Hispanic-Themed Section to Bow at MAGIC in February

In February, the MAGIC Marketplace will bow MAGIA, a new section created for retailers looking to tap into the Hispanic market.

Featuring a mix of national and international brands, MAGIA (Spanish for “Magic”) will occupy a 25,000-square-foot space in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center between the Licensing and Sourcing areas of the show.

The new section is endorsed by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Washington, D.C.–based organization that assists Hispanic-owned businesses.

The idea for the section, however, came from Chris DeMoulin, MAGIC International president and executive vice president of the Advanstar Fashion Group, parent company of MAGIC. DeMoulin, who joined the company less than a year ago, said the MAGIA concept came from his experience at his former employer Walt Disney Co.

“One of the things I learned in the movie business is that if you really want to connect with the Hispanic customer you don’t just take your regular advertising campaign and translate everything into Spanish,” he said.

DeMoulin said he began asking retailers if they were interested in seeing a section of the giant trade show dedicated to Latino-focused brands.

“Virtually 100 percent of them said ’Absolutely,’” he said.

The space can house about 200 to 250 exhibitors, although MAGIC executives aren’t releasing any names of any companies scheduled to show in MAGIA. DeMoulin said the ultimate mix of merchandise is still undetermined.

“We’re not predetermining we want X percent men’s, Y percent women’s and Z percent kids’,” he said. “I expect there will be a mix of all of that. Obviously there are Hispanic–owned and operated companies that are addressing the full spectrum of the marketplace. From a retail standpoint, young men’s is one area where they’re particularly hoping to find new resources from this effort.”

The show is also working with apparel and textile export associations from Latin American countries including Mexico, Colombia and Peru, some of whom have committed to take space and bring their own brands.

One thing MAGIC officials plan to do is to help connect retailers with MAGIA exhibitors appropriate for their scale of business.

“The kind of scale that’s required to do business with Wal-Mart or JCPenney or Macy’s is very different from the 10,000 to 15, 000 boutiques that we have on the floor,” he said.

“We’re going to help everybody try to get the right scale of vendors and the right scale of retailers to meet with each other so they all meet their expectations.”

The show will have its own marketing materials—in both Spanish and English—available at the show and on the MAGIC Web site (www.magiconline.com). MAGIA will be a clearly designated area, but it will not be closed off from the rest of the show.

There will be a dedicated seminar series, which will be held in the South Hall, as well as other activities and events designed to facilitate networking opportunities for exhibitors and retailers.

“The really overwhelming feedback we got from the retailers is that if we can bring in speakers that can help them understand actionable insights on the demographics and design preferences and product preferences, then that’s incredibly valuable to them,” DeMoulin said. Growing market

There are many internationally known Latino fashion designers, such as Carolina Herrera and Oscar de la Renta, said David Lizaacute;rraga, chairman of the board of directors of the USHCC and president and chief executive officer of TELACU/Millennium LLC, a Los Angeles–based corporation with operations in real estate development, financial services, construction and construction management.

“There is a lot more room for Latino-based fashion to grow, whether it is by promoting Latino designers or targeting the Latino community more as consumers,” he said. “Interestingly, as a group, Hispanics spend more than other demographic groups each year on apparel, about $3,500 per household each year, compared to $3,100 per non-Hispanic households.”

The USHCC is also planning its first Latina Leadership Summit, which will be held in Las Vegas on Feb. 19, the final day of MAGIC. “We are most certainly hoping for crossover traffic between MAGIA and the Latina Leadership Summit,” Lizaacute;ragga said. The event, which has been in the planning stages for two years, was created to help Latina-owned businesses “gain better access to procurement opportunities.” “When we learned of MAGIC’s desire to launch MAGIA and focus on the Hispanic market, we knew it was a strong fit with our vision to support Latina business owners and to engage an industry that is ripe with potential for our community,” Lizaacute;rraga said. “We are very excited about the potential of this partnership.”Know the market

Many retailers are confused about how to reach the Latino market, said Molly Robbins, president of San Francisco–based LicenZing LLC, which launched two Latino-themed brands, Palomita and Chuco, last spring. The labels are geared to Latino male and female consumers and carry the tag line “Esta marca es para ti,” which is Spanish for “This brand is for you.”

Robbins, who recently received an award for emerging Hispanic leaders in northern California from the San Francisco Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said some retailers fail to do their homework when it comes to reaching the Latino consumer.

“I don’t think retailers are making a genuine effort to really understand how to market to the Latino consumer,” she said. “They’re trying to take concepts that they think will work, and when they don’t work, they’re surprised.”

Robbins said she had heard about MAGIC’s plans to launch a Latino-focused space but had not been approached about it yet.

“It’s a good idea if their idea is to bring in retailers and educate them and make them more aware of the opportunities and how to approach those opportunities,” she said. Changes at Project, Premium

The news about MAGIA comes on the heels of MAGIC’s announcement that it will refine the focus of its Project Global Trade Show. Last season, the show had grown to 1,300 booths featuring exhibitors covering a wide range of the premium and contemporary men’s and women’s market. Beginning in February, Project will feature “a juried assortment of advanced directional brands,” including both men’s and women’s collections housed in a new location at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. The mix will include higher-end designer collections.

To accommodate the remaining contemporary menswear brands, MAGIC will launch Premium at MAGIC within its MAGIC Man section in the Central Hall of the LVCC. The new show will feature a new “modern-city” booth system, its own lounges, and galleries and runway shows for its exhibitors. —Alison A. Nieder