California Apparel News

Entrepreneur and sales executive Andrew Pollard was named president of the influential Project Global Trade Show, replacing show founder Sam Ben-Avraham, who left the show to concentrate on a new wholesale business. Ben-Avraham will remain as a consultant to the trade show.

The show also announced it will relaunch its New York Project show in January 2011 and cancel its upcoming July show.

Ben-Avraham said he made the decision to leave the show, which he founded in 2003, after he and Joe Loggia, the president of Project’s parent company, Advanstar Communications Inc., agreed Project needed someone to direct its affairs full time.

Ben-Avraham built the biannual show, with New York and Las Vegas events, into one of the most important trade shows on the fashion industry’s calendar. After Advanstar purchased Project in 2005, he continued to direct it until other ventures increasingly commanded his attention. He also runs contemporary boutique chain Atrium, and he co-founded women’s fashion line Improvd in late 2009. The first Improvd collection will be delivered to stores such as Barney’s, Ron Herman, Madison, Intermix in July and August.

“I’ve never done wholesale. I’m still in the learning process,” Ben-Avraham said. “I’m focusing on its introduction and making sure it is introduced right.”

Ben-Avraham also runs three Atrium boutiques with locations in New York, New Jersey and Miami. He also is wrapping up a real estate deal to renovate a 40,000-square-foot retail center across the street from the Miami Atrium store. It will be open for business in mid-2011.

Ben-Avraham said he picked Pollard to succeed him. Pollard co-founded the Kiki de Montparnasse lingerie lifestyle collection and boutiques in 2004. He started his career with Diesel Australia and worked as vice president of sales and marketing at Diesel Canada and Diesel USA. In 2000, he was vice president of sales at Sixty USA.

Pollard had represented his brands at past Project shows. He also had been a personal friend of Ben-Avraham. Both worked to raise funds for nonprofit MEAK Medical and Educational Aid to Kenya in 2008.

Retailer and vendor reaction to Project’s change in leadership was positive. Fred Levine has been shopping at the show for his Los Angeles–based M.Fredric boutiques since 2003. “If Pollard meshes with the [Project team] it will be a seamless transition. It’s the show I depend on. Project makes it easy for someone who has to buy fashions for men and women.”

Steeve Bohbot, president of Los Angeles–headquartered Connected International Sales Showroom, said he hopes not too many changes will be made. “I see everyone I need to see at Project,” he said. “They bring the buyers. That’s all that matters to me.”

Ben-Avraham said his organization decided to skip its summer show in New York because there were a lot of complaints about its scheduling. The summer dates were more than a month away from the August show in Las Vegas.

Going forward, Pollard promised changes to Project’s Las Vegas and New York shows. “The whole fashion industry changed in the past 18 months,” he said. “My goal is to evolve Project into a platform that is creative and inspires commerce. We plan to change the platform of what a modern trade show is. I don’t want to give away too much, but you’ll see some visual changes in the January and February shows.”—Andrew Asch