TRADE SHOWS
Trade Show Dilemma: What Makes a Trade Show a ‘First Stop’ for Attendees?
With a packed trade-show calendar—as well as new trade shows launching—event organizers are faced with the task of driving traffic to their shows. It’s even more challenging in markets such as Las Vegas, where multiple events run concurrently at locations scattered around town.
California Apparel News recently caught up with several trade-show organizers to ask what they do to bring in attendees. From offering incentives to spend more time on the show floor to carving out a specific niche in their market, we asked how these organizers make sure their show is one of the first stops on attendees’ rounds.
Leslie Gallin
President Footwear
UBM Advanstar
(including FN PLATFORM, MAGIC, WSA, Sole Commerce and PROJECTsole NYC )
MAGIC is committed to offering an enriching, one-of-a-kind experience that is meaningful to both retailers and exhibitors. As the most established leader in the fashion trade-show space, we know this is vital, and we pay very close attention by listening to what both sides of the aisle have to say. This ensures our programs add value and exceed the needs of both retailers and exhibitors.
One of the areas we see as a must is education. Be it business pointers or merchandising “how-tos.” If we can provide the knowledge necessary to empower our customers, we create a stronger marketplace. A marketplace that is vibrant and relevant. Networking and relationship building is also on the top of our priority list. People want to do business with whom they like and trust. These attributes only happen when people interact in person. So MAGIC offers an incredible array of resources to help buyers and brands connect with each other and the industry.
Making sure the show is extremely accessible for the retailer is crucial—along with making it easy to navigate and well curated. By creating neighborhoods within each show, MAGIC makes it easier for retailers to find what they need. We make sure that each show floor is mapped out and divided into classifications, price points and categories, enabling buyers to navigate from a retail perspective. To simplify further, our retail team helps retailers set up a schedule, gives tours and “match makes” as needed. We want the MAGIC experience to be easy and seamless.
MAGIC also offers a wide range of resources to help businesses survive and thrive. We offer the largest free seminar series in all of fashion trade shows, 50-plus free seminars with experts from all over the world. And with Shop The Floor, our free digital showroom, we enable exhibitors to set up their own interactive website, whereby the retailers are able to view product before, during and after the actual show. Utilizing Shop The Floor for both sides of the aisles assists in ensuring notifications for open stock and viewing trends in real time.
Las Vegas also serves as a great backdrop for MAGIC. The show has been held in Las Vegas for over 25 years now, and it’s a destination our attendees really enjoy because of the exciting happenings outside of the show as well. From great restaurants to amazing shows, our attendees really enjoy what Las Vegas has to offer.
Eva Walsh
Executive Vice President of Leasing and Marketing
Dallas Market Center
Over the past 18 months, more than 500,000 people have moved to Texas and the surrounding states. That’s a serious number of new potential customers for manufacturers to reach via retailers in the region. To help, Dallas Market Center has been elevating the trade-show experience by connecting manufacturers to busy retailers in more-sophisticated ways. That starts with improved sales opportunities, including promoting fashion at the nine Dallas shows per year, including four Total Home & Gift Markets in addition to the Apparel & Accessories shows. Because of the gift stores’ growing appetite for more fashion resources, cross-buying is bigger than ever and the extra shows mean about 75,000 additional buyers to Dallas each year for apparel and accessories companies to reach.
Dallas Market Center has made a big effort to attract more contemporary lines and is launching special initiatives and events during market to further draw buyers to the expanded contemporary neighborhood on the 15th floor of the World Trade Center. This personalized approach offers unmatched opportunities to connect with loyal buyers including highly edited fashion shows featuring the latest products from coveted exhibiting brands.
Another way DMC highlights outstanding exhibitor product is via social media. Everyone has their Instagram and Facebook accounts, but Dallas Market Center’s accounts are the fastest growing among the shows. What’s the key? Improved content and a stylized point of view featuring a curated selection of product images that get brands in front of our loyal social-media followers, including nearly 16,000 Instagram followers. DMC’s recent partnership with trend intelligence service Fashion Snoops further promotes exhibiting lines with custom reports that are shared premarket and brought to life on-site. These reports are key for guiding retailers toward styles their consumers will be seeking in the coming months and highlighting the lines at DMC that have these sought-after pieces.
