California Apparel News

Christian Audigier isn’t known for his subtlety.

The man behind the wildly successful Christian Audigier and Ed Hardy brands and a score of other labels announced earlier this year his intentions to leave Project Global Trade Show and the MAGIC Marketplace in favor of greener pastures of his own design. Debuting in August in Las Vegas and running concurrently with Project and MAGIC, the When I Move You Move trade show is Audigier’s latest venture.

Set to run August 25–28 at Caesars Palace, WIMYM will include Audigier’s nine lines—including SMET, Crystal Rock, C Bar A and Paco Chicano—and more than 50 of the licensees who produce everything from skateboards and chocolates to wine, water, vodka, air fresheners, bed sheets and Mercedes-Benz’s Smart Cars under his various trademarks. WIMYM will also act as the launching pad for several new projects, including a collection inspired by daredevil Evel Knievel, a collaboration with Michael Jackson and Rock Fabulous, a collaboration with musician Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics.

Initially, the plan was for WIMYM to act as a showcase for Audigier’s brands and vision—which includes a show floor packed with celebrity guests, VIP rooms, an open bar and live performances to entertain buyers. Now, Audigier is expanding the reach of his show to include up to 100 hand-selected outside brands that complement Audigier’s offerings.

Audigier insists WIMYM isn’t a vanity project.

“At the end of the day, I am a businessman. As a businessman, I saw things need to change, and I am going to change them,” he said, sitting on a cowhide couch in his Culver City, Calif., headquarters as a music video featuring scenes from past trade shows played on a flat-screen TV. In May, Kasandra Carlson, a former national sales manager at the MAGIC Marketplace, joined the company to oversee Audigier Media, the new division that will produce WIMYM. In her new role as director of trade shows and events, Carlson’s job is to make Audigier’s dream trade show a reality.

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Trade shows have become a big part of Audigier’s marketing machine. Nearly four years ago, he debuted at MAGIC Marketplace with a 400-square-foot space, and every season since, he has upped the ante. In January, Audigier was literally the biggest thing going in Las Vegas. His face gazed down from billboards and, as MAGIC’s featured designer, his name and logo were plastered everywhere. The signage for his 1,500-square-foot Project booth featured a towering light display that read “Simply the Best,” and crowds jostled to watch his in-booth runway shows, which featured models sporting painted-on bikinis and a performance by rapper Snoop Dogg. Despite all the distractions—or perhaps because of them—Audigier’s booths at MAGIC and Project raked in more than $36 million in orders.

Still, the designer-turned-marketing-juggernaut wasn’t pleased.

“Trade shows don’t give to me what I expect for myself, for my customers and for my brands. So, I decided to go on my way. That has always been the key to my success—going my own way,” he said. Gripes with the placement of his booths, which he estimates cost him $1.5 million, complaints from organizers about his loud music and smoke machines, and more than $20,000 in fees for everything from nightly vacuuming and surcharges for pizza delivered to his booths outweighed the benefits of the shows.

With WIMYM, Audigier hopes to embody his vision for his brands and what a trade show should be. “When I Move You Move means ’If you like me, come. If you don’t, don’t come,’” he said. With his typical bravura, Audigier expects to top January’s business come August, and he thinks his concept will help other brands learn from his example. “It is a different way of doing business; it is an experience. Other shows hellip; it is boring. There are racks; nothing stands out. Buyers go where there is a crowd, and I always bring a crowd.”

Carlson is still waiting for signed contracts from exhibitors but said she had received verbal confirmations from brands such as Karmel & Alden, Malicious Manor, Fortune Denim, Vertigo, Humanity, Spy and Laguna Beach. When the show opens, Carlson said, she expects half of the show floor to be dedicated to brands outside of Audigier’s scope of influence. Pre-registered retailers clocked in at 250, and pre-registered buyers reached 450 at press time. In total, Carlson said she expects retailer traffic to be on par with the more than 5,000 buyers they saw in January.

Booth space at the 48,000-square-foot WIMYM will cost licensees and exhibitors $15,000 for a 10'x10' booth. The cost includes booth setup, fixtures, signage, lighting, marketing, food and beverages, as well as access to the VIP events scheduled after the trade show at Audigier’s new namesake club at the Treasure Island hotel. WIMYM will be providing transportation to and from select hotels in Las Vegas as well as from both MAGIC and Project to make it easier for buyers to attend. The show’s hours, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., are also designed to give buyers time to make their way to the show.

With nearly two months to go before a buyer or exhibitor sets foot in WIMYM, Audigier is already planning his next move. If all goes according to plan, New York, Miami and Los Angeles could be the next locations for WIMYM, he said.

For more information, call (323) 785-4460, Ext. 497, or e-mail kasandra@donedhardy.com.