One-Stop Shopping at Sourcing
LAS VEGAS—Traffic ebbed and flowed at the Sourcing section of the MAGIC Marketplace, drawing a mix of first-time apparel makers and seasoned manufacturers looking to source production, fabric, prints and other services.
Designer Autumn Chenoa and design associate Katia Kosir of Los Angeles–based labels Lip Service and Kill City were on the hunt for fullpackage knits providers. “Pakistan is good for us for knits,” Chenoa said. “We also do leathers in Pakistan.”
This was the first sourcing show in the United States for In Textiles Co.Ltd., based in Shanghai, China, according to Wynona Wu, garment department sales manager for the company. In Textiles produces specialty jackets, cargo shorts, jeans and jumpers for European and U.S. customers, including Dollhouse and Target.
This was the second time at the show for Guillermo Rios, general manager of Citetextil Camelidos Huancavelica, a producer of alpaca sweater knits based in Huancavelica, Peru.
“I think I’m going to do more business this year,” Rios said. “I have many people very interested in my products and my fiber.”
Rios was showing hand-knit and crocheted sweaters and scarves made by artisans native to the mountainous region of Peru.
“Where we live, it’s 3,800 meters above sea level, where the alpaca lives,” he said. “[Peruvians] know how to knit because the technique is passed from generation to generation.”
According to some exhibitors, traffic in the Sourcing section ran counter to trend, with business picking up on the second day of the show.
“Compared to yesterday it’s a totally different show,” said Fabrizzia Perri, West Coast sales director for European Textile Co., an original-artwork provider showing at Printsource at MAGIC, located in the Sourcing section.
For many of the artwork and print companies, MAGIC was sandwiched between larger print shows, the Printsource and Direction shows in New York in January and the Feb. 19–22 run of Indigo at Premiegrave;re Vision in Paris.
“Overall, it’s been a positive experience. We’re seeing people we haven’t seen in a long time,” said Nadine Stenovitch, owner of The Scoop, based in Burbank, Calif. “It’s tough because PV is next week, and we just came off the New York show. But Las Vegas is perfect because it makes it so easy and convenient. Everything is right here.” —Alison A. Nieder
