California Apparel News

The parking lots were crowded and the restaurants were busy during the Oct. 17–20 run of Los Angeles Fashion Market, but the results were mixed, with some sales representatives reporting steady traffic and strong orders and others reporting declines from past markets.

Ursula Braeger, representing Newport Beach, Calif.–headquartered contemporary brand Twenty, said traffic at Designers and Agents at The New Mart had picked up since last year. Buyers were “ready to spend” but conscious of price and their time, Braeger said. “With the economy, everyone came on the first and second day, ready to power through. They aren’t lollygagging.”

Business was a mixed bag at the California Market Center.

CMC management reported a steady flow of traffic during the market. Reported shopping the CMC were buyers from high-profile specialty retailers Lord & Taylor, LF Stores, Kitson, Nordstrom, Fred Segal, M.Fredric, Madison, The Blue Jeans Bar, Nasty Gal and Bebe, as well as e-commerce emporiums Zappos.com and Ideeli, off-pricer Burlington Coat Factory, and hotel gift shops for Hyatt Regency and MGM Grand.

Liza Stewart, owner of self-named contemporary showroom Liza Stewart Inc., said market traffic was excellent and was marked by an increase in Canadian retailers.

Don Reichman, partner in the Reichman Associates showroom, estimated that recent market sales were even compared with the same market in the previous year. “The market was good, but we were looking for an increase,” he said. Increased popularity from regional fashion markets cut into L.A. Fashion Market’s business, he said.

Yasmine Farmanara of Beverly Hills, Calif., boutique Avedon agreed that buyer attendance was up. Showrooms seemed busy, and retailers seemed more optimistic despite a litany of bad economic headlines recently. “It’s not the perfect market; everyone is trying to hold their head up and go on with their lives,” she said.

But boutique retailer Gila Leibovitch reported just the opposite, noting that the market seemed slower than usual. “I did not make one appointment, and everyone had time for me. It means retailers are not getting out and shopping,” she said. Leibovitch co-owns more than five boutiques in Los Angeles and Laguna Beach, Calif., including Premier, Melrose Place and The Vault.

Leibovitch placed orders with brands that have been proven performers at her stores, including Buffalo, 7 For All Mankind, Georg Roth, Capote and Juicy Couture. Since the beginning of the recession, she has made orders close to the delivery date, and the current market was no different.

For veteran showroom owner Michael Gae, sales and traffic declined compared with the same market last year. His business at the Rep et Trois showroom has decreased consistently since the financial meltdown of 2008, but he also blamed the CMC for cutting official weekend hours during L.A. Fashion Markets. This year, the building shifted from a Friday-to-Tuesday schedule to a Monday-to-Thursday schedule, although the CMC is open on the Sunday before market for buyers who want to shop over the weekend.

“I used to get 350 people in the room during markets,” Gae said. “Now it’s 150. Retailers are buying less. They are traveling less. But if we were open on weekends, we’d get 10 to 15 percent more traffic. It is something that we can control.”

In addition to the permanent showrooms, the CMC produced two temporary shows in the building, Select, held in the Fashion Theater, and Focus, held on the 13th floor.

There was no empty booth space at Select, a contemporary trade show that ran Oct. 17–19.

Joanne Lee, senior vice president of CMC events, said 52 booths exhibited at Select, which was even with March 2011, the event’s biggest show. Select launched at the beginning of the year.

But the weak economy took a toll on the trade show’s business, said Michelle Waller, co-founder, creative director and designer of Royal Plush, based in Torrance, Calif. Buyer traffic was inconsistent at Select, and she estimated that Royal Plush’s sales decreased 10 percent compared with last year, when ENK’s Brighte show was held in the same space. Waller also said Immediates continued to be popular, adding that 50 percent of her clients placed orders for Immediates at the show. The rest placed orders for Spring and Summer deliveries.

Davenport, Iowa–based department-store chain Von Maur shopped at the event as well as Los Angeles–headquartered boutique chain Kitson and the Via Lago boutique, based in the Seattle area. Still, Waller said, many stores skip trade shows altogether. Recently, she has been doing more business online by sending boutiques line sheets.

But for Jackie Fraser-Swan, Select was a great place to make contacts and raise brand awareness. Fraser-Swan designs Boston-based high-end contemporary line Emerson, which offers wholesale price points from $34 to $1,705. Emerson made its Los Angeles debut at Select, and Fraser-Swan confirmed that she made sales at the show.

Select business proved better than expected for Merci Borden, owner of the Merci Marie handbags line, based in Los Angeles’ Studio City neighborhood.

“I hoped to break even,” she said. “I did it in the first three hours of the show. I also got reorders and new contacts.”

