California Apparel News

Trade exhibitions take their shows on the road to develop new markets.

Whether scouting previously untapped markets or brand building for the flagship show, trade show organizers are taking their business on the road—indeed, overseas—to grow their market share.

Designers and Agents pioneered its concept of an upscale, juried contemporary and young designer marketplace first in Los Angeles beginning in 1999 and then expanding to New York in 2002. Show organizers Ed Mandelbaum and Barbara Kramer have taken the show overseas in the past—to Tokyo and London—for a few seasons, but they always had their sights set on Paris.

“We’ve always wanted to do Paris, but we were unable to find a location,” Mandelbaum said. “The whole world goes to Paris—it gets the most international traffic in the world. Japan goes there. Europe goes there. The Middle East goes there. Russia goes there. It’s the biggest venue in the world for traffic from great stores.”

Designers and Agents will bow in Paris Oct. 1–4 at the Gallery Nikki Marquardt, located in the city’s Marais quarter. The launch show, dubbed Americas in Paris, will feature a tight edit of 30 American brands showing in a light-filled loft-like space overlooking the Place des Vosges. Mandelbaum said future shows will expand to include international labels.

“D&A has never been about a country,” he said, “It’s always been about a segment of the market, and we’re going to stay true to that.”

For the Paris show, D&A will feature a mix of advanced contemporary apparel, accessories and shoes, including many California brands. SPINEXPO branches out

For upscale international yarn show SPINEXPO, New York was the international frontier after establishing itself for eight years in Shanghai. The New York show debuted in July 2009 and is preparing for its second U.S. edition July 19–21 at the Metropolitan Pavilion and Altman Building in New York.

The Shanghai show launched in 2002 at the Pudong Convention International Centre with 70 exhibitors from eight countries. The show has grown to include nearly 200 exhibitors from 16 countries, including fiber manufacturers, knitters and circular knit machinery manufacturers, spinners, and trend forecasters.

Show attendees include well-known international manufacturers and retailers, such as Inwear, Marimekko, Petit Bateau, Gerard Darel, Armani Jeans, Gruppo Coin, Stefanel, Uniqlo, Mango, Zara, Burberry, Marks & Spencer, Ann Taylor, Coldwater Creek, American Eagle, Urban Outfitters and John Varvatos.

More than half of SPINEXPO’s attendees come from China, with the balance coming from Europe, the United States and other Asian countries.

“The U.S.A. represents 10 percent of the visiting companies [at the Shanghai show], said SPINEXPO Director Karine Van Tassel, adding that U.S. attendance has steadily grown since the show’s launch. The three-day show allows international attendees to meet with exhibitors and get an overview of trends in the show’s trend forum, seminars and runway shows.

“Shanghai is also close to the manufacturing platform used by most garment manufacturers and thus the perfect location where a production team, sourcing team, quality controllers and stylists can meet and work together,” Van Tassel said.

The New York show launched at the request of exhibitors and attendees, Van Tassel said.

“Most of the U.S. companies visiting the Shanghai exhibition send one or two senior buyers, leaving the rest of the team without much chance to get information and inspiration,” she said. “Those who visit Shanghai were asking for an exhibition of the same style as SPINEXPO Shanghai, which they could visit as a team to get more personal interface with the exhibitors.”Messe Frankfurt’s international outreach

German trade show giant Messe Frankfurt operates 92 trade shows around the world, including 54 outside of Germany. Among its trade show holdings are Texworld, the textile trade show held biannually in Paris and New York, and Techtextil, the technical textile trade show held in Frankfurt and in the United States.

Texworld launched in Paris in 1997, and Messe Frankfurt purchased it in 2001. The show draws a mix of attendees, including large manufacturers such as Inditex and Walmart, as well as fashion brands such as Givenchy and BCBG Max Azria and independent designers.

In 2006, Messe Frankfurt launched Texworld USA in New York in cooperation with Lenzing Fibers, the Austrian fiber maker and owner of the Tencel brand. (Lenzing had been operating its own show, called Innovation Asia.)