Dallas Market Center has also engaged a full-time video team that produces original content highlighting exhibitors and is pushed out ahead of market as well as during the show. Lastly, there are retail ambassadors at Dallas Market Center who reach out to retailers every day on behalf of exhibitors. They have extended the market center’s reach into the entire Midwest, including retailers from the Rockies to the Mississippi. This extra traffic, new promotions and a deeper customer connection are crucial reasons why showrooms have been moving back to the market center from alternative venues downtown.
Caron Stover
Vice President of Apparel Trade Show Sales
Atlanta Apparel
The Atlanta Apparel experience is what keeps buyers coming back and encourages new buyers to explore our expertly curated collection.
Every aspect of the buyer experience at Atlanta Apparel is carefully considered to create a buying opportunity that is advantageous to retailers and helps them grow their businesses. From our in-house Retail Services team, which builds relationships with new and existing stores by making personal visits, to an intuitive communications program that shares information tailored to buyers’ needs, Atlanta Apparel takes the time to really get to know buyers. This understanding of the buyers allows the team to provide the most effective assistance, whether it is providing travel assistance and incentives or making recommendations on lines and collections. It’s a level of service that cannot be found elsewhere in the industry.
Inspirational programming and events keep buyers coming back for more. Atlanta Apparel’s celebrated-speaker series brings a litany of tastemakers and thought leaders to buyers in free, open-to-the-market seminars and meet and greets. Atlanta Apparel’s Style Runway is a fashion-show experience unmatched in the industry with theatrical and inspirational trend-driven fashion presentations. Additionally, the lively Daily Strut series allows buyers to discover new product multiple times per day with specialized shows featuring collections or designers.
Buyers also enjoy Atlanta Apparel’s curated and easy-to-shop collections. Unlike other trade shows, Atlanta Apparel buyers can explore collections in both the temporary trade show and in permanent showrooms, conveniently located together in one building. The four-day run of the market allows buyers to take their time exploring the collections and really getting to know their manufacturers. It creates a sense of community that permeates the market.
Ultimately, it is the lines that keep buyers coming to the markets. Atlanta Apparel’s dedicated fashion team crosses the globe in search of what’s new and next in women’s apparel, creating a curated assemblage of the industry’s top lines.
Steven “Fish” Fisher
Senior Buyer Relations Manager
Emerald Expositions/Surf Expo
At Surf Expo we pride ourselves on our direct relationship with our attendees and constantly check the pulse of the buyers to gauge our direction. We have a formal group of select top retailers (our Retail Advisory Panel) that we interact with often, and they keep us ahead of the curve. They represent every category on our show floor, and the discussions cover everything from show hours to events as well as new categories and gotta-have products that all our attendees can benefit from.
Our surveys tell us the majority of Surf Expo attendees are looking for fresh product and brands. Our sales team works diligently to bring more than 250 new brands to each show. This—along with recognizing trends in grouping categories on the floor—has proven successful. The buyers have come to expect the latest and greatest from Surf Expo.
For attendees, we keep our business-building seminars, fashion shows and demos on the show floor. Attendees are always asking for more time to work the show but recognize the need to break away for an educational session; keeping them close by helps them manage their schedule. Same goes for coffee carts and food. We work closely with show services to curate the menus and are going to employ roaming carts in September to bring coffee to where the attendees are or to help create interest in a slower corner of the floor.
Surf Expo also partners with like-minded associations and organizations to bring important functions and summit meetings to the show and, therefore, directly to the attendees—convenient for the attendees’ limited time and adding value to the show. An example here is the upcoming Surf Park Summit 2 in September, where the hope is to accelerate the future of surfing outside the ocean. It will be attended by developers, investors, suppliers and experts as well as current park operators. This really increases the ROI of attending Surf Expo.
Henri Myers
Cofounder/Creative Director
COEUR Tradeshow
Each season at COEUR we deliver a heavily curated showcase of all the things that we love and that buyers want to see under one roof. We select no more than 100 lines to participate to ensure that it is fresh and easy to navigate. Our core aesthetic is one that highlights a strong mix of known and up-and-coming brands that are specifically chosen for the buyers who walk the show. Buyers take their time covering our show, and over the past five years they have grown to love the fact that we do a lot of the work for them—making it easier to revisit familiar lines but also discover new brands that should be on their radar. At COEUR we also ensure that there is a warm and welcoming atmosphere, which encourages great interactions between vendors and buyers. We also create a flow for the show that lends itself to easily check in and view the vendors and their brands. Time after time COEUR delivers the perfect lifestyle showcase to ensure that everyone who participates has a great show.
