Project L.V. Moves to The Venetian
The Project Global Trade Show announced it will switch venues for its second run in Las Vegas. The industry event will move to The Venetian hotel from the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.
The move came after New York–based Project recorded a solid turnout at its February debut and tripled the number of companies expected to attend the show in August.
Project will take the space previously used by ENK International’s Brighte Vegas, which bowed at The Venetian with about 100 exhibitors in February. ENK International will not return to Las Vegas in August.
ENK President Elyse Kroll said the New York company will produce a Las Vegas show in February. “We had a successful show,” she said. “But we decided it was not perfect for us. We learned what the market needed, and we will be back in a much better way.” An announcement of the location and dates for the show are forthcoming.
Project arrived in Mandalay Bay in February,next to the Pool Trade Show and The Exclusive. Seventy-five companies occupied about 110 booths on 35,000 square feet. Project founder Sam Ben-Avraham said the August show will use about 120,000 square feet for 270 booths and 235 companies. He said price rates will not change for the show, scheduled to run Aug. 28–30, although he declined to disclose them. “We had great demand. The only space available at the moment was at The Venetian,” he said.
Both Pool and The Exclusive will remain at Mandalay Bay. Amy Freeman-Cohen, the onsite producer for The Exclusive LLC in Los Angeles, said that although The Exclusive is outgrowing its space at Mandalay Bay, the company will use the best location to accommodate the high-end menswear resources that show at The Exclusive and the boutique retailers that attend.
Ronda Walker, the founder of Los Angeles–based Pool, pointed out that it will be difficult to lure buyers to The Venetian to attend Project, which benefited from run-off traffic from Pool and The Collective during its first run in Las Vegas. She said, via e-mail, that Pool expects 14,000 buyers at its August event, a dramatic increase from the 300 retailers that came to its first show in 2001.
Ben-Avraham conceded that some people may not agree with his decision to move to The Venetian. One challenge retail buyers faced in February was shuttling among The Venetian, Mandalay Bay and the Las Vegas Convention Center, where the behemoth MAGIC International was held. Ben-Avraham advised buyers to schedule one or two full days to shop at Project.
Ben-Avraham said newcomers to Project’s show in August will include 55 DSL, Custo Barcelona, Da-Nang, Paige Premium Denim, Farmer Jeans, Juicy Couture, Paul & Joe and True Religion.
Project also will be where some new labels will launch. Denim veteran Adriano Goldschmied plans to unveil the men’s collection from his new GoldSign label. Ben-Avraham said pop star Justin Timberlake will introduce his new jeans and streetwear collection, called William Rast, at Project.
—Khanh T.L. Tran, with additional contributions provided by Andrew Asch
