NEW YORK — Platform 2’s move to the Hudson River to share a venue and timing with its big sister show, Train, gave exhibitors the ambience and results they wanted.
The number of exhibitors was about the same at the two shows, which ended their three-day run on Tuesday at the Terminal Stores on 11th Avenue, but the mood was quite different from that of Platform 2’s debut in September. That inaugural show followed Train and took place in the Roseland Ballroom in Midtown.
Yonson Pak showed her new Los Angeles-based knit line, Tangerine, at the first Platform 2, where she had reported traffic was light.
“I think this works much better,” Pak said. “There are a lot more people coming in as they get ready to go to Train. We are a nice introduction.”
Pak’s dresses and skirts, which wholesale from about $50 to $112, did particularly well.
“People are looking for items, rather than matched things,” Pak added.
Almost 150 exhibitors showed together in about 32,000 square feet of Terminal Stores, using an upstairs area and several alcoves that Train has not used before so that Platform 2 could be part of the space. Exhibitors reported that business was strong the first two days of the show, though it slowed a bit Tuesday, when the Fashion Coterie began.
Jean-Pierre Mocho, president of Prêt à Porter Paris, the French parent show that organizes Train and Platform 2, said he was pleased with the customer traffic. Despite the positive response to sharing venues, Mocho said he had not decided whether the shows would continue to be held together.
“The walls are not flexible,” Mocho lamented. “If we want to grow stronger with Platform, we must find more room in this building or change the venue.”
According to buyers, Train is known as a show where they can find special European pieces, so they shop for items that stand out, rather than trends.
Anthony Lupsco, who owns the men’s and women’s boutique If Anthony Lupsco in Richmond, Va., said, “We came to find something different and we did. We’ve been here before and we always come back.”
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Shanna Foster, a buyer for E. Street Boutique in Highland Park, Ill., said her open-to-buys were strong and that she was looking to spend them on novelty European styles — “whatever jumps out at me.”
“It’s quite strange, what American buyers want compared with European buyers,” said Charlotte Raison, the sales representative for the French label Lola, which typically shows at Prêt à Porter Paris. “They want everything different and personalized for their store.”
Lola’s coats in solid colors, at around $100 wholesale, did particularly well, Raison said.
Eva Waite, owner of The Queen Bee in Newport Beach, Calif., also was looking for different pieces on her first visit to Train. She noted, though, that “things here are kind of expensive because the dollar is so low.”
Helene Kidary, who showed for the first time this season at Platform 2, said her location at the entrance to Train was coveted. The designer, whose line wholesales for $170 to $325, said she was impressed with the quality and quantity of buyers, which included someone from the music industry and a stylist for an upcoming independent film featuring Sandra Bullock.
“The traffic is great,” said Heidi Rasmussen, a representative for the Danish novelty jacket line Eva & Claudi. “There are a lot of new buyers, and there’s a lot of writing.”
The colored knit jackets, which wholesale for about $200, were popular, Rasmussen said.
At Train, Ani Alvarez Calderon, based in Peru, did well with black alpaca coats that wholesale for $490 to $900.
Designers for Parisian line Lefranc Ferrant, which exhibited at Train, its debut show in the U.S., said buyers were reacting to the creativity in the line, which included a trenchcoat that converts to a strapless ballgown and a cocktail dress with a lace overlay with a map pattern.
“They are quite surprised by the product,” said co-designer Beatrice Ferrant. “For Americans, we have to explain it a bit more.”