California Apparel News

NEW YORK—Although bitterly cold winds were blustering outside, the feeling inside the Metropolitan Pavilion and Altman Building was warm and inviting for lingerie trade show Lingerie Americas.

The Feb. 25–27 run, Lingerie Americas’ eighth show, brought 250 brands to the two side-by-side buildings and the seasonally renamed “Winter Garden” on the fourth floor of the Altman Building. A good selection of the more well-known brands in the show have been exhibiting with Lingerie Americas since its very beginnings in 2002, including Huit, Chantelle, Natori, Wolford and Eberjay. Joining these veterans of Lingerie Americas were 41 brand-new recruits such as Vera Wang’s new line of couture lingerie, French sleepwear company Laurence Tavernier and exclusive Italian label La Perla.

There was another new factor at the Fall/Winter ’06 show— something that may have caused quite a few problems for this typically smooth-running expo. The market dates for the Winter season, set each year by the Intimate Apparel Council, were moved forward this year by one week. As a result, the Metropolitan Pavilion and Altman Building were booked for another event, and Lingerie Americas had to move their usual Sunday–Tuesday spot back a day, to Saturday–Monday. “It was something we were worried about,” said Patrice Argain, chief executive officer of Lingerie Americas.

“The retailer doesn’t want to lose trade by closing their store on probably the busiest day of their week,” he continued. “And, of course, the first day of the show wasn’t as busy as our usual first days, but on the second day we saw much more traffic than we usually do, and hopefully that will continue on for the last day,” he explained on the second day of the show.

“What I would like to see is us staying level with past years, to increase is impossible,” he said. The actual number of attendees over the three-day run was 2,482—roughly level with attendance last March.

The Saturday start did create a different atmosphere. Some thought that while there may have been fewer East Coast buyers at the show, those that had come from out of town were likely to have been in New York for the whole weekend anyway. But that was not the case for Christy Horton, owner of the Trousseau boutique in Chicago. Horton has been traveling to New York for every Lingerie Americas show since it launched and was not a fan of the Saturday start.

“I really don’t like it,” she said. “I have to work in the store on a Saturday. I don’t want to have to work in New York on a Saturday. Bring back the old way.” Luckily for her, Argain made it clear that from now on the show would be kicking off on its usual Sunday.

For some, though, the day switch didn’t slow things down. “We have been incredibly busy,” said Melissa Edwards, director of marketing for Bendon, the company behind Elle MacPherson Intimates. The New Zealand–based company was celebrating its first anniversary in the U.S. market and also its first anniversary with Lingerie Americas.

“We started with one table and three chairs,” smiles Edwards. “So it’s great to see that over three shows we have been able to get more and more space and still be full of people interested in the line.”

One of the newer and slightly edgier exhibitors was California’s Bristol 6, which designs stylish adhesive nipple patches. “Those old ’50s-style nipple covers are kind of ugly,” laughed owner and designer Christine Benidt. “Even the nipple patch needs to keep up with fashion. We thought it should be something a little more young, a little more fresh.”

The show featured other returning West Coast brands including Beija Brazil and Honeydew Intimates.

Benny Zafrani, Honeydew’s owner, was very happy to be offered a booth on the ground floor. When Honeydew first exhibited in August 2005, its booth was on the fourth floor, where the wait for the elevator sometimes deterred people from venturing up. The new space not only put the vendor on the ground floor, but the booth was also a little larger, allowing for room to show the new Honeydew Signature line, an elegant complement to the company’s fun Honeydew Intimates designs.

For the August 2006 show, organizers will add more space on the fifth floor of the Altman Building—and organizers are hoping the additional space will entice more people upstairs. According to Argain, there will be a further 3,000 square feet of booth space on the fifth floor. “It’s a slow, gradual process,” he said. “That way we can maintain the quality of the merchandise and the fairness of the market share.” And that, as always, describes the intention of this increasingly popular show—high-quality brands delivered with ease to some happy, and warm, attendees.”