MAGIC Names Retailer as Menswear V.P.
Specialty retailer Jon Kapelson was named vice president of menswear at the MAGIC International trade show. This appointment will be crucial for the section, which offers tailored suits and activewear. There has been no executive assigned to direct the section since before January 2008, said Chris DeMoulin, president of MAGIC International.
“Our mission is to expand menswear and to bring great new things for retailers to see at the show.” DeMoulin said. “He is going to bring a retailer’s perspective to the job.”
Buyers and vendors should see the impact of Kapelson’s work as soon as the Aug. 31–Sept. 2 show in Las Vegas. Menswear filled half of the Las Vegas Convention Center’s Central Hall during its last run in February. (The menswear section does not include MAGIC’s young men’s sections or some newer trade events, such as S.L.A.T.E. and Premium at MAGIC.)
Kapelson comes to MAGIC after spending 30 years working at his family’s better menswear store, Kaps Menswear, which had locations in the Massachusetts towns of Andover, Burlington, Marblehead and Wellesley. In February, Kaps announced it was closing after more than 100 years in business. Kapelson said the weak economy was one of the prime reasons why his family closed its four stores. The three Kapelson brothers also wanted to pursue other projects.
Kapelson will assume his new job at a time of change at MAGIC. The giant trade show is the dominant player among the apparel trade shows in Las Vegas, with more than 3,000 vendors. But it is part of a growing marketplace that includes sister shows Project Global Trade Show and Pooltradeshow, as well as several satellite trade shows such as MRket, ENKVegas, Capsule and Guild.
During MAGIC’s February run, the show offered some new menswear sections such as Concourse, which exhibited mostly fashion-forward United Kingdom–based brands, such as Mark Powell, Maharishi and Sir Tom Baker. Danny Marsh, owner of the Sy Devore specialty shop in Los Angeles’ Studio City neighborhood, said he hopes to see more sections for specialty stores at future menswear sections in MAGIC. “They started a little bit of that with Concourse,” Marsh said. “I’m not going to go to the FuBu or Perry Ellis booths. I need more of a mix for the little guy like me.”
Marsh said he has met Kapelson on several occasions and reports the new MAGIC vice president is a golf fanatic. “I would tell Jon to take everyone golfing,” Marsh said. —Andrew Asch
