The Exclusive Menswear Show Sold
Another trade show has been swiped up by a competitor.
Norwalk, Conn.–based Business Journals Inc. (BJI), parent company of MR magazine and MRketplace.com (www.mrketplace.com), has reached an agreement to acquire the Los Angeles–based menswear show The Exclusive, held four times a year in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition of The Exclusive will better balance BJI’s trade-show portfolio with a menswear segment as well as provide synergies between its publishing and trade-show businesses. BJI runs AccessoriesTheShow in New York and Las Vegas; Fashion Avenue Market Expo, also known as FAME, in New York; and Moda Manhattan in New York and its new sister show, Moda Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, all catering to the women’s market.
MR magazine has been a longtime supporter of The Exclusive, which caters to high-end menswear specialty stores through its large stable of luxury menswear suppliers.
The acquisition will officially be effective following the Aug. 26–28 run of The Exclusive, to be held at The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas. The show will then be renamed MRket and will continue to take place twice a year in Las Vegas, with the first show set for Feb. 11–13, 2008.
Lizette Chin, former show manager of ENK’s The Collective men’s show in New York and current advertising director for MR magazine, has been named to the additional post of show director of MRket. Larry Hymes, co-founder of The Exclusive, will remain with the show as director of sales and will continue to be based in Los Angeles.
Hymes said that the fate of the twice-ayear Los Angeles shows, formerly known as the West Coast Exclusive, “is up for discussion,” adding, “My feeling is that they will maintain it.”
In the past, Hymes has said he and other board members were not interested in selling the show. A number of trade shows have traded hands since then. In 2005, MAGIC’s parent company, AdvanStar, acquired the Los Angeles–based Pooltradeshow and New York–based Project Global Trade Show.
“We felt it was time. We didn’t really have the financing to grow the company. We needed a company like BJI with the money and infrastructure to get to the next level,” said Hymes. “They have great publishing and multimedia resources, including a popular Web site, to make this a perfect show.”
Hymes added that he will be the only Exclusive executive to remain with the new owners. Co-founder Hyela Makoujy is retiring from the trade-show business.
Retailer Glenn Laiken of Culver City, Calif.–based menswear retailer Alandales said it’s too early to tell how the acquisition will affect the quality of the show, but he’s optimisic.
MR is a “passionate group,” he said. “[Publisher] Stu [Nifoussi] is on top of his business. He runs a good business.”
Laiken said the challenge is to coordinate the Las Vegas shows to cater to buyers. “Time is our most valuable resource, and at some point, all the show people have to get together and make the right choices for the buyers. It’s too spread out right now.”
The Exclusive started as a regional show in Los Angeles 10 years ago. It expanded to Las Vegas in 2002. BJI executives said they plan to launch a global marketing campaign to promote the new show.
Said BJI President Britton Jones in a statement: “MRket will truly create a better venue in Las Vegas for the upscale menswear manufacturers and retailers during a crucial selling season.” —Robert McAllister
