California Apparel News

Los Angeles Market Week led buyers and brands to downtown Los Angeles, where The New Mart, California Market Center, Cooper Design Space and Lady Liberty Building welcomed attendees Oct. 6–9 to discover last-minute holiday items and look forward to Spring/Summer 2026.

Each building featured its own selection of permanent showrooms, with many opting to welcome additional brands to temporary spaces that provided exciting, fresh options for buyers. Many buildings also offered amenities such as carefully appointed buyers’ lounges with refreshments and resources in addition to happy-hour celebrations at the end of the day to ensure buyers remained on-site and focused on business.

The New Mart hosted the latest L.A. edition of Designers and Agents  while the Cooper Design Space attracted buyers to Brand Assembly. These shows added options beyond the showroom environment through intimate layouts that afforded opportunities to discover fresh designs and forge important in-person connections.

DVAA/Thuli at The New Mart

Uptick in traffic at The New Mart

Traffic was positive at The New Mart where General Manager Tom Keefer outlined the factors that influenced buyer decisions.

“The uncertainty caused by the fluctuating tariff implications suppressed many buyers from making 2025 purchases,” Keefer said. “But retailers are needing to refill their pipelines, and this translated into an uptick in buyer activity.”

Michael Crespy, West Coast sales manager for Liverpool Los Angeles who showed holiday items and the brand’s coatigan, revealed a tactic of his most-successful retailers.

“The consensus is that activity breeds activity,” Crespy said. “Stores that are having combination events—with other businesses such as wineries, restaurants, charities, fashion shows—breed activity in the store, and it pumps up business.”

At D&A, Seethai Bagavathi, co-founder at Fairlawn, N.J.–based DVAA/Thuli, met with Los Angeles; Santa Fe, N.M.; and Seattle buyers.

“They are willing to spend for quality, but at the same time, with the tariffs, we’ve absorbed the costs for now,” said Bagavathi, who specializes in Jamdani women’s pieces. “We design our own fabrics and everything is made to order for wholesalers.”

CMC (photo credit CMC)
OKIE MEDIA LLC

CMC provides high value and buyer perks 

CMC management boasted showroom growth and offered amenities such as a happy-hour cart, reported General Manager Ashley Sabo as a Sunset Celebration closed the first day.

“The fashion district offers diverse brands that resonate with buyers, and the CMC remains committed to expanding its showroom offerings to meet their evolving needs,” Sabo said. “We’re especially excited about new additions like Best Seller joining our contemporary floor, and we look forward to introducing even more dynamic brands in the coming year.”

Steve Martino, co-owner of Milio Milano, was optimistic regarding his appointment-driven traffic, which included buyers interested in Immediates.

“We’re benefiting from having good value,” Martino said. “They are being conservative, but we have really good quality for the price—there’s not much resistance. They think the price is great, especially with tariffs going on.”

Wrangler at the Cooper Design Space

La Blanca at the Cooper Design Space

Brands remain ahead of trends at Cooper 

During the Cooper Design Space’s edition of Brand Assembly, Wrangler and Lee hit trending denim points. “A lot of focus on embellishment and different fabrics,” noted Kenlie Harvey, who works in sales for Wrangler and Lee parent company Kontoor Brands.

Wrangler and Lee at the Cooper Design Space

Sustainability ticked for Lee as it continues to feature alternatives to traditional denim. “What’s really great about Lee and what people are attracted to is we use a lot of Lyocell,” said Jonathan Radcliffe, sales representative at Wrangler and Lee. “It’s a strong fiber, but it’s also super sustainable compared to a lot of other denim fabrics.”

At La Blanca, Summer ’26 swimwear brought bright colors and Americana to celebrate the U.S.’ 250th anniversary. The brand showed growth in apparel offerings, explained Phyllis Posner, sales representative. “We’re doing a lot of linen and cotton. We have crinkle and sheer. And almost a macramé knit texture,” Posner said. “We’re adding so much more apparel to the line.”

An intimate setting spells success at Lady Liberty

According to Empera Arye, CEO of the Lady Liberty Building, the space offered opportunities with its permanent showrooms and hosted a temporary space Oct. 6 and 7, which included brands from the East Coast.

“We are a smaller boutique-showroom building,” said Arye. “We had a happy, positive energy throughout the building with buyers.”

The AC Collective’s Spring/Summer ’26 offerings attracted buyers who were ready to do business despite continued tariff challenges, as many of its brands absorb the added costs, according to co-founder Corie Nicols.

“We are getting almost no pushback on pricing for brands that fall within the contemporary price point as well as the more-advanced contemporary price point,” said Nicols “There is still concern regarding a resolution to the ongoing tariff situation, however.”