California Apparel News

The Los Angeles International Textile Show celebrated its 10th anniversary with a solid turnout at the California Market Center, where designers and fabric buyers from across town and across the country shopped among more than 350 reps and more than 600 lines during the show’s April 28–30 run.

Reps said traffic was slow at times, but they were pleased with the quality of the designers and buyers shopping the show.

Those designers and buyers came from companies such as Anna Huling, Fever Jeans, Karen Kane, Petro Zillia, Bebe, Arden B., M.S. Apparel, True Grit, Laundry, Oliver Twist, Frankie B., Tom K. Nguyen, City Girl by Nancy Bolen, Rami Kashou, Claire Pettibone, Elisabetta Rogiani, Eduardo Lucero, Levi Strauss & Co., Casadei, Mona & Co., Blue Cult, Charles David, Corey Lynn Calter, Fossil, Hub Distributing, Hudson’s Bay Co., J.C. Penney, Joseph Ribkoff, Kevan Hall, Michael Stars, Nike, North Face, Old Navy and Ralph Lauren.

CMC executives declined to give firm attendance numbers, but they said show attendance has been increasing each season.

“So far this year, we have achieved substantial increases with each market at the CMC, and based on that, we projected an increase in attendance for this market, as well,” said Cecil Strickland, CMC executive director of retail relations, on the final day of the show. “We are on par with last year’s numbers, and we anticipate an overall increase in domestic attendance and a probable decrease in international attendance by the end of the three-day market.”

Strickland said attendees registered from 40 states and 13 countries. Turnout included attendees from across California, as well as from Texas, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, Florida, New York and Canada. International fabric buyers and designers came from France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Canada, Ecuador, South Korea, Mexico, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Thailand, according to a CMC spokesperson.

Among the exhibitors were many longtime participants—such as de Marco California Fabrics, Malibu Textiles and Symphony Fabrics—but there were also many newcomers.

This was the first fabric show for exhibitor Tokyo Yamaki USA, a Los Angeles– based importer of kimono fabrics from Kyoto, Japan. The company has been selling imported kimonos and fabric from its showroom at the L.A. Mart for the past year, according to rep Hiroko Ohashi. The line is already carried by retail fabric shops and has been picked up by dress, apparel and accessories manufacturers, Ohashi said.

“Our minimums are very low,” she said, noting that with minimums as low as 25 yards, companies that manufacture smaller items such as handbags are able to buy the line.

This was also the first show for A.V.I.D. Inc., a sublimation printer based in Corona, Calif. The company has been building its apparel clientele and recently began offering fabrics, as well. A.V.I.D.’s design staff creates original patterns, and the company prints and heat-transfers its designs to fabrics in-house. The company lined its showroom with brightly colored computer-created fabric panels to show designers and fabric buyers a portion of its 2,500 designs.

“This is definitely something we’ll do every year,” said Chief Executive Officer Robert D. Davis, noting that most of the people who stopped by the showroom were new to the company and were ordering samples.

“This is something I wish I’d done previously, but we didn’t have the support mechanism in place because we were still growing,” he said.

New concepts, new products

Malibu Textiles is no newcomer to the Los Angeles Textile Show—or any of the major domestic fabric shows. The New York–based manufacturer of novelty laces regularly attends the L.A. show, the International Fashion Fabric Exhibition (IFFE) in New York and Material World in Miami Beach, Fla.

Malibu always brings some new novelty items to the show, said Vice President Mitch Naidrich. This time, it also brought some new concepts. The company just launched a package program for embroideries and beading and recently began working with two overseas mills in Korea and Taiwan, Naidrich said.

Still, the company’s core business is domestic, said Malibu President Al Fenner. He said with retailers ordering closer and closer to season, Malibu has the advantage of being able to deliver goods quickly.

For companies already producing in the Far East, Malibu’s mills in Taiwan and Korea can produce the company’s copyrighted designs and ship direct to overseas factories, Naidrich said.

Other companies emphasized new business. QST Industries last year added Swiss outerwear fabric maker Rotofil to its main lineup of interlining and elastics. Upscale active and golf lines Ashworth and Callaway, as well as Cutter & Buck’s golf division, have ordered the line, according to Rotofil West Coast Embroidery Manager Shane Rabineau, who said fabric brands XOXO, Baby Phat, Mica and Lucky Brand Dungarees have also placed sample orders.

Hunting for newness, exclusivity

For designers and fabric buyers, the Los Angeles International Textile Show offers one-stop shopping for fabrics and trims. For some, this is the only show they attend. Others said they shop locally, as well as at IFFE, Material World and Premiegrave;re Vision in Paris.

Claire Pettibone, designer of a bridal line and a lingerie line bearing her name, typically shops in New York and in Los Angeles. But this year, she skipped the IFFE show. At the Los Angeles show, she and husband Guy Toley looked for new treatments and new ways to do embroidery, as well as for couture fabrics for the bridal line and more moderate fabrics for the lingerie collection.

Pettibone said she was having more luck finding highend bridal fabrics than lingerie fabrics. The challenge is to find unique fabrics, she said, adding that some of the company’s key lace resources will confine fabrics for a time.

“For us, it’s important to find stuff that is unique and ahead of the curve and ahead of what’s coming from China,” said Toley.

Rami Kashou, who shopped the show for the third time, said this is the only show he attends. The designer said he usually starts on the first floor at the TexItalia pavilion of Italian mills, heads to the Exhibition Hall to look for trims, and then makes his way to the 13th floor.

“It’s a little overwhelming,” he said, browsing among the 12 booths in the French pavilion on the 13th floor.

Kashou said he usually walks the show looking for anything that catches his eye.

“Every few spots you see a place with a few amazing things,” he said.