ENK Closing Brighte, CMC Plans to Launch New Show
After seven years, New York–based ENK International is shuttering its Brighte trade show, held five times annually in the Fashion Theater at the California Market Center in Los Angeles.
The California Market Center is proceeding with plans to launch a new temporary show with a contemporary and young-designer format in the 8,200-square-foot Fashion Theater. The new show--called Select--will bow during the Jan. 17-20 Los Angeles Fashion Market.
Joanne Lee, senior vice president of the CMC, said Select will have a similar look and exhibitor base to Brighte and will target the same retailers.
“By taking over the show, we can do a more aggressive outreach for the exhibitors,” she said. “Rates and exhibitor-selection process will be on par with Brighte.” The CMC already hosts temporary exhibitions during the Los Angeles Fashion Market weeks, including the Focus show for up-and-coming designers and brands, and the Transit shoe show. Both are held in the Penthouse Pavilion on the 13th floor of the CMC.
Lee said Select will differ from Focus in content and cost.
“Focus is geared toward emerging designers,” Lee said. “It’s an affordable option for companies that otherwise wouldn’t be able to show during market.”
ENK executives confirmed it has cancelled Brighte shows throughout 2011, but did not rule out future trade shows on the West Coast. Organizers credit Brighte with helping to shape Los Angles Fashion Week. According to Elyse Kroll, chairman of ENK International, “ENK is considering its role on the West Coast and respects its sheer value as a marketplace. ENK is analyzing how to move forward within it.”
Originally launched in 2003 as Brighte Companies, the show was not ENK’s first foray into the West Coast. Beginning in 1999, the company hosted the Pacific Champions show, also held in the Fashion Theater of the CMC, then called the CaliforniaMart. The show ran for four years. The Brighte show launched with a new look—a cheery white and yellow deacute;cor—and an expanded format that included the Fashion Theater and the CMC’s exhibition hall. The show eventually abandoned the lower-level venue, showing primarily in the fashion theater. (Brighte occasionally expanded to the 1,372-square-foot Lobby Annex space across from the theater during larger market weeks.)
ENK briefly took the Brighte concept to Las Vegas but shelved the show for a few years before returning as ENK Vegas, which is currently held at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel.
With the closure of Brighte, ENK’s only trade shows in the western UnitedStates will be ENK Vegas and the WSA shoe show, also held in Las Vegas.
ENK produces several shows in New York, including Coterie, Designers Collective, Blue and Intermezzo Collections. —Alison A. Nieder
