California Market Center (CMC) hosted LA Fashion Market on January 12-15, 2014 and began the new year with a bright outlook following reports of good traffic, new accounts and great orders. The Market opened to buyers on Sunday, presenting Summer and pre-Fall 2014 collections in hundreds of showrooms throughout the CMC’s 13 floors, in addition to SELECT Contemporary Tradeshow and TRANSIT Shoe Show.
This was the second time Market began on Sunday since the CMC shifted its date pattern to accommodate buyers who prefer to shop over the weekend. “We were extremely pleased by the steady stream of traffic our showrooms and tradeshows saw on Sunday,” said Joanne Lee, Senior Vice President of the CMC. “By being the only building open in the Fashion District on Sunday, not only do our showrooms and exhibitors have the opportunity to see buyers who can only shop the weekend, we’re finding that buyers are scheduling their Market week so that they can spend the entire day focusing on the CMC’s resources on Sunday.” The CMC has been using a range of marketing techniques (such as buying Custom Water), to try and increase footfall. The techniques have clearly worked as the market saw a steady stream of traffic throughout the day!
“Sunday was very strong, our best day of Market,” reported Don Reichman of Reichman Associates in Suite A287. “We opened a lot of new accounts and saw more stores than we did last year. Additionally, we found that the buyers that came were serious and ready to buy.”
Mary Minser of Mary Minser Sales in Suite A298, was also one of a majority of CMC showrooms that reported a very good Market. “Sunday was great! My buyers from Julian and Santa Barbara were pleased that they were able to shop Market and travel roundtrip in one day without the hassle of commuter traffic. I believe everyone is happy about Market Sundays.”
Exhibitors at SELECT Contemporary Tradeshow have also embraced Market Sundays.”We’ve done great this Market. We also did very well with the show starting on Sunday since all of the other buildings are closed,” said Dan Butler of European-brand agency Lines of Denmark. “We opened about 20 new accounts this show and saw a lot of out of state business.”
Featuring a tightly curated selection of upmarket apparel, accessories and footwear collections, SELECT was featured in the CMC’s Fashion Theater, January 12-14, 2014, and debuted a number of notable new exhibitors this season, including LA-based lines Anita K Jewelry, Leverton, and Olivari Accessories, as well East Coast-based Latico Leathers, and Karamel Collection from Italy, among others. Regular exhibitors that are among buyer favorites included Deepa Gurnani, TLC&you, Marcia Moran, Magaschoni, Gillian Julius, Lines of Denmark brands, Enzo Angiolini, Japanese-brand agent Beagle House NY, and many more.
“I was struck by the quality of buyers at SELECT this Market,” said Taylor Cole of luxury resort accessories brand TLC&you from Laguna Beach. “Buyers who entered the show truly meant business and were writing great orders. And we wrote many new orders this show � all but one of our orders were from new customers and we saw stores from all over, from Southern California to Colorado to Florida.”
LA Fashion Market was also host to TRANSIT Shoe Show, January 12-14, 2014. Featured in the CMC’s Penthouse, 13th floor, the show brings together the industry’s best footwear brands for the boutique buyer shopping LA Fashion Market. This Market, the list of notable exhibitors included key brands for a range of buyer audiences, from casual West Coast lifestyle to high end contemporary, for men and women, and in every price point. Standout brands included Modern Vice, Tita Bonita from Spain, J-Slides, Jeffrey Campbell, Steve Madden, Frye Co, Dr. Scholl’s Collection, Grey City, Bronx, Seychelles, Yellow Box, and hundreds more. This show also introduced the Fashion Influencers blogger lounge, hosting top bloggers who scoured the show for key footwear trends, styles and brands. Bloggers included Look Book Philosophy, Fashion by Day, Everything Hauler, and According to Adriana, among others.
“Every time we show at Transit we open new accounts. This time we opened new accounts from numerous states, including Oregon, Arkansas, Louisiana and California,” said Kim Castro of edgy contemporary brand Grey City. “We loved the Fashion Influencers the show brought in and appreciate the show’s help with connecting brands like ours to high-profile bloggers.”
The next LA Fashion Market takes place Sunday-Wednesday, March 16-19, 2014 for Fall 2014, and will continue to host SELECT Contemporary Tradeshow and TRANSIT Shoe Show, as well as the LA Men’s Market and Gift & Home Market at the CMC.
