California Apparel News

Project, held on the first floor of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, carried better men’s and dual-gender contemporary collections, and The Tents, which featured a selection of high-end brands catering to top-notch retailers, was held in a 50,000-square-foot tent adjacent to the convention center.

Dane Cohen, show manager of The Tents, called the show a huge success for the exclusive venue, now in its second season. “This was a destination in Las Vegas for designers and high-end contemporary brands to feel comfortable. We had CFDA brands and winners who were all sitting in the same area,” Cohen said. The tent housed brands such as Public School, Balmain Accessories, Bespoken, Timo Weiland and Vince.

“It is a business-driven show where writing orders and great marketing is [key]. The commerce-driven space provided a solid show experience in terms of numbers,” Cohen said.

Tommy Fazio, president of Project and one of the curators of The Tents, said both shows were designed with buyers and brands in mind.

“Over the past few months, our team took a lot of time speaking with exhibitors and buyers on how we can create the best possible show experience,” Fazio said. “What we were able to produce was a shopping experience that was both editorial and easy to navigate. Brands did big business and were able to capitalize on the critical mass of buyers at our show. Our premium-denim brands reported their strongest show in years.”

Rosemarie Grieco, the men’s sales manager of Quinn, was in The Tents area and said they were seated next to reputable brands. With a lot of orders and notes taken, as well as steady foot traffic, retailers were looking for something different, something special and styles unlike the customary trends, Grieco said.

Color blocking is featured in Quinn’s best-selling item, the “Barton” short-sleeve shirt, which comes in a cotton chambray and wholesales for $60. Another popular piece was the color-blocked “Moran” crew neck in a silk/cashmere blend. Layering pieces were another key trend, such as Quinn’s “Kinnon” T-shirt shirt in Lyocell.

In addition to Quinn’s two stores in New York’s Lower East Side and in Naples, Fla., the men’s line is sold in specialty stores nationwide. The women’s Fall 2013 collection is sold at Ron Herman.

Paul Roughley of Kill City men’s said the brand was spread a little too thin—mainly because of the overabundance of trade shows. Roughley said he felt there were too many shows spread across the trade show circuit. “Fewer buyers were walking the show because they were frustrated with the amount of ground to cover and had to split up to share the work load,” he said. “Our most loyal customers will meet with us in Los Angeles and New York in order to spend more time reviewing the collection as they felt rushed at the show.”