California Apparel News

LAS VEGAS—This season, upscale lingerie and swimwear show CurveNV moved from several small ballrooms in The Venetian to a single large space in the Sands Expo and Convention Center for its Feb. 11–12 run.

The show featured 30 new brands, including New York–based A:New, which was showing two hosiery brands: high-end Italian line Illeana, which is retail priced from $10 to $30, and more-youthful line Lemon, which is retail priced from $8 to $25.

A:New Sales Director and Partner Barry Tartarkin said the hosiery business is enjoying a resurgence in popularity “Women are wearing hosiery because they want to—not because they have to. Now, it’s a fashion accessory. We have to keep up with it, to give her new things to buy.”

Both brands sells in major retailers such as Macy’s, as well as specialty stores. Because A:New stocks inventory of Illeana and Lemon, the company can sell lower quantities for specialty stores.

Tartarkin said he was meeting several potential new stores at Curve. “Ninety-five percent of the stores we’ve seen have been potential new customers,” he said. “It really only take one good customer to make [a show] worthwhile.”

Hosiery is a growing category at the show, said co-organizer Laurence Teinturier, who added that the number of men’s underwear and loungewear  exhibitors has also expanded.

Also new to Curve was Naked Lingerie, a Los Angeles lingerie lifestyle collection that launched online in November. The collection includes upscale lingerie made in Los Angeles from European fabrications. In addition, Naked Lingerie carried beauty, body and gift items that are also produced in Los Angeles.

Becca B. Frank, chief creative officer and co-founder, and Henry Mandell, chief operating officer and chief financial officer, were on hand at the Curve booth and reported a great reaction to the collection’s range of sizes, from extra small to extra large.

“We had Japanese retailers come by, and they were happy to hear we have extra smalls,” Mandell said.

Frank said the plans were to expand the number of items that can also be worn as ready-to-wear and to launch a new fragrance in August.

New York–based lingerie line Zinke has been an exhibitor at Curve’s shows in Las Vegas and New York, but this was the first time the company has shown in Las Vegas in February, said sales rep Hannah Cole.

Created by sisters Jessie Zinke and Airin Robinson, the company recently expanded into swimwear, which follows the design ethos of the lingerie line. Everything is versatile, Cole said. “We let each girl be her own personal stylist.”

Although Las Vegas’ many shows provide retailers with one-stop shopping for multiple categories, some retailers focused their time on just the shows that specialized in niche markets.

That was the case for Dow Hickman, owner of Top Drawer Lingerie, a 3,600-square-foot lingerie store in Houston. Hickman only attended one show in Las Vegas: CurveNV.

“There’s no other place you can go to see all the manufacturers together,” he said. “You get a better look at things. I find if you focus on a narrow niche, you can be successful.”

Hickman has owned Top Drawer for 15 years and is in the process of launching an e-commerce division.

“We have lots of customers who’ve been with us for 10 or 15 years,” he said. “If you can’t provide what they want, they will [got to] someone else. It’s hard to say no to a customer and stay in business.”—Alison A. Nieder