Ed Mandelbaum
President
Designers and Agents
Designers and Agents welcomes any initiative that brings new products to the Los Angeles market.
D&A has been in Los Angeles for 17 years. Its continued strength is that its focus remains consistent—bringing a highly curated and select group of ready-to-wear, accessories and lifestyle brands to the LA marketplace. D&A has always been a first stop for retailers.
Judy Stein
Executive Director
Swimwear Association of Florida/
Miami SwimShow
As we head into our 34th year, SwimShow is the longest running and most prestigious trade show dedicated to the international swimwear community.
Whether you are new to the industry or an established brand, SwimShow has earned its reputation as the must-attend event of the buying season. Our initial slogan, “Swimwear Begins in Miami Beach,” still holds true since we host the most important global swimwear trade show and provide the setting for the largest gathering of retailers, manufacturers and other industry representatives to meet annually under one roof.
We also understand that our success has created a competitive environment and younger, niche trade shows have sprouted up trying to break into our market share. We view this as a wonderful opportunity to stretch our boundaries, to challenge ourselves by adding or reinventing small elements that can make our show better. Each year we incorporate new brands, attendees and events, and we will work to maintain and grow our status as the best and most important swimwear trade show in the world.
This year during the trade show, SwimShow will host its first Collection area, strategically placed in the middle of the show floor. The Collection is a curated fashion environment created for discovering the best emerging and established swimwear designer brands in the industry. Retailers are invited to experience this beautifully encased luxury oasis while enjoying champagne butler service, a VIP lounge area, free access to Wi-Fi (also available throughout the trade show). Other special events surrounding the SwimShow will include a fit seminar, Swim Lounge Happy Hour, informal modeling, an evening cocktail reception, a daily breakfast bar and high tea service every afternoon, allowing for networking. We are also incorporating amenities such as a dry and braid bar, nail salon for quick touch-ups, henna bar, up-to-the-minute social-media engagement, and so much more for our buyers and media guests.
Not only are we an organization that understands the importance of doing business, but we are also a close-knit community of like-minded individuals, and the goal of our show is to marry a sense of fun and success—a recipe that’s worked perfectly for over three decades and will continue into the future.
Stephen Krogulski
Chief Executive Officer
OFFPRICE
OFFPRICE maintains its status as a vital stop in Las Vegas Fashion Week by opening up two days prior to other shows. This gives retailers with an immediate need to fill something the ability to find it right away at our show. In other words, we set ourselves apart with perfect timing.
We also have a loyalty program offering our attendees a great value on hotel rooms, a discounted lunch program, access to meeting rooms and even a VIB (Very Important Buyer) program for our founders.
At OFFPRICE we are all about the experience and always looking at new programs to leverage the importance of our brand. We have a buyer-relations team with a wealth of knowledge ready to engage with our customers. Most recently we’ve developed a smartphone app that helps buyers preplan their routes for show day to maximize their efficiency and make their shopping experience both profitable and enjoyable.
Hillary France
CEO, Cofounder
Brand Assembly
As the Los Angeles market is evolving and becoming more important and relevant to both brands and buyers, Brand Assembly continues to stay focused on curating the best assortment of brands. We offer an important blend of established brands that are looking for a West Coast outlet as well as some of the coolest emerging designers, which we prominently highlight in the center of the show to make sure they are afforded as much visibility as possible. By having such a balanced selection of brands in such a flowing, sun-filled and shoppable space, we are not just a trade show in LA, we are a destination for buyers.
With our consistent presence at the Cooper Design Space, our brand assortment, the offering of amenities and the unique personal touch that makes Brand Assembly Brand Assembly, we make sure we are the first, last and middle stop on attendees’ Los Angeles rounds by being a consistent focal point for the market.
Roland Timney
Founder
WWIN
We know that our retailers have a choice when it comes to trade shows, so we focus on delivering a very buyer-oriented event that helps them save time, money, find new fashion resources—and have some fun along the way.
