KINGPINS LA
Scouting the Denim Market
The July 30–31 run of boutique denim trade show Kingpins at the Cooper Design Space in Los Angeles drew designers and representatives of brands and retailers from Levi Strauss & Co., Nordstrom, Nasty Gal, Uniqlo, Lee, Lucky Brand, Volcom, Alexander Wang, Paige and Current/Elliot, who turned out to scout the offerings from an international mix of denim mills, factories and trim suppliers.
First-time exhibitor Amhot International Inc. was showing selvage denim developments and yarn-dye shirtings from Japan. The Osaka, Japan–based company has worked with several West Coast denim brands for a long time, company representative Jun Minami said, but this season it decided to exhibit at the show, as well.
At the Kurabo Denim booth, Kurabo Director Stanley Tung said he was getting a strong reaction to the Yogo, the company’s new stretch denim development that combines the look of a five-pocket jean with the comfort of athletic apparel.
“It’s all about ath-leisure, comfort and softness,” he said. “It has to have power stretch.”
Yogo fabrics can be washed and treated like traditional denim, Tung said.
“In Kingpins in New York and Amsterdam, people were loving it,” he added. “The hand feel is super.”
For customers looking for denim for traditional five-pocket styles, Kurabo was showing lighter-weight fabrications with a softer hand.
Charles de Torre has exhibited at Kingpins with a previous company, but this season he returned to show print developments from Los Angeles print house Cadfab. In addition to saturated floral and botanical prints on denim, de Torre showed prints on leather, cashmere, silk and linen.
“We can supply the fabric, but most people love their own fabrics, so they can bring them to us and fall in love with me,” de Torre said.
Lycra, which is a Kingpins show sponsor, was also on hand with several of its latest developments, including low-impact treatments for stretch denim developed by Italian mill Candiani Denim and Italian denim treatment specialists Garmon Chemicals. Results included a black denim sample with a “Galaxy” technique that looked like a field of stars and low-cure resin patches on the knee. Jean Hegedus, the marketing director for Invista, the maker of Lycra and Coolmax fibers, was also showing denim with an eco finish that does not use formaldehyde or potassium permanganate but still gives the finished product a high-contrast look.
Lycra’s stretch and recovery fiber DualFX continues to be popular, as is knit denim, Hegedus said. Invista is also seeing more interest in its Coolmax moisture-management fiber, as well as companies that are pairing Coolmax fibers with Thermore, a hollow-core insulating fiber manufactured by an Italian fiber maker.
“We’re seeing a lot of renewed interest in X-fit Lycra with four-way stretch—more in womenswear, but we’re also seeing some interest in menswear,” Hegedus said.
On the first day of the show, more than 80 attendees turned out, which makes the Los Angeles show one of the smaller shows in the Kingpins lineup, which includes New York, Hong Kong and Amsterdam, Kingpins’ newest show, which bowed in May.
Kurabo’s Tung, a longtime Kingpins exhibitor, acknowledged the difference between the New York and Los Angeles shows.
“Compared to New York, there’s a big contrast, but in LA, I don’t expect a lot of customers,” he said.
For Cadfab’s de Torre, the attendee turnout included the right buyers for his new fabric developments.
“This show is not about quantity, it’s about quality,” he said. “If you have one or two serious people, you had a successful show. Especially a show like this, it’s invitation-only and very exclusive.”
Kingpins founder Andrew Olah said the reason he scheduled the Los Angeles Kingpins show for July is because it falls after the Kingpins show in New York, which is a good time for the New York denim market.
“We thought [the two shows] had to be at about the same time as a convenience for the exhibitors,” he said. “But too many of my Los Angeles brands said in July, they are busy producing their lines for the upcoming trade shows.”
Kingpins skipped its Los Angeles show in January to prepare for the Amsterdam launch, which was part of a four-day celebration of denim called Denim Days. The first two days focused on the business-to-business side of the market with the Kingpins trade show while the last two days were consumer-focused with pop-up shops, workshops, a marketplace, parties and events.
Olah said the turnout in Amsterdam was a success that drew industry insiders and denim fans, who lined up to attend events.
“I’m looking forward to future opportunities here in Los Angeles to make the show even more compelling,” he said.
That could mean a change in timing, Olah said. “We’re going to try to do Denim Days here like in Amsterdam and engage other elements of the denim industry,” he said. “Our target date is September 2015. All things are on the table for discussion.”