NEW YORK — Spring is in full swing at ENK International’s Fashion Coterie trade show.
The event, which has been split between the Show Piers and Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, ends today — and it has been busy indeed. With about 1,100 exhibitors spread over the two venues, exhibitors seemed pleased with the traffic and retailers had a lot to digest.
For Nancy Paley, owner of the Birmingham, Mich.-based Edward Dorian boutique, this show was a must.
“I come in for the two Coteries and have done so for 17 years,” she said. “I really don’t have a clear vision of what I’m looking for…when I see it, I’ll know. I will look at holiday, but we are mostly set for that. I really just want to get a jump on spring.”
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Stacey Pecor, owner of four Olive & Bette’s stores here, said: “There’s so much to see, but since these [Intermezzo and Coterie trade] shows are now so close together, I feel like I’ve already seen a lot of it.…Also, I know that the colors for spring are muted and, really, I’m looking for more bright colors to make the store look inviting. It’s going to be interesting to see how spring ends up for retail.”
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On the exhibitor side, Kova & T, a new line at Showroom Seven here, was showing for the first time. Started by childhood friends Christina Tang and Dasha Zhukova, the collection is based around denim jeans, but also includes a full range of contemporary sportswear. There were herringbone dresses in cream and beige, a black leather dress, a mix of denim and linen shorts and dark-wash skinny jeans.
“It’s clean, but with a bit of that rock ‘n’ roll edge,” Tang said of the collection.
The Kova & T line wholesales from $20 to $300.
Sales reps from contemporary T-shirt line Saint Grace were at the show, with an array of colorful T-shirts, tanks and dresses for spring. There’s a featherweight pima cotton dress with pockets, a logo-printed tank top that is long enough to be a dress and an array of cashmere sweaters that launched for holiday. Saint Grace wholesales from $14 to $122.
At Raven Denim, skinny jeans were still big booking styles, but Alexa Economou, sales manager for the company, said the boot-cut styles were still the best booked.
“We evolved from a trouser line, Raven Tailor, which is the line we started with,” she said. “So our trouser jeans also do really well since we are known for the fit. Also, buyers have been asking for an extreme wide leg, which is something new.”
The Raven Denim line wholesales from $88 to $120.
At Tyler Speed, which began as a men’s line in 2001, owner Cobi Levy introduced the company’s first women’s collection.
“I think there’s this need in the market for a boyish T-shirt line,” Levy said. “Our men’s customers have been asking for it and I know there’s a lot of women out there who buy the men’s and wear it themselves.”
Tyler Speed’s line includes cotton and jersey T-shirts, tanks, hoodies, leggings and dresses. To design the line, Levy has created his own fabric and works with it to achieve a vintage feeling.
“We work with it and work with it until it’s just perfect,” he said. “Nothing can look forced, that’s really important. It has to look natural.”
The Tyler Speed line, which comes in muted tones including pink, blue, green and gray, wholesales from $24 to $55.