California Apparel News

Fresh from being purchased by a giant New York firm, the Project Global Trade Show is enjoying some of the greatest successes in its three-year history. But now that it is under a corporate umbrella, can it preserve the independent spirit that made it so popular with premium-denim retailers?

Sam Ben-Avraham, the Los Angeles–based president of Project, vowed the event would continue to deliver the best new premiumdenim brands while keeping a lid on marketing hype. But he added that his duties as the trade show producer increasingly mean trying to please the many different groups doing business at the trade show that runs Feb. 21-23 at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas.

Project’s success in attracting retailers and displaying the best in up-and-coming premium- denim brands at its shows in New York and Las Vegas made it attractive to some of America’s top fashion and communications companies. Advanstar Communications Inc., the owner of the MAGIC Marketplace show, purchased Project for $9.9 million and soon sent retailers and vendors wondering if the New York company would require Project to become more like the more mainstream MAGIC, one of the largest apparel trade shows in the world.

For example, two top marquee fashion companies, Hugo Boss and Joseph Abboud, will make their debut at the upcoming Project show. They’ll exhibit their upcoming collections in 2,000-square-foot booths, which happened to be another first for the show where most vendors rent 10-by-10-foot booths.

Project made its reputation as a trade show with an egalitarian feel. No matter how much success a vendor enjoyed, the vendor’s booth wouldn’t look much bigger or fancier than the other booths at the trade show.

Old rules preserving the show’s milieu will remain, according to Ben-Avraham. A booth’s walls cannot be taller than 8 feet. That regulation is meant to keep booths from visually overpowering one another.

While the show will remain true to its roots, Ben-Avraham said recently that the show will continue to grow. Project will host 500 vendors at its upcoming show while the previous Project in Las Vegas, held in August, had 320 vendors. He forecast that more than 13,000 attendees would browse the vendors’ collections this season, compared with the 11,000 who attended previous Project trade shows.

Ben-Avraham plans to handle the growth by adding a fourth day to the February trade show; previous Project shows were scheduled for three days. Other firsts for the show that emphasizes menswear and denim will be the debut exhibition of 100 women’s-only lines.

Project’s growth and experimentation with new categories had some retailers hoping the trade show will keep its unique culture. But others, such as Fred Levine, co-owner of Agoura Hills, Calif.–based M. Fredric retail stores, believed the show could both keep its culture and enjoy growth. “I don’t imagine it will lose its appeal,” Levine said. “The show has been very clear in denim and the direction of denim.”

Ben-Avraham said he understood people’s concerns about Project losing its unique culture. But he noted the show will keep its focus because all the brands showing at Project must meet with his personal approval.

“Product, product, product, it’s really confusing now,” Ben-Avraham said. “There’s so many good collections. What we’re offering is a good idea of what [labels are] out there. It’s giving the full picture of the product and letting the retailers make the [buying] decisions on their own.”

Growth has not changed his ways. Project’s staff remains small, just seven people. Ben-Avraham said he invested the money from the Advanstar deal into opening additional locations for his store Atrium. He’ll open a second location in Livingston, N.J. on March 15. The store will total 6,500 square feet.

Ben-Avraham hoped his show would stay on an even, focused keel by talking with retailers, producing a business environment where retailers can conduct business efficiently and maintaining the quality of the brands.

To remain focused, he has decided not to bring back Project’s menswear show that was produced in Los Angeles in August 2004.

“We’re going to remain focused on the New York and Las Vegas shows,” he said. “Las Vegas was already attracting a lot more people than the Los Angeles show. We couldn’t attract them to L.A.”