Another Move in Fashion Date War

As a result of ENK Intl.'s decision to move Fashion Coterie so that it bumps up against MAGIC Marketplace and its surrounding apparel tradeshows in Las Vegas, owners of shops that sell premium contemporary fashion now have four different shows and sets of dates to choose from.

That's because another competitor has reacted to the new date of ENK's Fashion Coterie, a tradeshow for high-end women's wear, Feb. 10-12 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center of New York.

Business Journals, which organizes East and West Coast versions of its set of collocated shows for upscale women's apparel, AccessoriesTheShow and Moda, will stage the Las Vegas edition of the event Feb. 13-15 at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, and move the New York edition to March 2-4 at the Javits Center.

ENK caused a stir late last fall when it posted the dates for the February Coterie. The show, which designers and manufacturers of approximately 1,500 collections use to introduce their fall and winter lines to some 20,000 retailers, usually falls either the week before or the week after MAGIC Marketplace. That semiannual mega-exhibition owned by Advanstar Communications is the anchor for a host of related shows some have dubbed “Las Vegas fashion week.”

Project Global Tradeshow, owned by Advanstar subsidiary MAGIC Intl., is another close competitor of Coterie. Like AccessoriesTheShow and Moda, Project takes place in both New York and Las Vegas and counts on having a few days for its exhibitors and attendees to travel between coasts to hit both shows in late January, early February.

Project Founder and President Sam Ben-Avraham was the first to react to Coterie's decision to overlap Las Vegas fashion week by moving Project's dates back by a day, to Feb. 13-15 at the Sands Expo & Convention Center. He said, “In this industry, timing is everything, and the Coterie move affects our exhibitors' business and the schedules of our buyers in a very big way.”

The Las Vegas Project is expected to feature 1,000 lines and attract 25,000 buyers. The New York edition of the show is taking place this week, Jan. 21-23, at New York's World Trade Center, meaning those loyal to Project have the two weeks to travel from East Coast to the West.

Business Journals took a little more time to react. Britton Jones, the company's president and CEO, said he and Sharon Enright, general manager of its tradeshow division, “talked to quite a few people, retailers and exhibitors, and our course of action became clear. That is to pursue a totally different set of dates in early March” rather than late January or early February.

Enright added that what seemed like a difficult challenge at first turned out to be a blessing in disguise. For one thing, there were early March dates available at the Javits, a much larger venue than where the show was scheduled before, the Metro Pavilion, which could hold only about 20,000 net square feet of exhibits. As a result, Enright said, the show will be able to accommodate 800 lines of ready-to-wear and 100 lines of accessories.

For another thing, she said, “showing in early March makes it easier for manufacturers to complete their lines and have more of them available.”

Jones explained that most exhibitors display fashions for late spring and early summer at the Las Vegas winter event. Turning around and doing a show for fall lines a week or so later in New York didn't give them much time between the two.

“The problem is, a lot of these exhibitors are pretty small companies, and their samples are very expensive. So, it's difficult for them to have them at the same time in two different cities,” he said. “Larger companies were deciding to do both shows, but the smaller ones had to choose.”

Jones and Enright believe that more companies are now free to do Coterie in New York and/or their show in Las Vegas, then their show in New York.

“It's been an amazing success,” Enright said. “By running in March, we really are helping the retailers. A lot of them would have to choose between New York and Las Vegas anyway. But this way, they can go to Las Vegas and still see a significant number of lines in March in New York.”

ENK did not return calls seeking comment. At the time Coterie's February dates were announced, company spokesman Colin McCarten told Tradeshow Week it tried to avoid creating problems for retailers by having multiple shows on the same date.

When asked if she'd tried to cooperate with ENK, Enright said, “At this time, it is a collaboration that hasn't proven to be possible.”