California Apparel News

A serious move is afoot to bump up by one or two weeks all of next year’s Los Angeles market weeks.

The next Los Angeles Market Week is scheduled for April 1–6, one of the last major market week dates in the country for the Fall ’04 season. But next year, executives at the California Market Center would like to advance that date by one or two weeks to follow closely behind the Paris Ready-to-Wear shows, normally held at the beginning of March.

The earlier market weeks in Los Angeles would give retail buyers more time to review the lines showcased by local manufacturers and designers, who often find buyers’ budgets practically gobbled up by the time they arrive in Los Angeles.

This would particularly help the array of contemporary designers who note that many buyers have already been to New York, London, Milan and Paris by the time they make it to Southern California.

“Personally, I think this would be a good idea,” said Peter Jacobson, owner of Creative Concepts, a showroom representing European and domestic lines such as Bruno Duluc, Isabel De Pedro, Eli Tahari and Mr. Cat on the second floor of the CMC. “As we grow as an industry in Los Angeles, we need to be addressing the international market on a bigger scale.”

CMC executives have been polling showroom representatives about the changes and talking to other regional apparel marts about shifting the market dates.

“We had thought about changing it in 2004, but we didn’t want to make any sudden changes,” said Jennifer Uner, the CMC’s executive director of advertising and communications. “We are still gathering all the data and exploring the options.”

On March 1, Lorelyn Eaves, vice president of marketing at the CMC, is meeting in New York with other regional apparel mart representatives who gather periodically to coordinate market week dates.

But there is Dallas, Chicago and Atlanta to contend with. Chicago’s market week is a few weeks before Los Angeles’. Dallas’ market week traditionally has come right before Los Angeles Market Week.

Los Angeles’ contemplated changes may not sit well with other marts. “As our California resources continue to expand, we are encouraged by any date decisions that do not encroach on our markets,” said Bill Winsor, president and chief executive of the Dallas Market Center.

The CMC will not confirm any new market week dates for 2005 until July, Uner said.

The idea of moving up the Los Angeles market weeks was reinforced recently by Fern Mallis, executive director of 7th on Sixth, the New York organizer of Mercedes-Benz Shows L.A. and now the organizer of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios, a merged fashion event between Smashbox Studios in Culver City, Calif., and 7th on Sixth.

In announcing the new costs to participate in the upcoming Los Angeles Fashion Week March 29–April 2, Mallis said it was her goal to advance the shows a few weeks to make them closer to the European shows and give Los Angeles more clout.

This is not the first time that organizers have talked about changing the city’s market week dates. Barbara Kramer, co-owner of contemporary and young designer trade show Designers & Agents, said she has spent five years lobbying for a change.

“The dates are absolutely too late. Long ago, Los Angeles’ market week came after Atlanta and Dallas when the market here was basically swimwear and the juniors market and there was no groundbreaking fashion going on,” she said. “More than a dozen years ago, Los Angeles really showed up to be the fashion leader. But the baton never got passed back to L.A.”

Many welcome the move.

“I am in full support of them moving up the Los Angeles market weeks as long as it works,” said Natasha Silver, a partner in Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent, adding that her concern is that her company will have to make extra samples to accommodate competing shows if the markets fall too close together.

But some are opposed to the change.

“I think it creates more problems than it solves,” said Ilse Metchek, executive director of the California Fashion Association. “We are known for being closer to the trends and manufacturing closer to the seasons. I don’t think today’s buyers are ready to place orders earlier. They want speed to market.”