On the product front, WWIN has a very well-defined, well-edited selection that offers great appeal to retailers seeking women’s fashions. As the only show of its kind for all size women, WWIN features 800+ booths with more than 1,500 lines of traditional, contemporary, misses, plus and tall sizes as well as hundreds of accessories. From the biggest brands to innovative newcomers, we bring together a broad and deep selection to help stores easily find fresh new styles for their customers.
We back this selection with a full roster of time and money-saving buyer services. In addition to deeply discounted room rates at the Rio Hotel, the site of the WWIN show, we also provide complimentary breakfast, lunch and afternoon refreshments for buyers each day. We also extend our hours until 8 p.m. on opening day, serving wine and cheese, so buyers and exhibitors can continue working, networking and catching up with friends.
Suzanne De Groot
Executive Director
Fashion Market Northern California
FMNC continues to be the largest open-booth show on the West Coast—as we have been for the last 30-plus years. We continue to have a variety of categories including classic, contemporary, designer, juniors, accessories, footwear and gifts in all price points. We are particularly accessible to Central and Northern California buyers and also draw from all of California and the surrounding states.
We offer several incentives:
•Free room at the Marriott for first-time attendees and special rates for returning buyers, which includes parking and shuttle service to and from the venue.
•Daily continental breakfast and lunch coupons.
•Free parking on Monday and Tuesday mornings.
•On Monday night, we stay open late and offer free wine and beer for extended shopping (and a respite from the traffic).
•A comprehensive show directory is mailed to enable buyers to better plan their shopping experience with an opportunity to schedule appointments ahead of time to streamline and facilitate shopping.
As well as the above, we feel we give shoppers a relaxed, friendly environment—no hassle, easy registration and more than adequate parking, as well as a well-lighted, less hectic show floor and all in one building—no buses or shuttles to far-flung venues, no long walks from building to building.
We are always looking at new ways to support and inform our buyers—and in an effort to keep retailers viable in this ever-changing retail climate, FMNC is implementing “Seminar Sundays.” We will have seminars on subjects that will help our retail partners learn to navigate their future to the best of their ability. These will include profitability, inventory control, online presence and social media, to name a few.
We encourage our retailers to plan at least two days at market. This allows time to shop their regular vendors and then walk the show for newness. Our exhibitors strive to update their collections with the latest trendy “must-see” items and brands.
Deirdre Maloney
Cofounder
Capsule
The No. 1, 2 and 3 ways to first get buyers to your show and then keep them there is by offering the most compelling brand assortment. We pride ourselves on presenting a top curation of the brands people know and love to see but also know the importance of introducing new, buzzy brands season after season. Of course, customer service, show experience and aesthetic are all important to complement the right mix of brands, but even if you have all of that, if you don’t have the brands, no one is coming.
Gilles Lasbordes
General Manager
Première Vision
To remain competitive and attract visitors, Première Vision shows are very attentive to [a number of factors]:
·Remain faithful to the show’s values by presenting a very selective but diverse and wide offer based on the creativity, the quality and the financial reliability of the companies exhibiting. What is important here is to propose renewed collections every season where creation is at the center and that respond to international markets’ needs.
•Provide visitors with exclusive information and live experiences.
•Offer fashion orientations specifically developed by Première Vison’s fashion team along with fashion experts to give seasonal guidelines and inspiration, [which are included] in the Première Vision color cards.
•Offer renewed and adapted fashion forums that show the best of materials from among our exhibitors’ most creative collections each season.
•Organize other events such as seminars and conferences on current topics: fashion trends, economics, industry challenges...
We also carry out surveys and studies to inform our exhibitors and visitors to the sector’s movements, interests and needs. The idea is never to stand still but to listen and to adapt to the industry’s evolution.
That’s how we are providing more transverse initiatives between our different shows. That’s how we organize our exhibition floors or forums. That is why we also adapt our communication and information tools to improve both the productivity of the visit to our shows, their readability and attendees’ navigation at our shows.
To continue to be a world leader after 43 years of existence, you need to remain true to your identity, to gather the best offerings, but also to take risks by investing in new tools, to invent new shows and events adapted to the markets you’re targeting.
