MIAMI — according to trafik show director james Costa, who is also a partner in Carpe, a men’s and women’s contemporary collection based in Atlanta, it’s time to rethink trade show setup, vendor capacity and technology.
“I own a clothing brand myself, and when I go to other shows I see an increase in size and a decrease in awareness,” he said.
Trafik, to be held Jan. 29 to 31, is capped at 300 targeted vendors in 10-foot-by-10-foot booths at the Miami Beach Convention Center. “We had to turn many vendors away, but it was important to have the best of the best for our niche,” Costa said.
Half of the lines are women’s wear, 50 are international and 100 are new. Newcomers Lee Authentics, Boy Meets Girl and Colcci will join returning vendors such as Ted Baker, Ben Sherman, Triple Five Soul and multiline showrooms from L.A. and New York.
The show also marks the official launch of ExchangeFrame, wholesale business software that eliminates hard-copy line sheets, tallies open-to-buy and sales totals by category and conducts the entire order process in a Web-based system.
“Buyers tap orders into PC tablets and then just print out their work, including notes, when they’re done with the show,” said Costa of the software owned by Predictix. In January, he expects 800 to 1,200 show attendees to use ExchangeFrame.
Meanwhile, Miami’s new Coast trade show is attempting to ease the buying process for vendors. Founder Karen Bennett, formerly the coordinator of New York’s Intermezzo show, said the show enables them to meet retailers halfway.
“Rather than conduct unfinished New York trade show business on the road, which is very costly and time consuming, vendors requested to gather in one area near their Florida accounts,” she said.
Coast premieres Jan. 29 to 30 at the Carlton Hotel. She chose a hotel venue to cut costs of renting a convention booth. “The name Coast implies how easy and inexpensive it is to participate,” she said.
Exhibitors are mostly New York-based showrooms, including Hasson Mireles, which represents Twinkle, Rachel Pally and Nanushka, and Jeffrey Schwager, which has Helen Wang, Green Dragon and Joomi Joolz.
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Bennett estimates 50 contemporary lines will be on view. She expects a solid crowd from Florida as well as the Caribbean.
Now in its ninth year, Miami Fashion Week returns to a 300-foot oceanfront tent after relocating to Miami Beach Convention Center in 2006. Last year also marked a name change for the event’s non-profit organization, now called the Council of International Fashion Designers. “It used to be called ‘Latin American,’ but designer makeup has evolved so much from Greece to India to Pakistan,” said president Beth Sobol, who works with government tourism bureaus worldwide to introduce foreign designers to the U.S. market.
Slated for April 13 to 16, the event features daily fashion shows or accessory exhibits by 50 designers, business and networking seminars and award ceremonies.
By November 2006, Shoe Market of the Americas had nearly sold out its 133,000-square-foot hall at Miami Beach Convention Center for its show Feb. 25 to 27, according to executive director Beverlee Maier.
“Each event increases 12 to 20 percent in floor space, depending on the season,” Maier said. SMOTA has added a 21,000-square-foot annex for February’s expected 500 exhibitors, including 35 new vendors.
Maier said attendance mirrors economic conditions in Central and South American countries. Venezuelan interest, for example, is now soft after many strong years. Meanwhile, multicategory retailers have asked for more clothing and accessories lines. “They want to accomplish more work at SMOTA,” said Maier.