California Apparel News

The International Swimwear and Activewear Market (ISAM) bowed Oct. 9 in its new location at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, Calif.

Although traffic was light on opening day, exhibitors remained optimistic for a good show.

First-day attendance figures were not available at press time, but organizers were expecting the three-day show to draw about 1,000 visitors overall.

Barbara Brady, director of ISAM, which has been staging the Los Angeles-based swimwear trade show for the past 21 years, said that though there were a few last-minute glitches that were ironed out before the show, in general, things were running smoothly.

About 350 swim lines occupied roughly 50,000 square feet of exhibitor space at the show. The number of new exhibitors increased 5 percent over last year’s total, said Brady.

Among the event’s exhibitors, who showed in both open booths in the auditorium and in an outdoor tent, were Authentic Fitness, Swimwear Anywhere, Apparel Ventures, Manhattan Beachwear, Christina, Tara Grinna, Gottex and Blue Point Apparel Inc.

Vendors were generally pleased with the turnout even though opening-day foot traffic wasn’t up to par with previous shows, held at the California Mart (now part of the California Market Center). A few exhibitors said more buyers were drawn to the bright and airy outdoor tent than inside the auditorium, but overall, business eventually made its way around the show.

Buyers at the show included representatives from Urban Outfitters, Burdines, Macy’s West, Robinsons-May, Carsons, Proffitt’s and JCPenney. There were also a large number of specialty store buyers at the show, including Fred Segal, Canyon Beachwear and Diane’s.

“It seems like the show is less relevant for some of us who do a lot of department store business,” said Steven Balit, vice president of marketing for Montreal-based Baltex/Body ID. “Plus, we’ve already done most of our business for the 2003 season.”

Still, there were those who had their share of business.

Jantzen marketing director Brian Murphy said the show looked great, adding that many of his appointments were looking forward to seeing the show’s new layout.

Alan Schwartz, president of Manhattan Beachwear in Los Angeles, also had a positive take on the event. “We’re pleasantly surprised by the show,” he said.

Monica McNeel, owner of young contemporary label L*Space, said buyers from River Rags in Arizona and Pilars in San Diego were going gaga over her line’s super-low hipster styles with stripes.

One buyer from Pilars remarked about how the show’s exhibitors were adding new styles to their collections.