California Apparel News

Apparel-industry trade-show organizer Informa Markets Fashion announced that it would postpone the August edition of its biannual Las Vegas events. According to Informa Markets Fashion, the decision to move the Aug. 17-19 events to provisional dates of Sept. 29-Oct. 1 stemmed from issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic and “shifts in this year’s buying season.” Featuring WWDMAGIC, Project and MICAM Americas, the Informa Markets Fashion shows are planned to be hosted at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

“We know that our community is eager to connect again. We also know our partner brands and retailers put a lot of effort into the logistics of exhibiting at or attending one of our shows. We believe it is in the best interest of our community to postpone the show at this time, giving us the runway to review the situation on an on-going basis. At the same time, we believe it is our responsibility to the industry we serve to move forward and provide an opportunity for some form of business continuity while we reassess and work through what fashion business looks like in a post COVID-19 world,” Nancy Walsh, president of Informa Fashion Markets, said in a statement made on May 21. “We are hopeful for a September return to the show floor and are working tirelessly to make it happen, with a very focused effort on health and safety standards.”

If the Informa-branded events open to exhibitors and attendees during the conditional fall dates, there will be noticeable changes that serve the current climate, which necessitates social distancing, crowd control and increased cleaning measures. The company revealed that a more mindful show-floor layout could include “micro markets,” which will afford smaller, more-personal setting for business. Informa Markets Fashion is also developing an increased digitized approach to its events that will complement its on-site shows, affording greater options for its business-to-business audience.

“There has been great enthusiasm around the digital content we launched earlier this spring and we see a lot of value in engaging our industry in that way,” Kelly Helfman, president of MAGIC, said in a press release. “We will continue to evolve our digital offer, both in terms of relevant educational content as well as with digital solutions that further enable our community to discover, connect, and collaborate, wherever they are.”