LOS ANGELES — The semiannual fashion trade shows in Las Vegas are changing with the times.
As the fashion retail and manufacturing industry adapts to fluctuations in the economy and changes in consumers’ shopping patterns, MAGIC Marketplace, Project, ENK Vegas, Pool, CurveNV, Women’s Wear in Nevada and some half-dozen other trade shows held twice a year in Las Vegas are tweaking their features to appeal to exhibitors and attendees.
The venues remain the same for the next editions in February. MAGIC’s men’s shows, Project, Workroom and Pool will be held at Mandalay Bay Convention Center, while WWDMAGIC, FN Platform and Sourcing at MAGIC will be at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Venetian Hotel will serve as the base for CurveNV, AccessoriesTheShow, Moda Las Vegas and Capsule. WWIN will take its usual spot at the Rio Hotel and ENK Vegas will occupy the Wynn Hotel.
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It may seem overwhelming for retailers to cover so much ground in one city over a span of five days. Yet, trade show organizers welcome the aggregation of competing expos in Las Vegas.
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“Today, retailers have to have more than one reason to shop one show,” said Laurence Teinturier, executive vice president at Curvexpo, which runs CurveNV, scheduled for Feb. 14 to 16. “A stand-alone show is at more risk than a group of shows.”
At MAGIC, which encompasses Menswear, S.L.A.T.E., Premium and Street, more attention will be given to action sports brands in the wake of the recent closure of ASR Marketplace, the San Diego trade show that focused on action sports, including surf, skate and motocross. Chris DeMoulin, president of MAGIC International, noted that Woodland Hills, Calif.-based MAGIC, which is owned by Advanstar Communications, has been reaching out to action sports brands for the past six months. As a result, MAGIC plans to create a new area that caters to the sector.
“There will be a lot more action sports on the floor than we have had,” he said.
To keep pace with the digital revolution in the fashion world, WWDMAGIC is introducing blogging lounges where bloggers can update their Web sites straight from the trade show floor. Heeding retailers’ calls for new brands, WWDMAGIC has enlisted new exhibitors such as Silver Jeans, EMU Australia and British-based Darling in the young contemporary section, Paris Hilton Handbags in accessories and Loyal Army and Street Fifteen in juniors.
Project is also offering seminars focusing on digital education for exhibitors and attendees. To foster community, Project organizers plan to unveil a new area called Project Town Square, where people can collaborate, relax, eat, drink, get educated and be entertained. It’s also bringing back Project 10, a section that showcases 10 emerging brands.
Pool will launch its three-day edition on Feb. 14 with a new show manager, Lara Matthews. The founder of Thread, a one-day trade expo held in California and Arizona for up-and-coming brands, Matthews replaces Stephanie Seeley, who became vice president of merchandising for Project, Pool’s sister trade show, also owned by Advanstar.
ENK Vegas, which is being held at the Wynn Las Vegas from Feb. 14 to 16, reported it has registered almost 100 percent retention from its previous edition. Brands that have exhibited at ENK Vegas previously include Hudson Jeans, Cheap Monday, J Brand, James Perse, Genetic Denim, Moss Mills and Charlotte Ronson.
“Our roster of both men’s and women’s contemporary apparel and accessories is unparalleled and retailers have taken notice,” said Elyse Kroll, chair of ENK International.
Business Journal Inc.’s three Las Vegas shows running from Feb. 14 to 16 — AccessoriesTheShow, juried women’s ready-to-wear platform Moda and men’s wear resource MRket — will increase the number of exhibitors from their August editions. Moda will be up about 27 percent, AccessoriesTheShow 8 percent and MRket 15 percent, according to Britton Jones, president and chief executive officer of Business Journals.
“We had a lot of momentum coming out of 2010,” he said. “We are looking for all of our shows come February to be in a sold-out position.”
Jones expects attendance to climb, too.
“We have been actually increasing our attendance throughout the downturn,” he said. “Last year, our trade division increased our attendance by over 10 percent. We definitely grew in Las Vegas, as well.”
Jones attributed greater attendance partially to effective outreach to international buyers, who constitute more than 12 percent of the retailer crowd at Business Journal’s Las Vegas shows. International or domestic, he continued, buyers patronize Business Journal shows because they offered a convenient and efficient way of checking out the “greatest number of resources in the shortest period of time.”
“We are pleased that the buyers proved to be as resilient,” he said. “I think they realized that if they didn’t shop the markets and didn’t shop them well, it would be a fait accompli that their business was going to decrease.”
Women’s Wear in Nevada is also experiencing growth. Roland Timney, show manager for the fair, set for Feb. 14 to 17, said its 850 booths, which encompass 1,500 or so traditional, contemporary, misses’, petite, plus and tall lines, have been sold out for about a month. One key area he cited is Canadian brands that have done well in their native country and are seeking to expand.
Timney predicted WWIN would match or exceed attendance of last year, when 3,000 stores were represented.