The spell of the MAGIC trade show is the allure of finding that new, undiscovered line, said retailers who are attending the show this week.
“It’s like being in a thrift store,” said Jackie Brander, owner of Fred Segal Fun in Los Angeles and the force behind the Disney Vintage line. “Sometimes you want to start digging until you find the gems and that’s often where I find the best of them, because it’s so big that [vendors] don’t get screened as much as [shows like] Coterie.”
Brander, who is in the unique situation of being both buyer and vendor, said that she is looking to buy styles similar to what she’s done in her own line: “Baggy, sexy, tomboy, slouchy. That whole comfortable, thrown-together look is really what I’m liking. It’s casual chic.”
From a buyer standpoint, Brander said she is looking for skinny, tight bottoms and slouchy tops or just the opposite: baggy bottoms and tight tops.
“As a boutique, you want to look individual and [carry the] things you can’t find at designer stores.”
Brander’s new Muppets collection for her Disney Vintage line will have its official launch at MAGIC. She tested it at Intermezzo Collections in New York Aug. 2-4 and at the recent Los Angeles Market Aug. 12-16.
For Yasmine Amir-Moez, the owner of Santa Fe-based boutique Dust in the Wind, finding those little-known lines can prove very lucrative.
Amir-Moez said one such line that has been extremely popular at her store is Grail, the hot Los Angeles-based streetwear line known for its graphic art Ts, sweats and other pieces created by a tattoo artist. Other lines that have proved popular for her are Heatherette and Fresh.
“I’m looking for lines that are on the edge,” she said. “The atmosphere at MAGIC is very effervescent and it’s an open concept so [there are more] new ideas.”
Bernie Levine, co-owner of Details boutique in San Jose, Calif., agreed that he comes to MAGIC to find new merchandise, but said that he hasn’t had much luck at the past few shows.
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“We’re always there looking for new resources,” said Levine. “Something exciting, different and not run-of-the-mill that everyone else does. But the past couple of times we haven’t found anything that stood out.”
Levine stocks Details, which carries both women’s and men’s clothes, with lines such as Sweat Pea, Lucky Brand, Charlotte Tarantola and Johnny Was. And he said that even though he didn’t find much at the last couple of shows, one of the biggest appeals of MAGIC is that he gets to see lines from New York and Europe as well as the West Coast.
In fact, the mix of vendors at MAGIC is so extensive, that like many other retailers, Levine opted to skip the most recent holiday and resort market in Los Angeles, as it fell just two weeks before MAGIC. Instead, he added an extra day to his store’s MAGIC itinerary.
This week MAGIC will draw roughly 3,575 exhibitors, more than 1,500 of them new to the show. “MAGIC is the most efficient and exciting way for the fashion industry to connect and get an overview of the entire market in just four days,” said Laura McConnell, vice president and general manager at MAGIC International.
“It has really become a must, particularly with all the extra shows such as Pool and Project,” agreed Hillary Rush, whose eponymous store on L.A.’s Third Street has already started to garner a celebrity following since its April opening. “Some of the groovier kinds of stores have said, ‘You go to MAGIC?’ But I go because I find some incredible resources.”
Some of those resources have included lines such as Taka, which was later carried by both Tracey Ross and Intuition in Los Angeles. Mischa Barton recently purchased a Taka baby-doll dress during a visit to the store.
Another fabulous find for Rush has been L.A. Made, the Los Angeles-based casual knitwear line that is so well priced — from $20 for a camisole to $38 for a skirt or culottes — that it became Rush’s bread and butter this summer.
Rush’s other secret: buying some of the more sophisticated styles from the junior section. “I buy stuff at the juniors show but I don’t buy in a juniors way,” she said.
The thrill of the hunt paid off for Cat Birmingham, buyer and manager for San Francisco boutiques Villains and Villains Vault.
“Last MAGIC we found Rebel Yell, and that was a huge find for us,” said Birmingham. “We do well with edgy, novelty outerwear. The Vault is a $2 million store not a $10 million store, so I want only very specialty, eye-catching items.”
Denim, not surprisingly, is also huge for the stores, and Birmingham said she leaves no stone unturned at the show when it comes to this highly lucrative category. Her particular favorites to shop are the Platform and Designer sections at MAGIC and the in•dex section at WWDMAGIC. But like Rush, she, too, said that splinter shows such as Project and Pool have also been key resources for the store.
“It’s much easier for us to see a line at those two shows,” she said.
For their part, MAGIC officials have always maintained that there’s no reason that all the shows shouldn’t benefit one another, and that MAGIC has been the real nucleus behind the popularity of the others.
“MAGIC is a must-attend event because we produce a show with the right mix of exhibitors to attract key retailers,” said McConnell. “Buyers attend because the MAGIC Marketplace is the only event where they can collaborate, network and find out what is going on in the entire industry. These are the most important four days in the business.”