On the 13th floor, a change in venue may have contributed to slow traffic for the Focus Apparel & Accessories show.

Focus veteran Jerry Wexler said the most recent show probably was going to be the worst in his more than two years of exhibiting young contemporary brand Mystree at Focus. He estimated that his sales were down 20 percent compared with the same show in the previous year. “It could be the economy,” Wexler said of the weak results. “People said that they couldn’t find us.”

This year, producers moved the small show from the A building to the C building to route more buyer traffic from the neighboring Transit Shoe Show, according to a Focus producers’ statement. As a result, Focus’ 12 booths were sandwiched between different wings of the larger Transit show.

New Mart bustling

Business was bustling at The New Mart, according to vendors. “Things have been really good. October’s always good,” said Courtney Bradford, a sales representative for KLA showroom. “Raw materials have been going up, so buyers are cautious, but this market, they’re ready to buy. Last market, it was between seasons and buyers didn’t want to buy,” she said.

The showroom’s Cregrave;me Fraiche line had been doing especially well, she said. Neon, blue and orange were hot trends, and Cregrave;me Fraiche’s bohemian, printed-silk shirts and embroidered blouses were big sellers. Most of the showroom’s business had been Spring pieces, but they had been doing some Immediate sales with Fever faux furs, she said.

Mary Joya Showroom had a great show as well, according to Brittanie Newman. “We’ve been slammed,” she said. Buyers were still placing smaller orders than before the recession, but they placed more orders than last year, she added. Buyers were also buying more Spring collections than last year, when they focused more on Immediates. Mary Joya carries LA Made, Chaser, Wendy Katlen and Tart and sells to retailers such as Macy’s, Ambience and Revolve. “Bright stripes are huge,” Newman said. Oversized shirts and tops with cutout shoulders were also popular items.

Loyda Veliz of the CMT showroom on The New Mart’s 12th floor said she thought the lower floors were busier, but she had been seeing small spurts of buyers on the upper floors. “Buyers are very much still cautious,” she said. “But business has been good—about the same as last year.”

Increases at Cooper

Traffic was good, and buyers saw a slight increase in sales at the Cooper Design Space, according to vendors. Zach Weinstein of CP Shades said they had seen many existing accounts in addition to opening a few new accounts, including Mercantile Makawao in Maui, Hawaii. The brand’s new Shirt, Shawl, Earth and Dress lines did well, as did the main CP Shades line, Weinstein said. He also said the company was selling more Spring than Immediates in comparison with recent trade shows they had done in New York.

Crystal Slattery of Elizabeth and James said that all the buyers who had come by the Jaya Apparel Group showroom were placing larger orders. “We’ve had a really positive response from buyers, and every order was up over last year,” Slattery said. Neon was selling well, as were bright, punchy florals, dresses, and novelty denim. Jaya Apparel Group’s new concept brand, Payne, which is a hybrid between high fashion and performance activewear, was also a hit with buyers and was “landing in all the right doors,” Slattery said.

Brittany Sleeth of Terry Sahagen Sales, which carries several brands—including Milly, The Addison Story, Bailey 44, Tracy Reese, Ella Moss and Monrow—said buyers were still cautious in this economy, especially in regards to picking up new lines, but that, overall, orders were the same size as last year. The showroom had been seeing about 150 accounts a day, a mix of appointments and drop-ins, Sleeth said. Their biggest sellers, by far, were skirts and dresses with high-low hems, she said.

Good at the Gerry Building

Showroom owners at the Gerry Building reported a fairly good market because buyers were slightly more confident than last year. They noted, however, that market attendance would have been better if more buyers could have found hotel rooms at the beginning of market. Many out-of-town store owners couldn’t make it to market before Wednesday, Oct. 19, because the 84th annual Water Environment Federation Exhibition and Conference was at the Los Angeles Convention Center until Oct. 19. Attendees of that conference snapped up most of the available hotel rooms in the downtown area. “People couldn’t get hotel rooms,” noted showroom owner Barbara Nogg. “A lot of buyers said they would come in January or they would see us up at San Mateo [at Fashion Market Northern California].”

The Gerry Building showroom owners this market dangled a bit of enticement for buyers to look at their collections. Buyers who placed orders were entered into a raffle to win $100. There were two $100 drawings a day.

Also, all the Gerry Building showrooms were open on Sunday, Oct. 16, the day before market opened on Monday. And everyone said that turned out to be their busiest day. “Sunday was an important day,” said Kathy Kearns, who works in the Karen Kearns Sales showroom, owned by her sister.

