California Apparel News

There was a flurry of activity on the afternoon of the second day of new fabric trade show GlobalTex as designer—including Kevan Hall, Eva Franco, Rory Beca, Andrew Christian, Mona Thalheimer and Barbara Lesser—dropped by to check out the show.

“If we get one more rush like we did in the last hour, I think everyone will come back [next season],” said Gilbert Heller, representing Le Loup Blanc, a New York–based resource for European fabrics. Heller praised the organization and the look of the show but said traffic fell below expectations.

“Whatever the reason—swine flu, the economic condition—attendance was down from what we hoped,” he said.

Held April 28–30 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, GlobalTex offered about 125 exhibitors in 160 booths. The show featured three trend forums, organized by British trend-forecasting consultancy Mudpie, and a slate of seminars ranging in topic from color and fabric trends to technology and business practices.

Among the companies that sent representatives to the show were Juicy Couture, 7 For All Mankind, Kangol and Hurley.

“I like the whole setup, but there isn’t that much to choose from,” said Lilit Madanya, fabric specialist for Juicy Couture. “I work on the knits, so, for me, it’s always nice to find a new supplier. I would like more vendors from overseas—from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China.”

For many attendees, the draw was the European exhibitors, including a coterie of French mills, as well as resources from Italy and Switzerland. Several designers said they skipped Premiegrave;re Vision in Paris and Premiegrave;re Vision Preview in New York this year, so this marked their only opportunity to meet with European vendors.

That was the case for designer Peter Cohen, who also missed the Los Angeles International Textile Show earlier in the month because he was hosting a trunk show at Mario’s boutique in Seattle.

“I’ve done quite a bit of fabric shopping already because [Italian silk maker] Ratti and [Swiss textile mill Jakob Schlaepfer] have already come to town, but there are some good vendors here.”

Cohen said he was looking for interesting fabrics that are modern and wearable—“nothing too delicate or fussy.”

Los Angeles designer Rory Beca said she also attends Premiegrave;re Vision and PV Preview but dropped by to GlobalTex as well.

“It’s a good start,” she said. “L.A. needs this because there are more European companies that we work with.”

GlobalTex is produced by Dallas-based Market Center Management Co., owner of the Dallas Market Center and the Brussels International Trade Mart and manager of the ShanghaiMart. Show organizers said they plan to expand GlobalTex’s exhibitor roster to include mills from Spain, Italy and Turkey.

“We want a global show; we think L.A. has been underrepresented in that respect,” said Bill Winsor, president and chief executive officer of Market Center Management Co.

By offering a greater range of European exhibitors, organizers hope to draw in more of Los Angeles’ contemporary and designer market.

“L.A. is the home of contemporary, and contemporary is what’s driving the market,” said Cindy Morris, chief operating officer for the MCMC.

Valerie B. Cooper of Heart-Hunters Consulting, based in Fayetteville, Ark., was sourcing fabrics for about 30 of her 300 clients. The Los Angeles native said she was on the hunt for French lace and sustainable fabrics.

“I’ve found more of what I’m looking for in two hours,” said Cooper, who typically attends the Los Angeles International Textile Show at the California Market Center. “I like the show at the Mart, and it was hard to choose,” she said.

Still, she gave GlobalTex high marks for organization and offerings, describing it as “very user-friendly.”

“It’s a lot more targeted to designers instead of the manufacturer,” she said. “There’s a lot of booths with finished product to show the end use of the fabric; it’s catering to the creative side.” Work to do

Despite praise for the European lineup, the trend pavilions and the wide-open aisles in the convention center, exhibitors and attendees had a few suggestions for improving the show.

First on the exhibitors’ list was the light traffic.

“We expected much more traffic, and the quality of the customer is not really us,” said Peter Vouml;egtlin, who was showing fabrics from German print mill KBC. “We have a lot of people asking us what’s the minimum, and our minimum is only 660 yards.”

KBC, which is represented in Los Angeles by Laura Kieffer of LK Textiles, typically eschews local textile shows in favor of individual meetings with designers and fabric buyers. But Kieffer said that because the show was new, “I figured it was worth a try.”

Timing was another concern, according to Mitch Naidrich of Malibu Textiles.

“I like the atmosphere and the vibe. It has all the things we need,” Naidrich said, but with Intermezzo in New York scheduled for the following week, he said the timing was problematic for many of his customers.

And the show’s sourcing section was limited to a small group of exhibitors from Vietnam. Gordon Morikawa, director of operations for Rozae Nichols, said he was hoping to find more international sourcing resources at the show.

“It was a small show in terms of sourcing,” he said. “I expected factories from China, India, more from Vietnam. But I think it’s a great concept, and they did a great job of marketing to people within and outside the industry. I think the potential for the show is great.”

Still, the show provided an opportunity for companies looking to expand their West Coast presence. That was the case for Fair Lawn, N.J.–based Business Management Systems, a PLM [product lifecycle management] provider showing among a small group of technology exhibitors.

“It’s not bad, but there’s probably more that can be done,” said Adikus Sulpizi, senior product specialist for Business Management Systems. “For us, we have to figure out the West Coast market. We need L.A. We just need to figure out how to express ourselves here.”

Organizers were pleased with the show’s launch and bullish on its future.

“Attendance far exceeded our expectations, and the fresh design, quality exhibitors and relevant seminars added up to a big success,” Winsor said. “We look forward to tripling the number of exhibitors for October.”

Brian Thaler, president of the Textile Association of Los Angeles, which endorsed the show, was equally enthusiastic.

“We got good responses from the exhibitors, as well as the attendees,” he said. “We’re getting the visibility and feel we’re going to bring the right exhibitors and the right customers.”