California Apparel News

When Agenda wrapped up its inaugural Las Vegas show at the Sands Expo, Agenda President Aaron Levant felt like running a victory lap.

“The show was amazing. We blew past all of our expectations. We have a bright future in Vegas. ” When the show runs in February 2014, Agenda could double in size, he forecast.

Agenda vendors interviewed also thought the show exceeded their expectations. Jason Ahn, co-founder and creative direct for The Kennedy Denim Co. of Los Angeles, said the show’s sales pace was fast. “The exposure we got was fantastic. We got to meet a lot of buyers, even ones that we did not expect,” he said.

Ahn said that the big difference between Agenda Vegas and its anchor show, Agenda Long Beach, were the buyers. In Long Beach, Calif., most of the buyers and retailers hailed from the West Coast. In Las Vegas, he met with retailers from around the globe, including U.K., Japanese and Australian retailers.

Also seen at the show was Karmaloop; Active; Burlington Coat Factory; Tradition, headquartered in Los Angeles; and Glik’s of Granite City, Ill.

There’s a community-like atmosphere at Agenda shows, said Chris Lisk , director of marketing at Cuipo, a Newport Beach, Calif.–based label. Agenda Vegas retained the show’s sense of community because the great majority of the Vegas vendors also exhibited at Agenda Long Beach. Matt Genova, Cuipo’s director of sales, gave Agenda high marks for its debut Vegas show. However, he noted that there’s no such thing as perfection.

“I think traffic was a little lighter than expected simply because buyers are now spread over three campuses in Vegas,” he said about retailers going to shows at the Sands, the Mandalay Bay and the Las Vegas Convention Center. “There's still only a finite amount of good accounts out there.”