2014 in Review: Trade Agreements a No-Show for 2014
The big apparel trade show news of 2014 was the September announcement that Advanstar—parent of MAGIC, Project and Coterie—was sold for $972 million to British trade-show producer UBM PLC.
But that wasn’t the only acquisition of the year. Shortly before the start of 2014, George Little Management LLC, parent company of trade show Surf Expo, was acquired for $335 million by Emerald Expositions Inc., organizers of the Outdoor Retailer trade show. In January, Reed Exhibitions, which has a portfolio of more than 500 events around the world, including the Agendatrade show, purchased the Capsule trade show for an undisclosed amount.
Première Vision S.A.—the French textile and trim trade-show organizer that runs the Première Vision, Indigo, Expofil,Modamont, Tissu Premier and Fatex shows—acquired leather and fur trade show Cuir à Paris from SIC S.A.
Boutique denim trade show Kingpins skipped its March event in Los Angeles to prepare for the launch of its new Amsterdam show, which was part of a four-day trade/consumer event called Denim Days.
In July, Advanstar took the Pooltradeshow to New York to run alongside its Project New York and The Tents shows at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
Also in July, Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif., was the home of Fi3, a new menswear show, retail pop-up shop and conference featuring 60 specialty brands from men’s apparel to accessories.
The West Coast swimwear show Swim Collective returned to the Hyatt Regency in Huntington Beach, Calif., for its August show, where it soft-launched Active Collective, a new section of the show for activewear resources.
The Los Angeles Men’s Market, produced by The Ntwrk Agency, celebrated its first anniversary in October at the California Market Center.
The year also saw some location changes for existing shows, including the Première Vision New York and Indigo New York shows, which saw record attendance when they moved from the Metropolitan Pavilion and Altman Building to a new, larger location at Pier 92
in July. The show also featured the launch of the C.L.A.S.S. (Creativity, Lifestyle and Sustainable Synergy) summit, where executives from Gucci, Loomstate, Rogan, Eileen Fisher and Coca-Cola, as well as model and actress Amber Valletta and members of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, discussed sustainability issues for the global apparel and textile industries.
Footwear trade show Lazr moved from the Cooper Design Space to The New Mart in April and then moved again to a loft-like space overlooking the intersection of Ninth and Los Angeles streets for its October show.
Streetwear trade show Venue moved from the Los Angeles Convention Center to the Cooper for its January and July shows. Organizers then announced the show would move to The Reef (formerly called the LA Mart) in downtown Los Angeles next May.
Swim Collective is also moving to the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, Calif., in January, when its new Active Collective show will officially launch.
The end of the year brought a flurry of announcements about new trade shows planned for next year. American Events, producers of theNW Materials Show in Portland, Ore., and the NE Materials Show in Boston, will launch theSoCal Materials Show in Los Angeles in January. In September, Reed announced plans to launch a new show in February in New York calledAxis under the direction of Agenda WMS’ Vanessa Chiu. In November came the announcement of a new sourcing show called Factory Direct, which is scheduled to bow in March at The New Mart. And in December the CMC announced plans to launch a new athleisure show called Shape in March.
