Everyone knows about the fashion shows that happen in New York City during fashion week, but there is a less publicized aspect to fashion week called wholesale/designer trade shows. Hundreds of designers gather together at the Javits Center seasonally to show their new designs to store owners and other wholesale buyers. According to the Doneger Group, NYC is a wholesale buying leader, hosting over 75 major fashion trade shows and market weeks annually and housing over 5,000 fashion showrooms; more than any other city in the world.
Last week MiniMiniMarket owners Erika and Dana attended the Holiday and Spring shows, here is what they had to say about the experience.
Catherine: What trade shows did you go to this week?
Erika: FFANY, FAME, Intermetzo, and Accessories.
Catherine: What is it like being at these shows?
Erika: It’s crazy, exciting, and exhausting. You walk from designer booth to designer booth and there are hundreds of them. Everyone shows you their best items and you have to pick and choose. At the end of the day you are so tired. One day we ended up sitting on the floor with Jeffrey Campbell sleepily chatting about shoes.
Catherine: Wow! You were hanging out with Jeffrey Campbell? Do all of the designers make appearances at the shows to talk about their products?
Erika: Not everyone is like Jeffrey. Some designers come but the majority send their top reps. A lot of designers had a booth at every show, so there is no way they could make it to all of them. Sometimes the reps have to take over.
Catherine: With so much to look at and choose from, how do you make your buying decisions?
Erica: It has become intuitive. I guess after you do it for so long you really get an idea of what will sell and what won’t in the blink of an eye.
Catherine: What was your favorite thing you saw all week?
Erika: Definitely these new hats by HATATTACK. They are beautifully made and so cute! We can’t stop talking about them. They will arrive at the store during the 1st week of October.
Erika: These are just a “mini” taste of what we will be getting in the next few months.
Catherine: They are so beautiful! I can’t wait to see more of the new merchandise!
Erika: For sure! And don’t forget…we have to make room for all of this stuff so we are having major sales! All sale items right now are an ADDITIONAL 20% OFF of the sale price! Come check it out.
