TRADE SHOWS
Liberty Acquires Capsule Trade Show
Liberty Fashion & Lifestyle Fairs announced it acquired the Capsule trade show from Reed Exhibitions for an undisclosed amount.
Sam Ben-Avraham, Liberty’s founder, said the acquisition would make for a stronger trade show business and pool resources for buyers.
“Bringing the Capsule show under the Liberty Fairs Fashion Group umbrella creates an even stronger platform for all of our shows. We are always thinking about the future, about what’s coming, how we create the right thing to satisfy our core audience and also attract new eyes to what we are doing. Together we will have more opportunities to serve the fashion space and also build our network of influencers and experiment with some direct-to-consumer efforts,” he said in a statement.
For several years, Liberty, which started out as a menswear trade show, and Capsule have exhibited adjacent to each other at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas. At the February show, Liberty, Capsule and Agenda collaborated on Assembly, a two-day conference with speakers and workshops. Agenda remains with Reed Exhibitions, which acquired Capsule in 2014 for an undisclosed amount.
Stephen Savage, Liberty’s president, said that select Capsule staff will join Liberty. For the time being, the entities will hold their scheduled shows. Capsule runs biannual shows in New York, Las Vegas and Paris. It discontinued a Los Angeles show, which last ran in March 2017. Liberty runs biannual shows in Las Vegas and New York City.
Capsule was created by New York–based consultancy BPMW in 2007 and stages 10 men’s and women’s shows annually in New York, Paris and Las Vegas. A Berlin edition was shuttered two years ago. Its focus has been on fashion-forward brands and a significant women’s business.
Liberty started in 2013 as a menswear, denim and sportswear show. Vince Gonzales, a veteran Liberty exhibitor, said that putting the two shows under the same company would benefit both shows. “It will bring more foot traffic. It will bring together different kinds of buyers,” he said.
Sharifa Murdock, a Liberty co-owner, said the shows will remain separate.
“With this acquisition, Liberty and Capsule will largely stay focused in their existing directions. Show goers can expect to see similar brands on the show floor as in seasons past,” she said.
