Salon Allure: More Luxury Brands
MIAMI BEACH, Fla.—Salon Allure may be attracting more brands, but a sluggish economy is restraining vendors’ sales, said Rick Fatzinger, the co-founder of the boutique swim and resortwear trade show, held July 21–24 at the W South Beach Hotel & Residences.
Salon Allure’s 56 vendors occupied two floors of the luxury hotel, an increase from last year, when 31 vendors sold their swim and resort styles on just one hotel floor, Fatzinger said.
“Brands that are established and doing well did even better at this show,” he said. “But I felt frustration from younger brands in attracting attention. It means that the luxury market is strong, but retailers are buying what they know.”
Buyers for Nordstrom, Dillard’s, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Zappos, Urban Outfitters, Pacific Sunwear, Amazon.com, Swell.com and ShopBop browsed the show.
Leading Italian luxury brand La Perla exhibited its swimwear label at the show. New swim labels Wanderlust Swimwear of Huntington Beach, Calif., and Stone Fox Swim of Santa Cruz, Calif., both made their debuts at the show. Swiss brand Barraca Chic and Israeli label Esprit de Vacances made their American debuts at the show.
Salon Allure vendors exhibited in suites with commanding views of the beach and the Atlantic Ocean that lay just outside the W. Vendors were pleased with the press attention at the trade show. Reportedly, Sports Illustrated dropped by the show to research brands for its celebrated annual swimsuit edition.
But there were wide-ranging opinions on the strength of buyer traffic. For Los Angeles–based Mikoh Swimwear, business was good enough that label co-founder Oleema Miller forecast sales would increase more than 15 percent compared with last year’s show.
For San Francisco–based Haeckel Haus Co., the show was only valuable for marketing, not retailing. “There hasn’t been any retail traffic. It’s a disappointment,” said Kate Miller, a label co-founder.
In the W’s penthouse, prominent Southern California swimwear house Raj Manufacturing exhibited its Luxe by Lisa Vogel swimwear label, as well as the Hurley and Ella Moss swimwear labels it licenses.
Raj Co-President Alex Bhathal thought sales at the show would be good. Commenting about swimwear trends, he said bright neon colors and retro-floral looks are popular. —Andrew Asch
