California Apparel News

Joe Loggia has been a police officer and is a certified public accountant. He has no doubt had to draw on both experiences during his nearly 15-year tenure with trade-show giant MAGIC International.

Loggia started with MAGIC in 1993 as president, helping steer the trade show through its acquisition by Advanstar Inc., and then was named chief operating officer of Advanstar in 2001. He was named chief executive officer of Advanstar in 2004.

From his vantage, Loggia has witnessed the dramatic rise of new fashion markets, including streetwear and urban, women’s contemporary, and premium denim. Under his direction, MAGIC has developed new sections targeting these markets and has acquired new shows, including the Project Global Trade Show and the Pooltradeshow, both purchased in 2005.

His latest challenge is to continue MAGIC’s growth strategy under the direction of new owners. In late March, Advanstar Holdings Corp., the holding company for Advanstar Communications, was sold to an investor group under the direction of private equity company Veronis Suhler Stevenson for about $1.14 billion in cash. Citigroup Private Equity and New York Life Capital Partners are co-sponsors with VSS in the deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2007.

Loggia recently spoke with California Apparel News Executive Editor Alison A. Nieder to discuss the acquisition by VSS, the changes he has overseen at MAGIC over the past decade and a half, and a few of his plans for the future of the giant trade show.

With the purchase of Advanstar by Veronis Suhler Stevenson, what changes are in store for the company, specifically, the apparel trade-show business?

There are always changes at MAGIC. As we go along, we pay a lot of attention to mirror what’s going on in the apparel business. As it relates to the acquisition, really there’s not going to be any strategic change. We’ll still remain very focused on the markets; we’ll remain very focused on the customers. And we’ll continue to evolve and provide things to make it easier for everybody to do business there.

What advantages does ownership by VSS bring to MAGIC and the other apparel trade shows?

From a customer perspective, it’s really no change. It means I have different partners. When I took over the entire company in 2004, we really made a strategic change within the company. I think you’ve seen that change over the last couple of years to a return to the way MAGIC used to do business [prior to] getting purchased by Advanstar. [In the past, the show] was very focused on the customers. We’ve made a lot of those changes in 2004, 2005 and 2006 to reinstitute that. We will continue to do that.

If you go back to when I took over MAGIC in ’93, back then it was [focused on] introducing new things to the marketplace. We introduced a new designer pavilion, we introduced the women’s market, within a couple of years, we introduced streetwear. We changed categories to have things like casual lifestyle. We had major industry events like the Dolce & Gabbana fashion show. We hired a customer-service person for every exhibitor so they had someone to call and to help them through the process and to ask questions, which are things no one ever did in the tradeshow business. We instituted an attendeedevelopment program, where MAGIC goes out and makes presentations to the big retailers and the fashion influencers. We probably visit 6,000 stores a year to find out what’s going on at retail. It’s also how we get those retailers to continue to come to MAGIC and [how we attract] new retailers to come to MAGIC.

In the early 2000s, a lot of that went away. We had times when we cancelled the opening- night party. We had times when we didn’t have fashion shows, when we eliminated lunch programs. In 2003, we started putting all of that stuff back in. And now it’s a matter of continuing to get better at it. The exhibitors will make a difference between Project and MAGIC, but the retailers don’t. The retailers are coming because it’s part of that overall MAGIC Marketplace. We’ll continue to do that.

Since joining MAGIC, you have seen the show change dramatically from a show focused on the men’s market into a multi-category massive apparel trade show. Have any of the changes taken you by surprise?

No. We have a pretty extensive strategic-planning process to where we watch what’s going on at retail, we watch what’s going on with fashion trends and we try to make sure that we’re keeping pace with that.

Is the company looking at acquisition opportunities? What types of trade shows would be interesting acquisition properties?

While we have a couple of things we’re looking at, I can’t tell you for a number of reasons. One, I would never want to tell my competitors what I’m thinking. Two, when we do these things, we sign non-disclosure agreements. We can’t tell anybody. But we are continually looking at things that make sense. They have to make sense for the apparel industry and the customer base, the exhibitors and the attendees.

You have to go back to before we bought Project—it was 25 percent of its size that it is today. It was an acquisition we decided to make because it made more sense for the industry, and it was a very good partnership between us. And, by the way, there’s no way I could have told anybody we were going to do it before we did it.

When the company purchased Project and Pool, it picked up two of its most popular satellite shows. What do you think about the satellite shows? Is it a case of more show means reasons for buyers to come to Las Vegas? Or do all the shows segment the market and force buyers to divide too much of their time between shows?

No one in the trade-show business likes satellite shows. From my perspective, they make it a little more difficult on the customers because they don’t approach it from a perspective of “How do we work together?” You can see the ones that we develop partnerships with—we have a longtime agreement with the Off-Price [Specialist] Show, and the customers benefited from it. You’ll see a lot of the satellite shows [that] just care if they benefit from [showing in Las Vegas].

If it’s good for the industry, I’m okay with it. If it’s just good for the people who are organizing that show, then I’m not okay with it.

Where do you see opportunities for further growth for MAGIC?

Pool is almost new every time you go. And you’ll see a big presence for eco-friendly products. You’ll see a lot of programs we’re implementing to help that.

People can look forward to a continued progression of what we’re seeing in the premium and contemporary markets, for what they’ve seen going on in women’s. The Sourcing Zone continues to expand. The men’s business is continuing to progress.

It’s really a continued progression.