California Apparel News

Showroom owners and sales reps reported a renewed sense of optimism during the March 19–23 run of the Los Angeles Fashion Market, although many said retailers remain cautious with their spending and, for many, business has not yet fully recovered.

Buyers had a lot of ground to cover, with showrooms open at the California Market Center, The New Mart, the Cooper Design Space, the Gerry Building, the Lady Liberty Building and the 824 Building, as well as designer and contemporary merchandising on display at temporary trade shows Designers and Agents, Brighte Cos. and Focus.

Reports from exhibitors and showroom executives were mixed. Some reported having one of the best markets in several seasons; others said sluggish traffic was due to buyer fatigue. One thing everyone could agree on, however, was that the doom and gloom of markets past has lifted.Cautious optimism at CMC

Business was mostly good at the California Market Center, according to salespeople and vendors at the CMC’s showrooms and the Focus show, which is produced by the CMC staff.

Sales were up 38 percent compared with the same show in the previous year at the Liza Stewart showroom, according to owner Liza Stewart. “This is as good as we can ask for,” Stewart said, noting the economy was still rough for many retailers.

Sales were even with last March at Rep et Trois showroom, said co-owner Michael Gae. However, sales were still much lower than the March 2008 market, which took place before the Great Recession hit. “The stores that went out of business then are not coming back,” Gae said.

Retailers shopping the CMC at the most recent market included Amazon.com, Belk, Boulmiche, Diane Merrick, Dillard’s, Fred Segal/Ron Herman, Kitson, Lisa Kline, Macy’s, Madison, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Von Maur.

Veteran retailer Diane Merrick noticed more retailers taking notes than ordering during the market. “Business has picked up, but people are still unsure of the economy,” she said. “It is difficult to get customers to open their pocketbooks.”

One retailer looking for bargains was Mark Encinas, a buyer for boutique Media Noche, which will be debuting in Los Angeles’ Eagle Rock neighborhood in May. “We want to pick up new items, but they have to be new items at a good price point,” he said. “We’re trying to keep denim under $100.” Encinas moonlights as a boutique buyer. His fulltime job is sales director at Los Angeles footwear and apparel label Royal Elastics.

Business at Focus received mixed reviews. Matt Geiger, founder of streetwear company Natures Mistake, said his investment into a Transit booth paid off. He and his booth partner, a new jeans label called Railcar, paid $1,600 for a 10-by-10 booth. Geiger said he made his money back and made a profit. Plus, he noted, the cost to exhibit at Focus is far below the cost to show at the MAGIC Marketplace in Las Vegas. “I don’t have to go to Vegas to get more L.A. customers,” he said.

Another vendor, Joan Lee, said foot traffic was light at Focus and sales were poor. “I’m not here to make people happy. I’m here to make sales,” she said. “If there’s no foot traffic, there is no point.” D&A mixes it up

Designers and Agents took a different approach to the Fall market this year, opting to skip its traditional annex space at the Cooper Design Space in favor of an empty showroom on the fifth floor of The New Mart. The bulk of D&A’s exhibitors remained in their usual home on the third floor of The New Mart. “The opportunity to keep D&A within one building came up, and we took it,” said Ed Mandelbaum, who co-produces the bicoastal boutique show. Buyer attendance was on par with the same market in 2009, and, despite the show’s smaller footprint, the brand roster grew slightly to 142 brands. “There was not a spare inch; we filled the third floor to the brim,” Mandelbaum said.

New brands on the show floor included Halston Heritage, which brought a selection of gowns and sportswear to the show; Gabriele Frantzen; Katie Diamond; Kock; Laurence Heller; Love SAM; and Plein Sud Jeanius.

Nicole Bouthot of the Olarte-Foussard Showroom in New York brought several overseas brands to D&A for the first time and reported that buyers opted either for classics with a twist or more showy pieces with specialty sequins, studs or fur. Ambre Babzoe, for example, did well with fur jackets and knits bedecked in 3-D sequins that mimic studs. Hairth, a line of hand-dyed separates from the Philippines, did well with military-inspired pieces such as army-green jodhpurs and a crisply tailored cotton blazer.

U, a newly launched fashion basics line out of Los Angeles, made its D&A debut at the show, earning interest with its jersey and silk combo T-shirt dresses, cropped sweatshirts, and slouchy tops.Strong start and end at Cooper and New Mart

“Thursday and Friday were amazing. The weekend was a little scary, but we’re finishing strong,” said Ellen Cope of the new Lefties Showroom in the Cooper Design Space. “It was the best market in a long time.” Many showroom owners in the Cooper Building and The New Mart echoed her assessment, saying the attendance was staggered but that important buyers shopped the buildings for Immediates through Fall and Winter.

Kathy Walker of the Kathy Walker Sales showroom at The New Mart said traffic was up at the showroom and that the mood overall during the market was positive. “Fall is a very important market even though business is different. Buyers are still more cautious and not frivolous in their buys, but there is a sense of confidence,” Walker said. Orders at the showroom leaned toward Immediates and Summer goods.