David Dea
Founder
Factory Direct
At Factory Direct Trade Show we deliver curated industry business resources ranging from factories, technology, screen printers, wash houses, financial, logistics, back-office operations and more. The fashion show on the second day is to showcase up-and-coming designers and has proven to be a big draw for attendees. Our educational seminars are well attended, and we make it convenient for attendees to enjoy lunch while speaking to potential new resource partners.
We serve coffee, food and drinks daily. Most importantly we focus on bringing reputable industry resources from around the globe. All companies need business resources and reliable factories. You’ll find them at Factory Direct.
Aaron Levant
Founder
Agenda
Agenda Long Beach is the first show in the season for launching Fall and Spring products. Our Long Beach show falls at the beginning of January and the end of June, which gives our brands their first opportunity each season to get in front of their customers.
For our retailers, we offer an unparalleled level of personal customer service to them by visiting them year-round in their shops across the country. Every season we visit 250-plus shops in 10-plus states to meet with our buyers and learn about their businesses. Our retailers consistently attend our shows because we offer a comprehensive, multi-channel, curated brand selection with more than 700 brands on the show floor representing the entire spectrum of youth culture, and we offer the best experience to our retailers with a seamless registration process and VIP concierge services.
Lastly, both our brands and retailers are loyal to Agenda because we offer the most compelling content to them through our Agenda Emerge conference. While other shows may offer educational seminars, we are taking it to a whole new level with our Emerge conference by offering a speaker series with the most recognizable names in fashion, art, design and youth culture.
Andrew Olah
Founder
Kingpins
The Kingpins Show has only the desire and plan to keep improving our shows through our exhibitor roster, our seminars and general ambience.
We really don’t do anything more than this to inspire visitors to come. We believe that the quality of our shows are the incentive for guests to continually come and word-of-mouth keeps new visitors coming. We hope they never stop. We offer no incentives. We just try to be the best show we can be in our genre.
Ashleigh Kaspszak
Assistant Building Manager
Director, Marketing & Public Relations
The New Mart Building’s 110-plus showrooms are a central destination during the regional trade show, Los Angeles Fashion Market. The New Mart also hosts various outside trade shows throughout the year in our exhibition space. This gives us the unique position of being both a trade-show producer and a trade-show provider. We work at maintaining a balance in brand consistency while raising the bar with each event we do. It’s fashion, and people expect to—and should be—“wowed” every time they walk in our doors.
The New Mart acts as a trade-show producer for the five-time annually Los Angeles Fashion Market. What is most important in reaching our attendees is knowing what to say once we have their attention. We understand that attracting attendee attention to our showrooms involves more than just having printed marketing materials, social-media posts and e-blasts. Instead, last year, we began The New Mart Network, a video and podcast interview series on YouTube and iTunes. The New Mart Network interviews showroom owners, designers and industry leaders about the business of fashion—especially going over what’s happening here in the Los Angeles sector of the industry. At this stage in the series we have received feedback of its positive effects. Our interview subjects say they have seen more press attention, new business inquiries and fresh opportunities. The New Mart is host to amazing brands backed by incredible people, their friends and often times multiple generations of a family. The interviews help profile who these wonderful individuals are, which is vital information—as we know it’s the people here who ultimately attract attendees.
When the New Mart acts as a show provider, we focus on working with those that are cutting edge and supportive of both the industry and local community. For example, the Designers and Agents show (which recently celebrated a 16th anniversary with us) are trailblazers in supporting eco-friendly initiatives. From the exhibitors they allow into the show to the napkins they use, everything is eco-friendly. Additionally, the Moda 360 show we host is a break-through event, merchandising international exhibitors from the fashion, art and entertainment industries—complete with seminars about the latest innovations in technology and sustainable practices. And another great example is Factory Direct, which fills the need for what had been missing from the trade-show roster—a vetted group of vendor exhibitors from manufacturing to accounting that specialize in low [volume] production and small-business solutions. At The New Mart we know it’s our responsibility to be aware of what’s going on in our industry. We feel the various trade shows hosted here reflect the drive and dedication we have for meaningful collaborations.
More specifically our team makes it a point to walk the floor of every show and talk with the producers, staff, exhibitors and attendees. In addition, year-round we connect with our neighborhood businesses—that is, hotels, transportation, etc.—to develop relationships on behalf of our attendees, so when they visit us in LA, they can feel comfortable, find great deals and enjoy their stay.
