New Owner Tries on Old Pair of Shoes

Just a little more than a year after it went from nonprofit status to a privately held entity, the largest U.S. tradeshow for the footwear and accessories industry has changed hands again.

On Dec. 20, just as most of the industry was beginning a long holiday break, New York City-based fashion tradeshow organizer ENK Intl. closed a deal to buy the assets of Encino, Calif.-based WSA Global Holdings, which includes the semiannual The WSA Show for the shoes and accessories business. Investment banking firm Berkery Noyes handled the deal. Terms were not disclosed.

“Basically, none of that has changed,” said Skip Farber, WSA Global CEO, when asked about the name, date and location of The WSA Show. “We just have a new holding company.”

Farber was referring to Forstmann Little, which made a “significant investment” in ENK in April 2006, according to public statements about the transaction (also handled by Berkery Noyes) made at the time. Although Elyse Kroll sold the unspecified stake in the company that she had branded with her own initials more than 25 years earlier, she remained as CEO.

While the 22 shows ENK Intl. produces yearly do include a small handful in the West, none of them is anywhere near the scale of The WSA Show. Occupying the No. 4 and 6 spots on the most recent Tradeshow Week 200 respectively, the Summer and Winter shows each span about 1.1 million net square feet of exhibit space and attract upwards of 1,500 exhibitors and 17,000 professional attendees (not including exhibit personnel), according to figures reported to TSW research.

Brighte Companies, scheduled Jan. 11-14 at the California Mart in Los Angeles, was the only non-New York listing on ENK's calendar of upcoming events at press time. That show has taken place in Las Vegas in recent years.

The company produces two New York events for shoes and accessories, Accessorie Circuit and Sole Commerce, but Kroll said the opportunity for cross-marketing and other cooperative efforts between ENK and WSA wouldn't be limited to any specific shows. “We'll begin to find out what synergies exist across the board,” she added. “We obviously feel there are some, and we'll be exploring that as we go forward.”

Farber added that the deal presented new business opportunities for WSA as well. As an example, he pointed to Forstmann Little property IMG Worldwide, which produces New York's Mercedes Benz Fashion Week.

“We have diversified from a single-market-focused group to a diversified-market-focused group,” Farber said. “Now, we have a lot of tools we didn't have before.”

Asked whether she was planning any changes to The WSA Show, Kroll said, “Who's to say now, sitting here, what will happen, but I think gradual changes will take place, all for the better. We will make our decisions together.”

By “we,” Kroll meant Farber; Diane Stone, COO of WSA Global; and herself. “They have a very strong management team,” Kroll said. “I'm sure we will certainly have some involvement, but Skip and Diane will remain as executive management.”

Farber added, “We are going to remain separate management teams until we determine otherwise, which we may never do.”

Stone joined WSA in late 2004, not long after the former World Shoe Assn. management hired Farber as a consultant. The two new hires set off a series of changes that would eventually affect staff, the show's expansion and marketing strategy, and ownership structure.

With Stone and Farber as principals, WSA Global Holdings bought the assets of the World Shoe Assn. in October of 2006 for an undisclosed sum. Earlier that year, WSA had spun off its trade association functions and membership into the World Shoe Travelers' Assn.

Around the time of the sale to WSA Global, and as a contingency of it, the association distributed $38 million to seven charities, including the Center for Exhibition Industry Research.

With the recent acquisition, ENK also gets WSA Global's other media for the footwear and accessories industry, including WSA Today magazine and Web site.