California Apparel News

After a second run of FashionGo Week, which ran Feb. 8–12 on the FashionGo business-to-business wholesale online-market platform, the digital trade show anticipates becoming a regular feature on the trade-show calendar. According to Paul Lee, chief executive officer of NHN Global, FashionGo’s Los Angeles–headquartered parent company, this second edition of the show sees the event as an offering that will complement the existing trade-event roster, especially during a time when physical expositions are beginning to return to on-site productions.

FashionGo Week will be produced biannually. The next FashionGo Week probably will run in fall 2021, Lee said. While it is a digitally native trade show, FashionGo produced a branded in-person activation at the WWDMAGIC trade show in Las Vegas during the period from 2018 to 2020. The WWDMAGIC contract for live activations ended last year, and, while FashionGo does not plan to return to in-person shows, Lee believed that it would work hand-in-hand with in-person shows and provide crucial support.

“Digital shows will coexist with physical shows,” Lee said. “Digital trade shows can offer more tools for businesses to make more-informed decisions with real-time data and with secure payment processes.” FashionGo had been planning to produce a digital trade show during the past couple of years, and the COVID-19 pandemic propelled the company into producing a digital trade show in late 2020, he said.

An inaugural run for FashionGo Week was produced Aug. 24–Sept. 6, 2020. For the sophomore run, Lee said 1,400 vendors exhibited and 756,000 retailers registered for the platform. Most of the retailers were from the United States and Canada and included independent bricks-and-mortar shops, digital retailers and entrepreneurs working in social media. Access was complimentary for retailers to register for the FashionGo platform and browse retailers’ goods.

Categories exhibiting comprised young contemporary and contemporary misses women’s clothing as well as styles for men’s, kids’, footwear, accessories, handbags and beauty. Lee estimated that 95 percent of FashionGo vendors have offices or do business in downtown Los Angeles’ Fashion District.

One point of difference for FashionGo Week is that it has the open feel of an in-person trade show for discovery and connection between brands and retailers, Lee said. The FashionGo Week platform gives opportunities to retailers to view and to shop products without having to get vendor approval. He added that this platform is secure for vendors and that attendees and vendors are screened during registration onto the platform and that participants must produce documents to confirm that they are legitimate businesspeople. Also, if vendors would prefer not to do business with a particular retailer, they can choose to not fulfill a specific retailer’s orders, he said.

During the digital trade show’s second edition, new features were unveiled. There was a Join Us Live vendor live-streaming experience. Attendees were also able to watch daily live shows of vendors exhibiting new styles and could live-chat with vendors and shop.

Images courtesy of FashionGo.