But I believe that it’s not what we do so much as who we are that brings attendees through our doors. People have been visiting The New Mart showrooms and trade shows for decades and in that time have become familiar with our brand and what we represent. Our commitment earns theirs in the end.
Jennifer Bacon
Show Director
Texworld USA, Apparelsourcing USA, Home Textiles Sourcing Expo
This summer Texworld USA will be celebrating its 10th year in New York City, and, having been around for so long, we’ve found that effectively communicating the quality of our exhibitors and our diverse product offerings is what drives the most attendance. With every edition, we always highlight the best products that the show has to offer, new country pavilions, upcoming trends and our free educational seminars organized by Lenzing Innovation. It sounds basic, but we know that our visitors care more about getting their sourcing needs checked off their list at our show than anything else.
We’re also working harder than ever to make the show a one-stop shop for our visitors, who we know are often very busy and are strapped for time. In one day at Texworld USA you can find cost-effective but high-quality apparel fabrics, trims and accessories for every end use, engage with the industry and your peers, attend high-quality educational seminars, and even find a manufacturing supplier by visiting our co-located show, Apparelsourcing USA. If we can offer our visitors a place to get all of the above done efficiently, we know we will continue to be a must-attend event.
Having said that, we certainly do also engage prospective attendees with incentives, special events, contests and giveaways before, during and after the show. For our most loyal VIP buyers, we offer entry into our on-site VIP lounge and complimentary private transfers to and from the show. We’ve tapped into the social-media aspect of visiting our show to engage our attendees through our mobile app, which allows them to connect directly to set up meetings on-site prior to arriving, enter contests and giveaways during the show and share their photos and product discoveries after the show. Finally, we work hard to make sure that our fringe programs and on-site networking events are diverse and fun for not only our VIP buyers but also for our visitors who are emerging designers, industry professionals and our exhibitors as well. Over the last 10 years, Texworld USA has become more than just a platform to meet suppliers and do business, it has become a place to network and learn about what is happening in the industry as well.
Hisham Muhareb
Cofounder
NW Materials Show
NE Materials Show
SoCal Materials Show
The SoCal, NE and NW Material Shows have been connecting the athletic and outdoor industries for over 20 years. The shows have been growing rapidly over the past few years and are still going strong. We offer our attendees and exhibitors a comfortable atmosphere to conduct their business, and the timeline meets most of the athletic-industry sourcing calendars. Many of the attendees corroborate our outstanding customer service and attention to detail. The Material Shows have attracted many new innovative companies wanting to share their new materials and processes with the industry. The Material Shows are the major athletic brands’ go-to shows for sourcing materials and components. The brands, along with American Events, have built these shows and continue to support them and recommend new suppliers to exhibit. We have been very fortunate to have been supported by these brands over the years. Attendees from other industries such as Tesla, Microsoft, Apple, Intel and others have been flocking the shows to find out what these progressive athletic and outdoor brands are looking at in materials and components as well as responsible manufacturing.
Sam Ben-Avraham
Founder
Liberty Fairs
Buyers don’t have the luxury to waste time on irrelevant shows, and the relevancy of shows is dependent on having the most relevant brands at the moment. In addition, it’s important for shows to be curated and merchandised in a way that makes the story easy to read—to make conducting business efficient.
Liberty Fairs always keeps this in mind and looks for the best in new and emerging brands, including international brands. Our team specializes in merchandising and has great relationships with retailers, whom we talk to on a consistent basis to ensure we’re offering the best brands and service possible.
Brittany Carr
Director of Trade Shows
California Market Center
www.californiamarketcenter.com
The CMC is continually exploring fresh ways to enhance a buyer’s experience of our marketplace and ensure it continues being a primary destination for market. Pre-show, our Retail Marketing team utilizes several programs and tools to connect with and build relationships with buyers, creating awareness about the brands and resources they’ll find in the CMC’s showrooms and in the trade shows it hosts during market. The CMC also provides buyers with a variety of market features that add value to their buying trip within our building, including a newly launched retailer seminar series sharing business tips and fashion trend information as well as a new Market Passport Sweepstakes promotion, gifting 10 buyers with cash prizes from $500 to $1,000 for visiting showrooms and exhibitors. Rounding out the market trip are a bevy of perks we’ve created to help buyers enjoy their market trip, from cocktail receptions and beauty stations to complimentary breakfast, lunch, snacks, coffee and beverages on every floor of the building. These features are all part of the CMC’s mission to provide buyers with a well-rounded, resource-filled market experience.
