TRADE SHOWS
The Tents Makes a Show for Designer + Contemporary Menswear
The Tents, the Aug. 13–15 boutique event devoted to designer and contemporary menswear brands, gave vendors at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center a chance to catch up on deals they had started at other shows.
“We saw a lot of people that we saw in New York,” said Diego Dominguez of the Baldwin brand. “We also saw some new accounts.”
The Baldwin label recently moved to Los Angeles from its long-time headquarters in Kansas City, Mo. It also changed its focus from premium denim to more ready-to-wear.
Other vendors at the show felt the pace of business was good. Mark Tourgeman, brand director for the S.M.N. denim label, said the first day was really good. “The second day was okay, and the third day was dead, like every show.”
He felt the quality of the stores attending the show made the event worthwhile for S.M.N., which exhibited Spring ’19 and Immediates.
About 70 percent of the buyers at the booth ordered Fall merchandise. “We’re getting orders so late in the game. I’ve got to produce a lot earlier. You have to react a lot quicker,” he said, noting that for the past few years many specialty retailers have placed their orders late.
New brands exhibiting at The Tents included Eleventy, Monfrere, Holston + Hayes and Armor Lux,which exhibited the line’s expanded cotton-linen program, said Charles Arnett, the brand’s U.S. sales manager.
Also exhibiting were prominent brands Bellroy, Billy Reid, Theory and Scotch & Soda.
Danny Marsh, owner of Sy Devore, based in Los Angeles’ Studio City neighborhood, shopped The Tents and said the show’s fashion trends showed change. “The trends are definitely casual lifestyle,” he said. “They are definitely a little more relaxed, not as skinny and as buttoned up as they have been. Fabrics seemed to have softened up a bit. Color is making a bigger play.”
