find anywhere else, and it’s the same with L.A.,” she said.

Carol and Debbie Rink of Bakersfield, Calif.–based Halley Rose’s Fantasy Tea Parties sell jewelry, picture frames, tea sets and “princessy items” to the young girls’ market.

“We’re doing well because we’re the only one in town with this kind of a business,” said Carol Rink. The Rinks put on fashion shows, parties and events for young girls and sell merchandise for such events in their store.

Crossing over to fashion

CMC executives have been touting the benefits of crossmerchandising between the gift and home segments since the addition of the gift showrooms. For this market, the CMC provided attendees with a list of apparel showrooms that were open during market. Some apparel reps reported meeting with gift buyers.

Crystal Liu, a rep with the Engel’s Showroom on the 10th floor, said gift buyers, as well as a few accessories buyers, stopped by during market.

“We were really busy,” she said. “When our manufacturers came by, we were all working with customers.”

Liu said gift buyers were particularly interested in specialty handbags. Among the accessories lines carried in the Engel’s Showroom are Aimee, Faith Knight, Jenny Lu, Liz Soto, Luca, Maple, Mi Reina and Leatherock.

Home 101 of Palm Springs, Calif., and Velvet Leopard of Santa Rosa, Calif., were among the buyers who visited the showroom. Existing clientele Mama Guitar and Dancing Heart, both from Japan, and Bee & Thistle of Portland, Ore., were also in town to shop the show.

The next hurdle appears to be bringing the apparel buyers to the gift show. Few gift reps reported meeting with many apparel buyers.

Several gift and home showrooms are stepping up their efforts to court apparel retail buyers.

Home Deacute;cor Group’s Wasserman said he and the other showrooms on the eighth floor were so pleased with the turnout at the CMC market that they decided to stay open every Tuesday between gift shows. And New Creative Enterprises’ Van Eimeren said her showroom will stay open Monday through Thursday between markets.