Lingerie Americas Teams Up With WWDMAGIC
LAS VEGAS—The first Lingerie Americas show held in partnership with WWDMAGIC included lingerie brands such as Aubade, Barbara, Biatta Intimates, Chantelle, Felina, Josie Natori, Shirley of Hollywood, Princesse Tam Tam, Simone Peacute;regrave;le and Zovo.
For many of the intimate-apparel and loungewear exhibitors at Lingerie Americas, the goal was the same: to gain exposure to MAGIC’s ready-towear buyers.
Los Angeles–based designer Carol Malony hoped to meet more ready-to-wear stores, and her expectations were exceeded by a network of resources from the bridal industry, online stores and accessories stores.
“I wanted to be part of the magic of MAGIC. Where else is there a million square feet of product being displayed? I wanted to get people to cross over,” said Malony, whose newest eponymous collection had a theatrical flair with ballerina skirts and feather and crystal embellishment.
Sheandme bulked up orders from new buyers by providing immediate delivery on its basic Modal lounge items in addition to writing orders on the Fall deliveries. “If you’re new and they like you, they don’t want to wait six months” to try it, said Mitra Sanai of the Los Angeles–based company.
Made by Niki lingerie from the United Kingdom received a good response to its “Fresh Foundations” line, a beautiful, sexy interpretation of control-foundation underwear. The Autumn/Winter ’08 collection featured stretch-satin high-waist panties with a lace panel in fashion colors. Scott Parker, brand and operations director of Made by Niki lingerie, didn’t have a full schedule of appointments but still saw a healthy amount of buyers from traffic. “In this show, a lot of the buyers have been very much more into browsing,” Parker said.
Lingerie Americas hosted a smaller number of brands than the show’s premiere edition last August. This was partly because the WWDMAGIC show dates included Valentine’s Day, an important selling period for lingerie stores. Exhibitors said they anticipated slower traffic because some specialty stores were expected not to attend.
“It’s not easy for brands to exhibit knowing some boutiques will not be there,” said Patrice Argain, chief executive officer of Lingerie Americas. “In the end, it’s better to be during the MAGIC [dates], even if it’s during Valentine’s Day, than outside Valentine’s Day but alone in the market. We stay with MAGIC because they are the leader.”
It is likely that the lingerie buyers who skipped Las Vegas because of Valentine’s Day will visit the New York edition of Lingerie Americas, set for Feb. 24–26. Argain said the number of pre-registered buyers is “higher than last year” for the New York show, which has more than 250 brands scheduled to exhibit. —Rhea Cortado
