SHOW HUDDLE: Annabelle Lee of See You Monday, center, talks to sales rep Monica Reyes, right, and Joyce Sim at the LA Apparel Show.

SHOW HUDDLE: Annabelle Lee of See You Monday, center, talks to sales rep Monica Reyes, right, and Joyce Sim at the LA Apparel Show.

MADE IN LOS ANGELES

Local-Focused LA Apparel Show Returns for Second Season

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Comme Toi

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Lulumari

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Cecico

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Comme Toi

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Lulumari

A tightly curated collection of Los Angeles–designed and Los Angeles–made collections exhibited in the second edition of the LA Apparel Show, held April 7–9 on the 13th floor of the California Market Center.

Last September, the show, which is sponsored by the Korean American Manufacturers Association, launched at the CMC with more than 150 exhibitors, many tenants of the San Pedro Mart, located a few blocks east of the CMC. The launch show was judged to be too sprawling, said Annabelle Lee, the designer and creative director of the See You Monday label, which exhibited at the show. The new tightly edited mix was intended to introduce the most fresh and novel looks from the San Pedro Mart. “This is a meet-and-greet show,” Lee said. “We are meeting retailers who are placing bigger orders.”

Several exhibitors acknowledged that buyer traffic was slow—particularly compared with the bustling traffic many of these brands see at the giant WWDMAGIC show in Las Vegas. Still, buyers from Dillard’s, Forever 21, Ross and Overstock.com were spotted shopping the show.

Cecico’s Peter Ahn said, in addition to several major retailers, he met with buyers from Nebraska and Aruba at the show. “One customer left the Atlanta show to come here,” he said.

Known for its sweater knits, some domestic and some imported, Cecico designs for a young customer “looking for something edgy,” Ahn said.

Ahn said the LAAS show is another opportunity to meet new retailers. “We don’t want to close any doors,” he said. “It’s not easy to start a show from scratch.”

Other brands showing at LAAS included vintage-inspired Comme Toi, young contemporary dress line Ark & Co., Latin-focused Lulumari and juniors/young contemporary line Papermoon.

Show organizers said the show will return to the CMC for a third edition in October.

With additional reporting by Andrew Asch