NEW YORK — The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center here buzzed with the activity of retailers attending the Moda Manhattan and FAME trade shows Monday, which featured an eclectic mix of spring-summer merchandise.
“I only walked two rows so far and I am finding a lot of what I’m looking for,” said Connie Abraham, owner of Outrageous, a boutique in Plainview, N.Y., who walked the FAME show and also planned to go to Moda Manhattan. “I shop this show all the time. There’s always a lot here.”
Maria Reister, owner of Stylos, a boutique in Philadelphia, agreed.
“This is a very good show, and I like the changes they made to make it easier for the buyers to walk from show to show,” said Reister, who checked out some of the 48 new companies at Moda. “I’ve been here for two days already, yesterday at FAME, today at Moda. It’s great.”
The three-day shows, which are produced by Business Journals Inc. and ended Tuesday, brought in a total of about 11,000 retailers who came to see the 700 lines at FAME and 300 spring and summer collections at Moda.
Monika Arora, president of the Chicago-based Me USA Inc., brought her An for Me collection of embellished denim to New York for the first time. In business for two years, Arora said much of her collection was too expensive for many of the buyers at Moda, but she did well with a few styles.
“There have been a lot of buyers here from island-based boutiques, and they are picking up some of the more daring pieces,” Arora said, pointing out a Swarovski crystal-encrusted pair of jeans. “But I am glad I waited a couple of years to come to New York, since many people have told me that the market here is a bit more basic and clean. We have some cleaner pieces in the line, but [our] products are really creative and seen as artistic, which I really like.”
The An for Me line wholesales from $220 to $995.
Also showing at Moda was S.H.A.G. (Sexy, Hip and Gorgeous), a Charleston, N.C.-based contemporary sportswear line that has been in business just one year.
Related Articles
You May Also Like
“The show’s been really good for us; it seems like we really fill a niche at this show,” said Annie Van Harlingen, designer of the collection. “I also think buyers see our bright colors and are naturally attracted to our booth.”
Van Harlingen said some of her best-booking pieces included a cropped linen jacket in bright shades of orange or pink, accented with metal and glass beading. Also doing well was the chiffon peacock paisley printed top with rope and beading detail. The S.H.A.G. line wholesales from $22 to $80.
Dabby Kwok, a sales representative for the Mountain View, Calif.-based Kami and Surbia lines, said the Moda show was also upbeat for her. She booked a bubble skirt in both army green and dark brown from the Surbia collection. From Kami, she did well with the silk wrap that can be worn as a shrug, poncho or scarf, accented with jade buttons.
“It’s a great traveling piece, a lot of people really like it,” she said.
The Kami and Surbia lines wholesale from $12.50 to $32.
At FAME, the Sugar Lips booth was filled with buyers, picking up all the newest skirts, shirts and jackets from the Los Angeles-based young contemporary line.
“We’ve been here five times now and we always do a whole lot of business at this show,” said Don Schrader, vice president of sales.
Schrader said light summer jackets were booking well, along with cotton skirts and Western-inspired button-down shirts with heavy embroidery. The Sugar Lips line ranges in wholesale prices from $13 to $45, while the Inspira collection, which is a more higher-end contemporary line, goes from $45 to $90.
“We do well with Sugar Lips here,” Schrader said. “We started bringing Inspira to get the buyers interested in the line, but I think it may be a little too high in price for most.”
Forty Second Street, a Montreal-based young contemporary firm, made its first appearance at the FAME show.
“We are just learning about the U.S. market,” said Manny Bhatia, a partner in the 25-year-old company with his father, Bob. “We already have a great presence in Canada, so we are hoping to make a mark here.”
Forty Second Street also carries a misses’ line, but he didn’t bring that along. Bhatia said hippie-inspired blouses and novelty cotton skirts were booking well. The line wholesales from $12 to $42.