MAGIC Men's Dominated By Strong Traffic and Immediate Sales
Traffic was up and immediate goods dominated business at the MAGIC menswear trade show Aug. 22–24 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, exhibitors said.
“People are looking for immediate delivery and buying closer to season, which is a little bit draining on us because we have no direction on what styles to bring in,” said Sandy Han, general manager of Tanners Avenue leather, who has been attending the show twice a year for the past 15 years. “It’s odd because this is supposed to be the Spring show, but it’s more Immediates.”
According to Han, the company had more buyers and wrote more orders than at the last MAGIC show.
“Compared to February, this one is a lot better. hellip; People didn’t have dollars to buy back in February.”
Han said she was pleasantly surprised that her higher-price-point items were selling better than lower-priced items in this economy.
“You would think the lower price point would be more in demand, but if people buy a leather jacket, they want to make sure it’s worth their money. If they’re price conscious, they’ll go with fake.”
Wholesale prices for Tanners Avenue range from $35 for kids’ leather goods to $250 for mens’.
Their children’s line—which includes small-scale leather jackets and vests—has been doing great, especially for Holiday, and they generally sell through all of it, Han said. She also noted an increase in buyers from stores that were not leather specialty stores.
James Barr, vice president of sales and marketing for budget menswear company Marquis, said his buyers had also been buying closer to season.
“Last August, we wrote 70 percent Fall and 30 percent Spring,” he said. “This year, because of the economy, people are buying much closer to what they need immediately, which makes it much harder for planning.”
Barr said they “blew through” their Fall skinny jean in February, but didn’t notice any clear trends this show, other than orders being “knit-driven” with lots of sweaters for Fall and polo shirts for Spring, which wholesale from $6 to $8.50.
Lisa Fillingim, director of Lucky Brand’s specialty stores and online sales, said the show had been a huge success for the Vernon, Calif.–based denim company, which is a division of New York–based Liz Claiborne.
“We’ve had an excellent show. Our men’s business has been on fire,” she said. “I think men are buying clothes again.”
Fillingim reported both more traffic and larger orders and said buyers were an even split of appointments and drop-bys. Their Fall line, which launched in February, was so popular, buyers were already reordering it, according to Fillingim.
Men’s premium denim was doing well, along with updated woven Western shirts and tops made of slub fabrics, she said. The company also debuted its men’s colored denim line for Spring in muted colors of ivy green, earth brown and barn red, along with its women’s brightly colored denim line.
She said that more men’s suit stores are purchasing denim for the blue jeans and blazer look, which may have played a part in increasing orders.
Tim Smith, vice president of casualwear company Pacific Clothing Company Inc., has been showing at MAGIC for the past 20 years and said buyers were still cautious, but this show was “a little better” for him than February’s and that he landed “a handful” of accounts.
Michael Mistretta of DKNY Jeans said the show was about the same for him as February’s in terms of volume, but he was pleased because “whoever came placed sizable orders.” He noted that the men’s sprayed plaid cotton long-sleeve shirts and twill pants were both big hits with buyers.
“We probably opened over 10 new accounts,” he said on the last day of the show.
According to MAGIC International president and executive vice president of Advanstar Fashion Group Chris DeMoulin, pre-registration for MAGIC was up over both February’s and last August’s shows.—Deidre Crawford
