California Apparel News

Designers & Agents is the latest trade-show producer to announce that it will put together a virtual trade event.

The boutique trade-show producer will introduce d&a digital, which is scheduled to debut the first week of Sept. 7 and run through November, said Ed Mandelbaum, D&A’s president.

D&A partnered with the fashion-technology company Ordre to produce the virtual trade show. Ordre’s clients include Gucci, Stella McCartney and Marc Jacobs. The fashion-technology company maintains offices in New York, Milan, Paris and Hong Kong. Ordre was started by the husband-and-wife team of Simon Lock, the founder of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia,and Kirsten Lock, a former fashion-magazine editor and stylist for titles such as Harper’s Bazaar Arabia and VIVA Magazine.

Ordre’s platforms feature online showrooms where visitors can view 360-degree photographs of garments so they can see all different angles of how a garment looks. There are also functionalities where buyers can place wholesale orders on the platform, Mandelbaum said.

“Nothing comes close to being in-person,” he said. “But Ordre is very user friendly. Salespeople put on presentations of what buyers would typically see at an in-person showroom. It brings the season to retailers.”

Designers & Agents is an independent, curated trade show that focuses on independent designers and sustainable goods. The trade show has presented displays from more than 300 brands each season through its shows, which are presented domestically in New York and Los Angeles. The New York shows scheduled for September were canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. D&A’s upcoming Los Angeles shows are still scheduled to run Oct. 12–14 at The New Mart showroom building. Additional information regarding the virtual and on-site shows can be requested by emailing da@designersandagents.com.