California Apparel News

Producers of the first annual California Resortwear Show in Long Beach, Calif., won high marks from vendors. But those marks weren’t for luring hordes of buyers to the show, held Aug. 19–20.

Instead, many of the more than 150 vendors praised the event’s location aboard the historic Queen Mary, a salty vessel that evokes the era of luxury travel before and after World War II. After making 1,001 transatlantic crossings, the ship was decommissioned and brought to the seaside city in 1967.

“I love it,” said Charles Powell, sitting at a booth two levels below the main deck. Behind him was an array of dresses, capri pants, blouses and jackets done in tropical prints. “It’s romantic.”

“It is very intimate,” concurred his wife, Maria Powell, sitting next to him. “People are chirping.”

The Powells—whose resortwear company, Club Mystique, is based in Newport Beach, Calif.—were not expecting to see gobs of buyers at this new show organized by DMG World Media, which also puts on the semiannual Surf Expo in Orlando, Fla. But they were hoping to catch a few of their buyers before the specialty-store owners headed to Las Vegas for the Aug. 25–28 run of MAGIC International. The Powells said they believe the event will improve eventually.

“I don’t think it is a get-rich show now, but it will be,” Charles said. “Two or three more shows, and it will catch on.”

The Powells, who started their apparel company 10 years ago after having spent years working as salespeople, were happy to have seen four of their local specialty-store accounts by the middle of the show’s first day.

They were eager to sign up for this particular show because it was just up the road from their Orange County headquarters— and because many of their specialty-store accounts did not attend Surf Expo.

The fact that buyers were reluctant to travel to the East Coast was one of the reasons DMG World Media thought a resort show on the West Coast would work well, said Dan Darby, director of marketing for the giant trade-show organizer, which also puts on the California Gift Show twice a year at the California Market Center.

“Half of the Surf Expo show in Orlando is made up of resortwear and swimwear,” he said, sporting a tropical shirt to fit in with the cruise theme of the show. “It was apparent to us that they needed a smaller boutique show for them on the West Coast.”

The show drew a large crowd from the West. About 95 percent of the 425 preregistered buyers were from California, Hawaii and Arizona.

“In 2001, we actively polled people for the best location for the show and for the best time of the year,” Darby said, standing in front of the gangplank to the 67-year-old ship, whose three orange-and-black smokestacks punctuate the Long Beach shoreline. “The decision to be in Long Beach was dictated by this venue.”

Buyers, who had three decks to roam, may not have been as plentiful as everyone would have liked, but those who showed up knew what they wanted as they filtered through the offerings of hats, sandals, swimwear, tropical-print dresses and shirts, outdoorwear, childrenswear, novelty purses, beach accessories, jewelry and sun-care products. Each buyer was hunting for that special je ne sais quoi that was slightly out of the ordinary.

“We’re looking for something different,” said Fran Bakist, a buyer for The Surf & Sand Resort in Laguna Beach, Calif., who sought novelty items for the resort’s gift store. “But I have to tell you, nothing grabs me. It seems that every booth has Hawaiian shirts.”

Bakist did visit about six manufacturers that she normally uses and viewed their complete lines for Spring 2004. She said she planned to place some orders later in the week because her company has a new policy that all orders must go through a purchaserequisition process.

Lorena Sosa, merchandise manager and buyer for Paradise Point Resort & Spa in San Diego, Calif., was thrilled that someone decided to organize a resortwear show right before MAGIC.

“It is overwhelming to see everybody at MAGIC and make good business decisions,” she said, standing in front of the Apparel Ventures Inc. booth, which had racks and racks of its swimwear labels waiting for buyers to view. “This way I won’t be late with my orders, and I’ll be prepared during the season.”

While buyers were looking for more variety in the show’s lineup, vendors were looking for more buyers.

“It’s been very quiet for us,” said Allyn Trott, a sales representative for Kashweacute;re, a Torrance, Calif.–based company that creates robes, throws and childrenswear in a cashmere-like fabric for adults and children.

Trott had the distinct advantage of having her booth located next to the lunch area on Deck F, where people could sit at big round tables and see her line.

“We decided to do this show because we are a new company and any show will help us,” she said, as people wandered by and touched the soft fabric of the line, which has wholesale prices starting at $50.

At the Royal Robbins booth, Sandee Foley was seeing some new accounts, but she was definitely not overwhelmed with visitors. She said she had sent out 150 postcards to clients in the Los Angeles area.

“I think it is going to be hit or miss,” said the sales representative for the company, which sells travel and outdoor clothing in Modesto, Calif. “But all it takes is one really good account to make it worth your while.”