MAGIC Man
Chris DeMoulin speaks about his challenging first year as head of the country’s largest apparel trade show
Most newly hired company presidents need only concern themselves with managing their staff. But as the new head of MAGIC International, Chris DeMoulin has to motivate and inspire not only his employees but also the trade show’s 120,000 regular attendees.
DeMoulin was hired to helm MAGIC in January of this year, when there was little sign of the economic challenges the retail industry would soon be facing. Still, the former head of merchandise licensing for The Walt Disney Co.—which had domestic apparel sales of approximately $2 billion when DeMoulin was there from 1999 to 2000—remains optimistic about the inventiveness of fashion retailers. “They’re not a meek bunch,” he notes.
The California Apparel News spoke with DeMoulin about his trial-by-fire first year and new innovations for the February 2009 MAGIC edition.
CAN: Before you became the president of MAGIC, you were an exhibitor. How did your experience as an exhibitor give you special insight into how you could refine the show experience?CD: What amazed me as an exhibitor was the breadth of this enormous industry and how it all comes to one place to do business for a few days. Now, coming over to the other side of the table, we have so much information about who’s exhibiting and who’s coming and what they’re looking for, and I don’t know that we’ve yet put those two pieces of information together as well as we can.
We’re working a lot harder with both big-bucks buyers as well as boutiques and specialty stores to understand what they hope to accomplish at MAGIC at this time in the market. The more we work in advance, the more we can use our knowledge to connect the dots so that both buyers and exhibitors accomplish what they want. CAN: Your traffic numbers were down a bit for 2008.CD: We were down about 2.5 percent in attendance, but a number of the other big shows were down 20 to 30 percent. In the context of what’s going on in the overall economy, we actually had more exhibitors in August than we did in February. Traffic was down just a little bit, and as for the business that was being done on the floor, most exhibitors walked away having met or exceeded their goals. So we were very happy with the outcome of the shows. CAN: Since the August show, the economy has really been hit hard. How has that changed your preparation for the February 2009 show?CD: We’re hearing the same thing we heard before the last show. Yes, the economy is going through a period we’re not familiar with, but the thing I love about retailers is that they’re not a meek bunch. They come to the show with their sleeves rolled up, determined to find something great that will help bring customers back into their stores. Nobody’s rolling over and saying, “Wake me up in 2010 when this thing blows over.”
The same is true for exhibitors. They’re all trying to innovate and find something that will get customers excited. Looking forward to this Christmas, the fact is people are going out and buying. The question is, “How much are they going to buy, and what are they going to want?” But none of us knows exactly what’s going to happen this Christmas. We’re all tightening our belts, sharpening our pencils and getting in touch with our customers.
It’s less about, “Am I coming or not coming to MAGIC in February?” and is really about: “How many people am I bringing? How long am I staying? And what are my business objectives?”CAN: Do you have any general advice for buyers at the February show, such as shopping areas of the show they don’t normally go to, perhaps for a greater chance of finding something new to excite their customers?CD: We try to remind them that there are a lot of things to look at. The Pool show is all about emerging brands with designers still working out of their garage, so there are a lot of fresh new ideas there. On the other end of the market spectrum, there are tons of retailers that shop Project that aren’t the kind who would buy that product, but they want to see what direction the market is going in.
In every single poll, the two top reasons buyers say they come to MAGIC [are] to see the breadth of what’s going on in the market and to see what’s new.
Another thing I love about the apparel business is that no matter what the economy is doing, there are parts of the market that are booming, with new brands coming along every day that will come to MAGIC to introduce themselves. CAN: What are the strongest segments right now?CD: The premium market, both at Project and MAGIC, is doing extremely well. Women’s contemporary and young contemporary are doing really well. And some are stable: Whether you’re in workwear or classic men’s suiting, there’s always a market for those things. CAN: What innovations will we see in February?CD: What we hear from all the buyers and exhibitors is that they need their time in Las Vegas to be as efficient and cost-effective as possible. So the first thing we’re doing is taking a look at all our shows and making changes to make sure the merchandising is as definitive as it can be. That means buyers know exactly where to find the products they’re interested in. As part of that, we took a look at Project, which has grown a lot over the last few years. It will be a smaller show with more directional, contemporary brands, and it’s now very clear what kind of product is there. In the Central Hall, next to the better men’s business, we’ll have a brand-new section called Premium@MAGIC, which is all the premium contemporary product from across the shows, and we’ll be moving some of the outdoor and active businesses to the South Hall so they have a clear space.
The second thing is making the show more cost-effective for exhibitors. So we went to an outside design firm called Kramer Design Group to make the booth system more efficient, scalable and turnkey and to give the show a little more of a modern, uniform and fun look. So we’ve created a whole new booth system that’s really scalable, from a 10-by-10 space to 10,000 square feet. It allows exhibitors to determine how much space they need for display, conference room or whatever, and we’ll then put it on the floor for them. These gigantic booths are wonderful and an extension of the brands, but it had gotten to the point where you were looking at the booths rather than the product. The thing about the Project show is that it got back to basics, has a very simple display system and is all about the products. CAN: Are there any other innovations you’d like to address?CD: In August, we started a show for progressive streetwear called Slate, and it did really, really well. We have a new show called MAGIA [addressing the Hispanic market] launching in February, so you should expect to see several new things at every show. CAN: Give us an interesting behind-the-scenes moment.CD: My favorite “aha!” moment [is] when you’re waiting outside for the gates on the convention center to go up, with all the crates. It’s a pretty impressive site to see 35,000 crates piled up [and] a multimillion-square-foot empty box, and three days later you’ve essentially built a small city that’s ready for 120,000 people to visit.
We should capture it all in one of those time-lapse shots.
The Greening of MAGIC
The tough economy isn’t the only thing Chris DeMoulin has tackled since becoming the head of MAGIC International. The trade show’s new president has also done much to lessen the show’s environmental impact.
DeMoulin states that, in addition to working with the Las Vegas Convention Center to ensure that the show’s general waste is appropriately recycled, MAGIC has made a big push to move its literature—including exhibition manuals, rules and guidelines—to the Internet. “Almost all of that has been eliminated and is now online,” he says. What does make it to hard copy is printed on mostly recycled paper, he notes.
On the show floor, MAGIC is revealing its green streak with the new Ecollection show, which launched in August and features products with an organic or sustainable focus.
DeMoulin says the trade show also has an important role to play in educating exhibitors about their effect on the environment. “One of the things that has been most interesting is expanding from an education standpoint, looking at the whole supply chain and making sure that we’re providing information to exhibitors of all the things they can think about, from design and sourcing to transportation and packaging, that can all have an impact on sustainability and reducing carbon footprints,” he says.
