Elmer Ave: Why We Show
Fashion shows are expensive productions even in the best economic times. Yet fashion designer Jonny Day shoulders the cost because, he says, a runway show is the best instrument to separate a designer from the rest of the crowd. Day is co-founder of rock-inspired fashion label Elmer Ave.
He estimated a top-line runway show costs from $15,000 to $20,000 to produce in Los Angeles. He conceded Elmer Ave.’s Oct. 13 show at the Main Tent of Smashbox Studios did not come cheap.
The 28-look show was witnessed by 500 people, and the show’s VIPs received brown-paper gift bags containing jewelry made out of guitar picks, which were designed by the Nicolina Royale label.
Sponsorships helped the company defray the show costs. Even so, the cost was worth it, Day said. “I’d rather do runway shows than trade shows,” he stated. According to Day, trade shows entail too much time waiting around in a big hall with little to make any one line stand out. “With runway shows, you’re the one in the spotlight,” he said, adding that buyers from Saks, Kitson and Fred Segal were in the audience at his Smashbox show.
Trade-show producer Jason Bates said trade events and runway shows are both necessary for a fashion label to be successful. “If trade shows are done well, they put great brands and great retailers together. The best scenario is for well-prepared sales reps to make appointments before the show,” said Bates, who produces the biannual Class trade show in Santa Monica, Calif.
Elmer Ave.’s Jonny Day