“Texworld USA was launched to give apparel fabric buyers, R&D specialists, designers and production professionals an opportunity to meet with vendors between seasons in order to fill in items that they might be missing and to preview upcoming collections before the show in Paris,” said Alexandra d’Archangelo, the marketing manager for textile shows for Messe Frankfurt’s U.S. offices in Atlanta. “Texworld USA reinforces the Texworld brand by maintaining a presence in North America. The New York show also acts as a preview of the larger show in Paris and creates a platform for North American attendees to meet with mills during seasons or years they are unable to travel to Paris.”

For the July Texworld USA show, organizers have partnered with Supima, the company founded to promote the use of American-grown Pima cotton, to bring Supima’s PREFAB show to Texworld USA. The two shows will co-locate at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Supima will host a separate PREFAB lounge, where visitors can meet with Supima-licensed exhibitors.

The July Texworld show will also feature two other co-located shows, the International Apparel Sourcing Show—which offers private label, ODM (original design manufacturing) and contract manufacturing resources—and the Home Textiles Fabric Sourcing Expo, which features fabrics and materials for home applications.

Techtextil, Messe Frankfurt’s technical textile show, launched in 1986 and came to the United States in 2000. The company hosts its U.S. show annually, switching between West Coast and East Coast locations. The May edition of Techtextil North America will be held concurrently with the SPESA Expo show in Atlanta. Messe Frankfurt recently announced plans to also bring its Texprocess trade show, featuring sewn products and equipment, to the United States. Texprocess Americas launches in April 2012 during a concurrent run with the SPESA Expo in Atlanta. PV brings Europe to the World

French textile trade show Premiegrave;re Vision was in operation for nearly 30 years before it embarked on its world tour. Today, Premiegrave;re Vision, founded in 1973, operates its trade show in six countries: Paris, the United States, China, Russia, Brazil and Japan. In addition, in 2007, the show launched a sister event, Denim by Premiegrave;re Vision, which is held in Paris.

The show has grown from 15 Lyon mills in 1973 to the present, when more than 700 mills from 28 countries show biannually at the Parc d’Expositions de Paris Nord Villepinte in Paris.

Premiegrave;re Vision Preview New York was the first international show, launching in 2000 at the Metropolitan Pavilion and Altman Building in New York. Four years later, Premiegrave;re Vision China launched in Shanghai. Premiegrave;re Vision Moscou launched in Moscow in 2007.

The company’s most-recent trade shows launched this year, with Premiegrave;re Brasil, which bowed in January in Sao Paulo, and Premiegrave;re Vision Tokyo, organized with JITAC (the Japanese Imported Textiles Agency Council), in March in Tokyo.

“Each show has its own personality; we are not duplicating Premiegrave;re Vision all over the world,” said Premiegrave;re Vision communications spokesperson Christiane De Claviere. “Of course, Premiegrave;re Vision[’s] unique know-how regarding fashion information constitutes the backbone of trend forums and seminars. But that doesn’t mean that you will find the same display and the same samples on the trend forums in Sao Paulo and in Shanghai. We try to target the actual market specificities and offer the range of products buyers are looking for.”(capsule)’s comtemporary community

After launching in New York in 2007, contemporary trade show (capsule) embarked on an expansion plan that included Paris in 2008 and Las Vegas in 2009.

“The global reach and presence of (capsule) is one of its tremendous assets,” said co-founder Minya Quick. “Brands can choose to participate in three cities and reap the rewards of all markets while resting assured that they’ll get the same high level of service, great company in other brands, and top-tier buyer and media attendance.”

Each season, the shows draw more than 6,000 international buyers, fashion media, stylists, marketers, designers and others that Quick calls “the (capsule) community.”

(capsule)’s first Paris show was during the Paris men’s market and featured only men’s collections. The company has continued to host separate men’s and women’s shows in Paris and in New York, although the Las Vegas show includes both men’s and women’s resources.

“Each city lends a different vibe,” said co-founder Minya Quick. “New York is our home turf, so we greet associates and friends galore. Paris has welcomed us with open arms, and we have been so well-received there. Las Vegas could potentially be stale or unwieldy (just due to the huge scale of everything), but we maintain an intimacy and a true boutique energy in all three cities.”

This year, (capsule) is on the move again, with new larger locations in New York and Paris. For the July (menswear) and September (womenswear) shows in New York, (capsule) will move from Manhattan’s Lower East Side to the Center 548, the former home of the DIA Center, located in the Chelsea district. The Paris shows in June (menswear) and October (womenswear) will move to Garage Turenne in the city’s Marais district.