All-Time High Traffic at WWIN
Organizers and attendees of the Womenswear in Nevada show at The Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino were extremely upbeat about the Feb. 15–18 event.
“It was fantastic,” said Jennifer Hutton, owner of the Jennifer Hutton Sales showroom, which carries updated misses lines—including Fantazia, Impulse California and Lisa International—at the California Market Center. She has been attending the show for nearly 20 years, including times when it was located outside in tents and rain sometimes dribbled in through the cracks. “I felt there was a good energy. People were upbeat. I didn’t hear anybody complaining about how bad business was, and I was busy from morning to night.”
She said the show buzz was different from last February, when many buyers fretted about surviving a challenging economy.
Roland Timney, WWIN’s show manager, said the attendance was at an all-time high, and there was a waiting list for booths, which are capped at 850. “It was like the old days,” he said. “The orders overall were smaller than they have been years ago but a lot more orders than last year.”
Jon Katz, whose Jon Katz & Associates showroom is also located at the California Market Center, concurred that the economy seems to be improving. “It was great. It was well-attended, and the buyers were in a good buying mood,” he said. “People were opening up their pocketbooks.”
Katz, who represents Canadian lines such as Parkhurst Knitwear and Lana Lee and Italian labels Belamie and Dolcezza, saw a mix of buyers from catalogs, specialty-store chains and department stores placing orders for Fall 2010.
Janice Farinella, who represents lines such as Michael Leu, Fridaze and Parsley & Sage, said buyers were more interested in Fall 2010 than Spring/Summer 2010. “Most people were ready to move on to Fall, and that tells me they only come to market twice a year,” she said.
Rosanne Tritica, co-owner of the Betty Bottom Showroom at the CMC, said she hardly had time to leave her booth during the four-day event. “It was a positive sign that there were so many people writing orders,” she said.—Deborah Belgum
