California Apparel News

Vendors reported a mostly successful run for the Los Angeles Majors Market, held Oct 3–5 at the California Market Center.

Twice a year, the Majors Market presents the latest kids’, juniors, contemporary and updated merchandise and trends for department stores and independent retailers.

Overall, business has picked up this year compared with last October’s market, exhibitors said.

The eighth floor was bustling with packed showrooms, busy sales reps and impromptu cocktail parties.

“It’s been amazing,” Susan LeGates, merchandise manager for Culver City, Calif.–based Love, Fire, said. “We’re substantially ahead of last year.”

The label recently changed showrooms and updated its merchandise, which received “an incredible response” last spring, but the October market has been even busier, LeGates said.

The company is known for its prints and color, which works well because bold colors are predicted for Spring 2012 trends, she said.

“Color is driving every single business in this room—dresses, tops, skirts,” she said.

Brightly colored denim in shades of royal blue, lavender, aqua and neon yellow sold through the brand’s Tinseltown label was also doing extremely well, LeGates said.

Lisa Bucci, sales manager for Gardena, Calif.–based HeartSoul, said business was busier than last year and that it had been “a great market.”

Dresses, skirts with hi-low hems, palazzo pants, neon, Missoni-inspired prints and anything embellished or with texture was doing well, she said. Buyers had been writing orders, in part, because of the company’s distinctive merchandising and good value for its products, Bucci said.

YMI, a $40 million denim-based juniors and young women’s collection that showed in a festive showroom in the California Market Center lobby, debuted two new additions to its collection: footwear and handbags. The Los Angeles–based line also featured its anklet skinny jean.

The company estimated its sales were even with last year’s October market, which was a sign of a good performance in a struggling economy, said Deke Jamieson, YMI’s executive vice president of marketing and licensing. “We’re seeing everyone we need to see, but you are not getting a constant barrage of people, which does not always bring business,” Jamieson said.

The Majors Market saw the debut of new showroom Rogue Apparel Brands in CMC suite B863. Showroom owner Mark Conway said he met with retailers such as Forever 21 and Ross during the market. He was introducing his company’s sublimation T-shirts and licenses with the estates of Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and pop-culture heroes and said it was important to plant seeds for future sales. “We opened a number of accounts and got a lot of good exposure,” he said.

There was less action on the 13th floor, which consists primarily of temporary showrooms.

Daryl Dinetz of Cherry Stix in New York said last October’s market was much busier for her and that a lot of her regular buyers didn’t make the trip to Los Angeles because of budget tightening and worries over the economy.

“It’s a luxury for buyers to come out here,” she said.

Gibby Gabriel, a principal with Gabriel Brothers Inc., a West Virginia–based discounter, said his company was buying less than at past markets. “We’re buying conservatively. We’re waiting for deals to pop up close to the holidays, “Gabriel said.

However, the 100-store off-pricer anticipated a good holiday season. “People will still spend for Christmas. It is the one time of the year people spend,” he said.

(Running concurrently with the Majors Market at the CMC was A Taste of OffPrice, featuring off-price vendors. See related story.)

Marci Dikun, an account manager for New York–based Anxiety, said business had been about the same for her as previous markets. She also found her buyers were more focused on Immediate goods.

“Retailers are clearly hesitant with this economy, but they’re optimistic and reactive to what [merchandise] is working,” she said.

Overall, strong trends included ethnic and tribal prints, bright colors, neon, bling, Americana, and activewear. Skirts and dresses of all types—including evening dresses, maxi dresses and sports dresses—were the two biggest sellers for this market, according to vendors.

“It’s all about the bling—lots of glitz, rhinestone, sequins, foils,” said Andrew Assael, president of New York–based Planet Gold.

He said the company’s black yoga pant with a wide sequined waistband was a hit this season. “Lights out. That’s it. If there’s only one item, that’s it.”

All of the company’s dresses, which range from $14 to $18 wholesale, were also doing extremely well, Assael said.

The upcoming season could be a good time for department stores, Michael Exstein, a Credit Suisse analyst, wrote in an Oct. 4 research note.

Department stores will be far better prepared to handle a downturn than they were for the financial meltdown of 2008. Their inventories are well controlled, and the competitive environment appears less intense, with specialty retailers slowing down growth.