The men’s industry has historically been pretty colloquial, but the quest for partnerships is moving to another level for the upcoming spring market in New York in July.
Jennie Arnau of the Peregrine showroom said the idea of working more closely with the other showrooms in the city was hatched during the pandemic after a conversation she had with Grant Bloodworth of Bloodworth & Co. At that time, she said, trade shows were canceled, not every agency was open and many retailers were not ready to travel. But for those stores that were willing to make the trek to the New York market in person, they wanted to provide a list of which showrooms would be available for them to visit.
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So they lined up some 10 showrooms to participate and created a consortium called the Showroom/Agency Consortium of New York, or SACNY.
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“We did it first last summer,” Arnau said, “and then again over the winter.”
For this July, the showrooms have also invited the returning trade shows to participate, bringing the group to 16 members. They are: New York Menswear Show, J Squared, Black Dog Showroom, Leary Forteau Agency, Peregrine Showroom, A Common Wave, Project Show, Society for International Menswear, 4M Archetype, Plus Plus, Westerlind Showroom, Man/Woman Show, Lite Year, We United, Essentic and Bloodworth & Co.
Arnau said all of the businesses will this week be sending a notice to their retailers with the dates of the market and a map showing the locations of each of the showrooms as well as the trade shows, including the newest entry, Society, which will host international menswear brands.
“It’s a small industry and it’s nice to know where everyone is,” she said. “We feel that the more successful one of us is, the more successful all of us will be. We’re all in this together.”
Arnau, who was in Italy for Pitti Uomo and the men’s shows, said she’s optimistic that the New York market in mid-July will be well attended.
“This is the first time since the pandemic that we’ve been getting a lot of our regular buyers back in,” she said. “It feels like people want to get back to normal.”