Vanessa Chiu
Show Director
Axis at Capsule
By merging Axis into an integral show section with Capsule. Axis at Capsule, was founded upon a sense of collaboration and community alignment. Our Active Lifestyle collections are a highly curated culmination of collections sitting at the crux of what makes active lifestyle a fashion staple rather than a trend. We’re able to present new must-see discoveries and staples. Our strategic synergy aligns both shows’ expert ability to service our industry’s needs, community building, brand storytelling, intimate show sections, brand experience, and extend activations both on and off the show floor. Our partnership is a reflection and natural evolution of the women’s retail environment—marrying apparel, lifestyle, active and experience to form a community that is both exclusive and inclusive.
Pierre-Nicolas Hurstel
Chief Executive Officer
CurvExpo
In a consistently shifting market, it is imperative to remain open minded and innovative to increase the number of quality attendees visiting CURVENY New York and CURVENV@MAGIC. From starting new partnerships to increasing our show awareness, we consistently evolve in response to the market to remain relevant and to give attendees an unforgettable experience.
A main strength of CURVEXPO to attract both buyers and brands season after season is its strong community that is comprised of the best brands in the industry as well as selected buyers representing the top retailers in North America. We are consistently focusing on curating our brands to provide our buyers with the absolute best offering in terms of both domestic and international brands that present differentiated products in a variety of price points. Along with our selection of exhibiting brands comes reflection and understanding on what our buyers are looking for in terms of established as well as younger, diversified brands. Our high level of attention to both our buyers and brands results in attendee consistency and faithfulness.
The continual shift in the industry motivates us to stay pertinent in the market. The thinning boundary between intimate apparel and ready-to-wear, as well as the continuous trend of stores developing their inventory to create a one-stop shop experience for buyers, creates an opportunity for the CURVEXPO community to unceasingly search for new and exciting prospects to bring to the show. This enhances the buyer experience while aiding them in differentiating within their boutique or store. It also benefits by increasing the average consumer UPT [units per transaction], thereby giving that store or boutique a comparative advantage in a competitive market. These new exhibiting brands carry distinctive offerings such as accessories or other feminine
intimate products and often already have an established following of buyers; we aid these new exhibitors by inviting their buyers list via personalized reach-outs.
Partnerships, as well as common trade-show calendars, also permit current and new attendees with badges from other shows to easily enter the CURVEXPO shows and vice versa. Attending multiple shows with ease escalates the experience of buyers and encourages them to discover new trends due to the convenient locations.
The buyers team is also spending a greater amount of time visiting boutiques and stores—dubbed “CURVE on the Road” (follow our progress on the CURVEXPO Instagram)—to introduce the show and to cultivate personal and long-lasting relationships in this very intimate industry. The goal is to also provide an individual and human bond with all attendees to provide them with a face to go along with the show.
During the show, smarter on-site marketing enriches the attendee’s experience with briefer yet more interactive and informative offerings such as fashion presentations and trend previews. Trend previews, given by Promostyl, are useful 20-minute sessions that highlight pieces from exhibiting brands that fall within the upcoming season’s major trends. Much like the newly introduced “immediate gratification” format, in which individuals can immediately purchase looks seen on the runway during ready-to-wear shows, attendees of these presentations can immediately visit the booths showcasing the looks that they are interested in. These high-efficiency events introduce attendees to new trends and exhibitors as well as give valuable information to pass on to the intimate-apparel customer. Buyers will also be introduced to brands and trends with novel innovations such as our new mobile application and other digital services.
CURVEXPO focuses first and foremost on our attendees and the customer service we bring to each and every individual. We strive to create an environment in which connections are more easily made and new channels are opened and taken advantage of, and we endeavor to make every season an even better experience in every facet, including the ease of doing business. Adaptability is a huge emphasis, and we keep an open mind to create a fresh and updated show every season.
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