Boutiques shopping the show included the Specialty Sports Venture chain of stores, based in Broomfield, Colo., as well as boutiques Ambiance in San Francisco and Tonik in Mammoth Lakes, Calif.

Focus produced the F2 Runway Show on the first day of the trade show, and the event attracted bloggers, many of whom browsed the show’s more than 12 vendors. The press attention was a big help, said one vendor, Luciana Ellington, founder of the Los Angeles–based Costella Handbags line. However, by the middle of the last day of the show, she still had not written any orders. She blamed her label’s price points. Her handbags range from $100 to $300 wholesale, and the two boutiques she talked to during the show were looking for handbags with retail price points of $75 to $150.

Vendors at the neighboring Transit show claimed good business. Kenny Robinson, president of New York–based juniors show brand Lovely People, said that his juniors label is going to exhibit at every Transit show in the future because sales were so good. The label’s sales increased five-fold compared with the March show, the last time Lovely People exhibited at Transit.

The incentive seemed to work because most sales reps said activity was brisk this market. The busier showrooms were the ones carrying European lines because this was the deadline for placing Spring 2012 orders.

That was the case at Jamie Prince Sales, where six lines are from Europe. “People are very item-driven and looking for novelty pieces,” Jamie Prince said. “But people seem to be a little more positive this year.”

Millie Troll, who owns The Luxe Showroom, said stores are looking for way to generate higher profit margins. One of her lines, Sharagano Noir, is priced to give retailers a boost to their margins. For example, one of Sharagano’s dresses is reversible and wholesales for $40.

D&A Expands, Draws a Crowd

Buyer and vendor numbers for the first two days of the Spring Designers and Agents show were up 10 percent over last year, according to Ed Mandelbaum, co-producer of the show. Additionally, booth space for the Los Angeles show was sold out, as it was for the Designers and Agents shows in New York and Paris.

“All of the shows have been positive,” he said. “All of our people have left happy.”

Kim Wilson, a sales representative who represents several brands, including Italian brand Local, said the first two days of the show were so packed they were “tiring.” The lifestyle collection had done well and gained four new accounts, Wilson said. Their khadi cotton blouses and long tunic tops from the Spring/Summer line had been their biggest sellers, along with their flowered “Kelly” dress, which wholesales for $88.

Nina Chase of Jeanine Payer said she had decided to show at the Los Angeles show, after a six year-hiatus, based on the success of the recent Designers and Agents show in New York. The brand, which is carried through Free People’s website and Anthropologie’s Parlor and Yard concept store, recently launched more-affordable lines in addition to its-end pieces, which wholesale for up to $4,000. The lower-priced pieces are made with fabric and brass instead of sterling silver and 18-kt. gold, which helps keep the prices down, Chase said. Wholesale pricing for the more inexpensive pieces starts at $60.

Elexis Frank of Lori Jacobs showroom—which carries Astrid Jane, Gurland, Josa, Ever, and, more recently, Zoe Karssen—said there had been “a good reaction” to the lines, especially Zoe Karssen. Popular items during the show included Zoe Karssen’s bat T-shirt, fashion-forward jeans by Gurland, Josa caftan dresses in pink snake and coral tribal prints. The company doesn’t make appointments but had been seeing about 10 to 15 drop-by buyers each day, and business had been steady, Frank said. “People are definitely writing orders, but they’re looking at the price tags now, and they never used to.”

This was the first year that Designers and Agents debuted a Brazilian section, which added a colorful splash but not many sales, according to the designers. Shelly Fang of Showroom 407, which represents Brazilian swimwear line Salinas, said the placement of the designers in the corner behind the cafeacute; hurt sales because many buyers didn’t know they were there. She said it would be more effective to have the lines sprinkled throughout the show in their appropriate category, rather than all grouped together. “Swimwear should be over with accessories. The dresses should be with all the dresses,” she said. “It doesn’t work to have all the Brazilian lines together, and no one knows we’re here.”

Mandelbaum said that next year he would have the Brazilian designers spread throughout the show, but the designers had requested to be shown together as a group.

Laid Back at The Lady Liberty

Traffic at the Lady Liberty building, located just north of the intersection of Ninth and Los Angeles streets, was mild. At The Penthouse Showroom, business was about the same as last year, if not a tad slower. Trey Alligood, one of the showroom owners, said the March and October markets are usually the strongest fashion markets in Los Angeles. But that wasn’t the case this year.

Alligood said many buyers prefer to go to Las Vegas and New York to view the new collections. Most of his contemporary men’s and women’s business is done on the road or at trade shows such as ENKVegas and Coterie New York. “Business, in general, is better overall, up about 20 percent over last year,” he said. “But the L.A. market isn’t like it used to be five years ago.”