A REVIEW OF THE MAGIC AND KIDS TRADE SHOWS

We just returned from 110 degree smoke filled (both outside from the wild fires in California and inside in the Casinos) Las Vegas and here are some thoughts on what we saw.

The MAGIC ( originally Mens Apparel Guild In California)show has continued to evolute. There are added venues as the definition of catagories has transformed. How to differentiate between Pool, Project , Street and Slate has become a challenge, as it seemed we were seeing virtually the same merchandise with different graphics in each venue. The fact that Pool, Slate, Street, Mens and Premium all blended from one to the other in the same humongous hall did not help. At least Project was in a different building, but if you asked me the difference between Pool and Project I would be hard pressed to answer! The use of decorations continues to expand and gain importance, as evidenced by the riot of colors and graphics overlayed with crystals, foil, applique and whatever other creative means could be employed. This means the bulk of products were either made in the Los Angeles area, where these types of decorating are available, or made overseas. Finding booths that relied more on cut, fabric drape, and style versus patterns, color combinations and decorations was a chore!

The kids show at Magic was laughable. There were maybe 8 booths of kidswear. It adjoined Ecollection, which was an area I expected to be greatly expanded with the advent of organics and natural fibers. Unfortunately, this area consisted of about a dozen or two of booths, with very little in the way of fashion or childrenswear!

We attended the WWIN womenswear show at the Rio, as we have several customers that were showing there, and , when catching the shuttle we noticed there was an independant Kids show at Ballys. If not for the shuttle sign, we would have never known! We went there and had no issues navigating the aisles, as, apparently noone else knew of this show either. Exhibitors were setup similar to the ENK show, and the show size was pretty decent, but it was extremely disheartening to see how poorly attended it was, a foreboding sign for the shows future.