Sourcing Sees Start-Ups
Sourcing at MAGIC kicked off its Feb. 13–16 run in a new location—the Las Vegas Convention Center’s South Hall, where it shared space with Footsteps, MAGIC’s footwear sourcing show, as well as its footwear show, FN Platform, located one story below Sourcing.
The move didn’t sit well with some exhibitors.
April Booth, who represents Taiwanese textile mill Eclat, deemed the show merely “okay.”
Booth said traffic last season at Sourcing was so good she recommended additional reps come to the show this time.
“We had five reps in the booth, and we all came away with some good customers and quite a few start-ups,” she said. “All in all, it was all right—not as good as August, but we were in the South Hall this time, not the North Hall, where we had better and more traffic.”
Once again, Sourcing started a day before the rest of the MAGIC Marketplace shows—which gave designers such as Galina Sobolev a chance to visit the show before heading over to Project, where she was showing her Single collection.
“We really sourced sourcing,” she said, adding that she was on the hunt for beading and package providers and found a company that produced cotton embroideries.
“I found several in the India section—people who do hand-beading,” she said, adding that many had flexible minimums, as well. “They were willing to work with us on 100 pieces. Who wants to hear that you have to work with crazy minimums?”—Alison A. Nieder
