Industry 212 Drops Out, FAME Adds NY Dates
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 10/11/2004
Business Journals will add two more Fashion Avenue Market Expo shows to the two it already holds during the March and August fashion Market Weeks in New York. Starting in 2005, it will add shows during the January and May Market Weeks, peak periods in the fashion industry season when buyers converge on the city to attend shows and meet with manufacturers. The new shows will be held Jan. 9–11 and May 1–3 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, and run concurrently with AccessoriesTheShow and Moda Manhattan.
Britton Jones, president and CEO of Business Journals, said he expects the new FAME shows to attract about 8,000 retailers each season, and will together feature more than 2,000 ready-to-wear and accessory collections.
Jones said exhibitors want help with "immediate delivery" — that is, they want additional outlets to sell excess inventory to buyers who now make their purchasing decisions later and later.
Jones and Sharon Enright, general manager of Business Journals' tradeshow division, said its launches, coupled with Advanstar Communications' recent cancellation of its Industry 212 apparel tradeshow at Javits, signal a significant change in New York's fashion expo scene.
Jones said Advanstar's strength is its MAGIC shows in Las Vegas. "It may have been difficult for them because their Las Vegas shows were so close in time to their New York show that it almost created a conflict between them," he said.
Elyse Kroll, president of ENK Intl., which produces the Accessorie Circuit Intermezzo Collections at Javits in January, as well as other fashion expos there, said the introduction of more FAME shows will have no impact on her business because they carry very different categories of merchandise.
But, she added, "FAME and Industry 212 are the same type of show, which is why one needed to fade into the sunset. I believe that Javits took the safe route and rented the new available space to a show producer that was already a tenant of theirs."
