California Apparel News

NEW YORK—Quality matters. That was the general theme for buyers who converged on the Big Apple for the women’s contemporary and designer trade shows held Feb. 18–22.

The shows—Fashion Coterie, Designers and Agents, The Train and Platform 2—attracted high-end boutiques and department-store buyers looking for the next big thing in fashion.

For buyers who made it to New York days after a blast of cold weather hit on Feb. 14 and led to a mass cancellation of Jet Blue flights the following weekend, the shows offered plenty of quality clothing with expanded show offerings.

Fashion Coterie – new venue

Buyers had new ground to cover as Fashion Coterie was held this season, mostly under one roof. Organizers moved contemporary exhibitors to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Manhattan’s West Side because of construction at the Show Piers, where Coterie is usually held.

Bridge lines and the European Pavilion, including Italian exhibitors, remained on Pier 90 and Pier 92. “People didn’t think Coterie could work in a convention center, but it does,” said Elyse Kroll, executive director of ENK, organizers of Fashion Coterie. “We had to find another home. They had these dates available, and we took them.”

Approximately 18,000 visitors attended the show, which ran Feb. 20–22. This year, Coterie was held right after the MAGIC Marketplace in Las Vegas (Feb. 13–16), instead of following New York Fashion Week, which took place Feb. 2–9.

Normally, Coterie organizers prefer to directly follow New York Fashion Week, but the show’s delayed timing was unavoidable. “We will do anything under our power to be after Fashion Week. It was a circumstance that was unavoidable,” said Kroll, who was still happy the show missed most of the big chill that enshrouded the region for days.

The show, which included approximately 1,600 exhibitors, attracted buyers from the East Coast, including Macy’s East, Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys New York; leading West Coast retailers Ron Herman, Madison and Lisa Kline; and international stores from as far away as Jakarta, Indonesia.

Kroll noted that one of the biggest trends she has seen is the desire of consumers to abandon their casual clothing and dress up.

“We were a T-shirt–driven world, and now no one is wearing a T-shirt here. Everyone is wearing a top or a dress,” she said.

At Coterie, buyers focused on simplicity, sophistication and clean lines, said Laurie Hasson, who represents designers such as Rachel Pally and Samantha Treacy.

New resources and trends, especially in denim, were key for retailers, who found freshness in colored denim, highwaisted styles and wide-leg trousers. Dresses, knits, menswear-inspired pieces and outerwear were also important categories.

For most, quality was key. In a market driven by trends and fast fashion, finding good-quality, original designs that offered a fresh approach to dressing seemed to be the objective of retailers.

“Fantastic craftsmanship, that’s what I look for,” said Julie von Weller, co-owner of Thread, a women’s contemporary boutique that carries babywear, home goods and jewelry in Winter Park, Fla. “It’s always about the cut, the fit, the fabric and the integrity of the piece.”

D&A – Continuing Forward

Designers and Agents kept its consistency in size with a much improved retailer turnout.

This February’s show was the best ever, with 2,465 registered attendees and 182 exhibitor booths with 238 collections. That’s a 49 percent increase in traffic over last year, when a major blizzard practically shut down the city for a few days. It’s a 20 percent increase over September. Exhibitors reported a range of stores stopped by the show, held at the Starret-Lehigh Building in the Chelsea district. Department stores, such as Neiman Marcus and Barneys New York, stopped in. Boutiques included Les Amis in Seattle; American Rag in Los Angeles; Caramel in Washington, D.C.; and Therapy in Austin, Tex.

In addition, international retailers such as Opaque in Japan and UPC in Toronto shopped the show. “We’ve had more international stores here than ever before—Italian, French, German and Japanese,” D&A co-founder Ed Mandelbaum said.

Mandelbaum and his business partner, Barbara Kramer, edit the show’s entries each season, leading to a more vibrant exhibition showcasing the latest trends.

Kramer said trends for Fall ’07 include strong dress silhouettes, tunics and very feminine styles—nothing hard-edged. She also noticed a return to tailoring—and not just the classic menswear suit.

Pants for Fall come in a range of styles, including high-waisted jodhpurs, thin cigarette shapes and wide bell-bottoms.

For denim, it must be premium denim made in raw denim and darker washes. Boots are key. Jewelry and handbags have gotten bigger. “Handbags are not small anymore. It’s about the big status bag,” Kramer said.

The Train – adding on

Reorganization was in the air for The Train, launched in 2004 by La Feacute;deacute;ration Franccedil;aise du Precirc;t agrave; Porter Feacute;minin.

This season, organizers moved their newest show, called Platform 2, from the Roseland Ballroom on New York’s Upper West Side to The Train’s location in the Terminal Stores on 11th Avenue, just around the corner from D&A.

Platform 2 was added last season for bridge and contemporary collections.

“In only its second season, we are still developing Platform 2 and expect the show to become an important destination during Market Week,” said Jean-Pierre Mocho, the federation’s chairman, in a statement.

Exhibitors had mixed feelings about Platform 2 being held in conjunction with The Train. They reported good traffic on the first two days of the show but noticed slower traffic once Coterie began.

Pamela Carone, owner of the Pamela Carone Showroom in Los Angeles, which carries lines such as Heike Jarick and Viviana Uchitel, said she thought it was easy for buyers to work the show. “There’s no bad location unless you’re upstairs. It’s growing, and that’s good and bad,” she noted.

Despite some exhibitor misgivings, The Train reported a record number of buyers from across the United States and the world, with 3,487 visitors attending this season compared with 3,250 in September.

For trends from the New York trade shows, click here.