TRADE SHOW
Liberty Fairs: Mixing Fashion Community and Commerce
Aspirations for the second Liberty Fashion and Lifestyle Fairs were high when it ran Feb. 17–19 at the Sands Expo & Convention Center.
Liberty founder Sam Ben-Avraham hoped to foster a forum that would encourage creativity in design and commerce and where a diverse group of people would mix. “The goal is to be a community,” Ben-Avraham said.
A lot of the vendors thought Liberty was well on its way to achieving its goals. Lukus Eichman, founder/designer of denim label Tortoise, said he spent Liberty taking business meetings and talking with luminaries of the denim world, including Adriano Goldschmied. “It’s seeing those guys and building our business,” he said of the best things about his trade-show experience.
Liberty presented separate sections curated for “Made in America” fashions, men’s grooming and retail technology. Liberty also served as a platform for the relaunch of denim brand Earnest Sewn and lifestyle brand Ever.
Jana Flumiani of Earnest Sewn said the brand’s relaunch kept her busy. “The show was outstanding on its first day, but traffic dropped off a bit on the second day. I saw a lot of key accounts. The stores that I needed to see were there,” she said.
Jason Schott, chief operating officer of the Schott NYC label, noted being busy throughout the show, and retailers reportedly shopping Liberty included Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus, American Rag and Fred Segal.
The show also was a good forum for emerging brands, said Jim Kremer, sales manager for the Shade 55 label. His goal had been to sell to 10 new accounts. He sold to nine, which he considered a good job considering the economy is continuing to recover. “Retailers are taking minimal risk,” he said.
Willard Ford, partner in the Flagship Agency, which represented brands such as SLVDR and K-Way at Liberty, noted that the show was organized well, but even good business had challenges because many retailers wait until the last minute to make orders. “[Liberty] brings a lot of different trends under the same roof. There are no outliers here,” Ford said. “Most of the orders you used to get at the show. Now, you have to chase them. Retailers are pushing out their ordering until the last possible moment.”
