California Apparel News

SAN MATEO, Calif.—Business was decent and buyer traffic was up at Fashion Market Northern California, the 50-year-old regional trade show that took place during the rainy weekend of Jan 23–25 at the San Mateo County Event Center.

Executive Director Suzanne De Groot said there was a 15 percent increase in buyer attendance and a 20 percent increase in vendor participation compared with last year.

Vendors were seeing signs of those increases. Don Reichman of Los Angeles–based showroom Reichman Associates is a veteran of the show, which takes place five times a year. He said his business was up 25 percent compared with last year. “Last year at this time, [boutique owners] were pretty unhappy,” he said. “This year they’re buying.”

Reneacute;e Cohen of Reneacute;e Cohen Sales in Los Angeles also noticed a 20 percent uptick in orders over last year. And The Kathy Franz Collection, an accessories showroom in Greenbrae, Calif., was in positive territory with a hefty 55 percent spike in sales over 2009.

Confidence in the economy was also reflected in how far out retailers were willing to place future orders. Reichshy;man noted that many buyers were making orders with June 30 deliveries, believing that summer would be a selling season.

At the same time, vendor Lynne Andresevic of Los Angeles–based showroom Crayola Sisters saw many boutiques ordering goods for immediate delivery.

This was another sign that shoppers would be out in the stores soon after stormy weather kept consumers at home.

“They [buyers] were saying January business was down because of the weather, but they were still buying Immediates,” Andresevic said.

Bright colors were very popular during this market, Cohen said. Boutiques were buying tops, jackets and various separates. “They rarely buy complete outfits,” Cohen said. “They are item-driven.” Independent spirit

Fashion Market Northern California caters primarily to independent retailers located on Northern California’s main streets and in the boutique neighborhoods of big cities. They sell stylish and casual women’s fashions classified as the misses market for women ages 35 and up.

Fashion Market Northern California serves many of these boutiques because of the unique retail culture from the Bay Area to the Oregon border, said Nina Perez of the San Francisco–based Nina Perez Showroom, an exhibitor. “There’s a Main Street culture here. It is specialty boutique–driven,” she said of the small-town feel of different Northern California neighborhoods. Retailers attending the show included 36-year-old bridal and special-occasions store Trudy’s Bridal of Campbell, Calif.; McCalou’s, a department-store chain headquartered in Lafayette, Calif.; and Alta, a specialty-store chain based in San Jose, Calif.

Also attending were Rabat, a boutique with San Francisco and Berkeley, Calif., locations; Cotton Party, from Chico, Calif.; and the gift shop of the University of California, San Francisco. Berkeley-based boutique By Hand made orders for Los Angeles–based knits line Necessitees Apparel. Sebastopol, Calif.–based Shiki Monkey bought Johnny Was’ embroidery line, JWLA.

And many boutiques, such as Trudy’s Bridal, focused on accessories. Trudy’s placed orders for the jewelry line Ethel & Myrtle. Many retailers gave high marks to the show’s conveniences, such as plentiful parking. For Lilly Stamets of UCSF’s gift shop, the show was a place for inspiration. “We always come to the show for direction and for trends,” she said.For Julia Lyman of Shiki Monkey, the show’s ambience was an important selling point. “What I liked about the show was that it is more relaxed. It’s not aggressive, but we’d like to see more things for our demographic, 16 to 40,” she said.

Attracting a greater variety of vendors is an ambition for Fashion Market Northern California, said Reichman, who is on the show’s board of directors and is co-chair of the recently formed New Exhibitor Committee.

Retailers said they wanted more vendors from labels selling special-occasion, bridal and contemporary fashions, Reichman said. The committee will start the search for new exhibitors to invite by the end of February.

The show’s producers say they believe Fashion Market Northern California has the opportunity to become a bigger show because many boutiques’ travel budgets are decreasing. Also, there are only a handful of fashion and accessories trade shows serving the important Northern California market. Those trade shows include CALA Apparel Shows in San Francisco, scheduled for Feb. 1–2, and the San Francisco International Gift Fair, scheduled for Feb. 6–9. The next Fashion Market Northern California will be held April 10–13.