ENKVegas Sales Good
Business was buzzing, according to show organizers, at ENKVegas, which ran Aug. 22–24 in two ballrooms at the Wynn hotel. “Key retailers were ready to do business bright and early on opening morning, and the steady stream of traffic didn’t calm down until close of business on Wednesday,” said Elyse Kroll, founder of ENK.
Kroll declined to state how many vendors exhibited at the show or how many attendees shopped for contemporary and designer fashions.Retailers shopping ENKVegas included department store Nordstrom; prominent e-commerce stores Zappos, Hautelook, Amazon.com, Revolve Clothing, Piperlime and 80’s Purple; and specialty boutiques Planet Blue, Ron Herman, Theodore, Sy Devore, Fred Segal Trend, Fred Segal Emphatic, Kitson, Gary’s, Elton’s, MFredric and Wendy Foster.
A wide range of fashion labels exhibited at ENKVegas, including designer label Kriss Van Assche, eco-friendly label Prairie Underground, lingerie brand Agent Provacateur and novelty footwear line Ugg Australia.
For Jeff Shafer, owner/designer of denim-oriented line Agave, based in Ridgefield, Wash., trade show traffic seemed down in all of the Las Vegas trade shows, including ENKVegas. But quality crowds were not sacrificed at ENKVegas. “There was not a ton of people there, but the right people were there,” he said.
He estimated his brand wrote 30 percent to 40 percent more orders than at the same show last year. He credited his success with retailers getting to better know his 9-year-old brand. Retail buyers also were willing to take a risk on new looks and styles. Along with the denim styles with which Agave established its reputation, the line showed more non-indigo bottoms than it had at past ENKVegas shows. “This season, everyone bought it,” Shafer said of Agave’s non-denim looks.The brand offered non-indigo bottoms in colors such as khaki, olive and rust. The men’s market is embracing more earth-tone colors compared with the palette of jewel colors offered for women’s jeans this season. Military looks continue to be popular, he said.