Trends for Fall and Winter are a continuation of the laid-back, casual styles that were popular for Spring and Summer. “There weren’t any big, new must-haves. Buyers continued to want sexy, casual styles,” Walker said. That means lots of military-inspired items, body-conscious leggings and skirts, casual slouchy knit tops, and pops of novelty on outerwear. Holly McNally, showroom manager of Showroom Seven in the Cooper, agreed. Cotton tunic tops that have performed well from Odd Molly were again on buyers’ lists, as were leather leggings from Twenty Cluny and sequined tops from Sweet Robin. Nanushka, a contemporary line from Budapest, sharpened its price points by about 10 percent, McNally said.

Mona Sangkala, the leasing manager at the Cooper Design Space, said attendance was notably up from the same market last year, with majors and many international stores shopping.

Bodies in showrooms and priced-to-sell goods didn’t always earn orders, however.

Huy Dang of the Standard showroom in the Cooper building said there are simply too many markets spreading buyers’ budgets and attention too thin.Order writing at Brighte

Fashion and accessories show Brighte got mostly good marks from its vendors.

Mark Schulman, a vendor representing New York–based contemporary label Zoa, said his business at the most recent Brighte improved compared with its performance at the Brighte show in March 2009. He also said retailers were more willing to spend money. It requires faith in the economy to pay for inventory that will be delivered more than 90 days later, he said, and 80 percent of orders he took during the most recent Brighte were for deliveries scheduled from May to August. The other 20 percent of his orders were for Immediate deliveries.

During his 2009 trade shows, 50 percent of the orders Schulman took were for Immediates.

Schulman also said a tough economy may be a blessing in disguise for the fashion vendors because it forces retailers to make a decision on what inventory they’re going to purchase. “They know what they can sell and what they cannot sell,” he said.

David Sadot, owner of New York–based contemporary line Basix Black Label, said business was up slightly compared with the Brighte show in January 2010. He saw retailers from Japan and the United Kingdom. Other retailers reportedly browsing the show were E Street Denim of Chicago, TNT of Toronto and National Jean Co. in New York.

Although many of the show’s vendors complained retail traffic was light, Aziza Chorsi, importer of brands Kokomarina and Sarah Pacini, said her business was good.

Among the retailers shopping the show were representatives from Amazon.com, Aritzia, Beams, Belk, Bettina Duncan for Fred Segal, Big Drop, Bluefly.com, Brothers, Clutch and Diane Merrick, according to organizers.

Newness key at Gerry, Lady Liberty and 824

Showrooms with new lines fared the best at the Gerry Building, the Lady Liberty Building and the 824 Building.

At the Boutique Lingerie show in the Gerry Building, Allure from New Mexico and California stores Purrmission in Santa Barbara, Romantiques in Los Gatos, Chadwicks of London stores in San Francisco and Camouflage from Santa Cruz were in attendance.

Samantha Chang, producer of the Boutique Lingerie show, designer and showroom rep, said that “business is still soft” in lingerie. Though buyers continue to fax and e-mail replenishment reorders for basics, most are not shopping the market for new fashion brands. Though there were few new buyer faces, exhibitors met with their key existing accounts.

This was the first time Layla L’obatti, showed her Modal/Lycra lounge and sleepwear line, Between The Sheets, and high-end silk line, Layla L’obatti for Between The Sheets, in Los Angeles. L’obatti grew up in Upland, Calif., but now lives in New York, where she manufactures the line. Between The Sheets’ Modal/Lycra leggings and tunic-length tops and ribbed silk/Modal/Lycra wrap cardigans fit right in with the Angeleno style of contemporary-cut lifestyle clothing.

Trevor Riewer, a buyer for Greta in Beverly Hills, shopped the Reneacute;e Cohen showroom in the Gerry Building for Alberto Makali’s leather pencil skirts and “jean-type leggings.” Riewer had his eye on “glitz and glamour” and “something with something on it” to entice “Forever 40s”– age customers shopping for special occasions.

In the Lady Liberty Building, Kristen Aguilera of The Park showroom saw a steady stream of buyers from opening to closing to write Nicole Richie’s line, Winter Kate. “She was in the showroom for two days. That really helped the buyers,” Aguilera said. Aguilera added that Winter Kate is about “triple in sales” from last season.

Heidi Pettit of the Vie Showroom showed a selection of brands in The Penthouse showroom focused on responsible design. San Francisco–based Mr. Larkin balanced classically beautiful architectural design with hints of trend, such as oversized shoulders on a jacket.

Military looks were trending in the outerwear category at the T+A Showroom in the 824 Building. Even though co-owner Alfred Davis said that he saw many of the same buyers during L.A. market as he did in Las Vegas last month, the addition of new lines—such as Chambers, Kanvis, Kr3w and Han Cholo—enticed buyers to revisit the showroom.