Capsule Reports Flat Attendance

Loud music can be a distraction at trade shows, and noisy crowds can disturb vendors, too. But the producers of the New Yorkshy;–based Capsule trade show did not want anyone to feel a historic occasion was a distraction on Jan. 20, the second day of the show and the day Barack Obama was inaugurated as president of the United States.

The show producers, BPMW, brought in flat-screen TVs so the assembled crowd at Capsule could watch the inauguration. “It just couldn’t be business as usual,” said BPMW principal Minya Quirk of Inauguration Day and producing a trade show in a weakened economy. Still, she said retailers wrote steady orders at the show, which is devoted to independent menswear labels.

Held Jan. 19–20 at the Angel Orensanz Foundation building in New York, the show featured 75 vendors and drew 1,500 attendees. Both figures were flat compared with the January 2008 show. Retailers attending the show included Barneys New York, Fred Segal Santa Monica, Opening Ceremony, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale’s, American Rag, RevolveClothing.com, Base of Miami, Guise of Chicago, and Boston boutiques The Achilles Project and Riccardi.

Randy Brewer, general manager and buyer for San Francisco boutique chain Villains Inc., said he did not see new styles or fashions at the show, but he did see many lines he liked for his stores. These included YMC, a U.K.-based brand, Minedrd, a Swedish denim line, and Japanese denim line Maiden Noir. For 2009, he forecast distressed denim or stylishly torn jeans will become popular again. —Andrew Asch