Fashion Shows Shuffle Again in Las Vegas

Brighte moves from L.A. to Vegas, another from Hilton to Venetian

By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 10/18/2004

Las Vegas—These days, there's never a dull moment in the world of apparel-industry trade-shows. So far, this month has been no exception, with one show announcing its move from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and another leaving the Las Vegas Hilton for the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino.

The first week of this month, Elyse Kroll, principle of ENK Intl., confirmed that she was moving Brighte from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. The event — which matches about 60 cutting-edge designers of clothing, loungewear, accessories and shoes with about 1,500 buyers from high-end boutiques — is slated to take place Feb. 14–16 at the Venetian.

ENK already has several successful East Coast tradeshows, such as Fashion Coterie, Intermezzo and Accessories Circuit, and Kroll is ready to tap the West Coast market. That's why she launched Brighte in the fall of 1993, and why she's moving it to Las Vegas now.

Besides ENK Shows, the event production company, ENK Intl. also owns and operates The UnConvention Center, Pier 94, a 180,000 square foot exhibit facility on the Hudson River where most of Kroll's shows take place.

If Brighte's new Las Vegas dates sound familiar, it's because MAGIC Marketplace, North America's largest fashion trade-show, is scheduled to take place at the same time (continuing through Feb. 17) at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Surrounding it, there now will be 11 other business-to-business shows for the apparel industry, loosely congealing into what some have informally dubbed Las Vegas Fashion Week.

Among those shows coinciding with last September's MAGIC were three at the Hilton: ASAP Global Sourcing Show, produced by Cyber Merchants Exchange; the Intl. Apparel Show, produced by Fred Nassiri; and the Intl. Western and English Lifestyle Market (or IWE Show), produced by Hand & Associates.

But at least one of these is moving. Beverly Wu, show director of ASAP, said her show is also going to the Venetian beginning this spring. "We grew out of our space at the Hilton," Wu explained. The last show had around 250 exhibitors in 35,000 net sq. ft., she said, but will grow to 350 exhibitors in 45,000 net sq. ft. at the Venetian. The show draws about 5,500 buyers.

Also, starting in February, ASAP will include a four-day conference component called the Global Sourcing Summit. The group needed more meeting rooms to accommodate that as well.

Besides, Wu added, "The Venetian is a much more elegant space, and a great place to have a show like ours."

ASAP may not be the only one moving out of the Hilton. Rodney Hand, producer of the IWE Show, said his February 2005 location is up in the air, since Hilton salespeople informed him that MAGIC now controls the exhibit space there, and other shows wishing to exhibit at the hotel would have to contact MAGIC.

"We're hoping to stay at the Hilton," Hand said. "We have a proposal out to MAGIC, but the ball's in their court."

The Hilton did not return calls from Tradeshow Week.

MAGIC Intl., a division of Advanstar Communications, would not confirm that it is holding space at the Hilton, stating only: "MAGIC is always investigating venues as the company brainstorms ideas about possible new ventures in the fashion trade industry."

Space has been a touchy issue lately for MAGIC Intl., which in April of this year filed a lawsuit against the Interface Group, owner of the Sands Expo & Convention Center, asking the court to let it move its women's wear show, WWDMAGIC, out of the space it is holding at the facility through September 2005. Interface filed a counter suit asking, in essence, that it be allowed to resell the space if it's not going to use the space.

Both actions are still pending in the U.S. District Court of Nevada, but in May a federal judge ruled that WWDMAGIC could move to join the rest of the show at the LVCC.

MAGIC said the move came in response to requests for consolidation by buyers whose markets crisscross different segments of the show. Over the summer, the company launched a campaign using the slogans "together again" and "all under one roof."

The show, which began as meetings of the Men's Apparel Guild in California, moved to Las Vegas in 1989. Advanstar acquired it in 1998, the same year WWDMAGIC moved to the Sands after a year in tents in the LVCC parking lot and two years at the Hilton. The kids' portion of the show was launched at the Hilton in 1997 and stayed there until 2002, when the LVCC expansion made room for it to join the bulk of the show there.

Following a period of stagnation, MAGIC appears to be growing again. This fall's show saw more than 3,200 exhibitors occupying nearly 1 million sq. ft. of the LVCC and pulling in 95,000 attendees, according to MAGIC. That represents 13-percent growth in attendance over last February's show.

As long as the lawsuits are pending, the upstairs exhibit hall of the Sands is untouchable, because the dispute centers on MAGIC's right to hold the space as long as it abides by its contractual obligations (in other words, as long as the show company pays liquidated damages).

The Off-Price Specialist Show will continue to take place in the Sands' lower-level exhibit hall, where it has been for several years. Off-Price and other shows that have expressed an interest in the upstairs space will have to wait until either the legal action is settled or MAGIC's contract runs out.

In the meantime, the adjacent Venetian provides an alternative for groups like ASAP. Wu said she does not have a contract with the hotel beyond 2005, but hopes to make the venue the show's permanent home.