"Though buyers at the recently held New York City trade shows - -Coterie, Moda, Fame for Apparel and The Accessories Show-pondered over new collections for the Spring/Summer 2020 and Fall/Winter 2019 seasons; increasing tariffs on US imports fueling a trade war between the US and China, dominated most of their discussions."

Though buyers at the recently held New York City trade shows - -Coterie, Moda, Fame for Apparel and The Accessories Show-pondered over new collections for the Spring/Summer 2020 and Fall/Winter 2019 seasons; increasing tariffs on US imports fueling a trade war between the US and China, dominated most of their discussions.

The best visitor flow at Coterie

Among all four, booths at Coterie, representing higher-end contemporary brands, attracted the best and most consistent traffic flow. The Spring/Summer ready-to-wear Black Label collection by the Khardashian siblings received a positive response from both buyers and media while at the same time the beach apparel collection For Love & Lemons generated fantastic traffic. Similarly.,Gretchen Neal, who combines casual styling with fine Italian cashmere and linens, had a number of repeat orders. Her collection retailed from $400-$500 per item.

Consistent buyer attendance at Moda

At the moderately priced contemporary show Moda, apparel brand Berek witnessed a consistent flow of buyers for its tops and jackets that were priced in the range of $24-$124. The interest of the buyers was divided between the brands spring collection and those available for immediate deliveries.

Ryan Knopp, owner of the Esqualo apparel brand, who showcased his Spring/Summer 2020 collections noted that many buyers focused on immediate shipment for fall/winter 2019. Some of the, even requested the brand to deliver items in the Spring/Summer collections immediately even though their deliveries were set between January and March 2020. Blouses in this collection retailed at $32, while tees were sold for around $20, dresses for around mid-$30s and skirts were priced below $30. Knopp plans to raise the prices of his clothing items by one dollar for sales in both US and Canada to offset increased costs due the increased tariffs.

Emphasis on quality, delivery to deal with recession

Tony Drockton, Chief People Officer at Hammit, a handbag and accessories brand doesn’t anticipate a slowdown in sales due to the fear of a recession. Emphasis on quality enables the brand to deal with ongoing difficult times. Though Hammit has been raising prices every year for the past three years, there is no rolling back of prices so far. In fact, the brand’s pricing strategy has helped it to deal with increasing production costs due to an increase in tariffs. In future though Drockton would like to see solution to the ongoing trade, on his part, he plans to stick with his production plans.

Drockton says, China offers highest quality in supply chain and timely delivery. He reveals that several firms that moved their production from China to new factories outside have been dealing with late deliveries or have suffered quality issues.

Fame sees a decline in visitor turnout

Contemporary show Fame, which targeted younger consumers in the juniors or teen markets has seen a dip in visitor attendance at the show is with the current traffic being a repeat of earlier editions. As Mathew Choi, Sales Manager for Sneak Peak noted, many buyers have been pulling back on their orders at the show as the increasing number of vendors provides them more options to choose from. Digital platforms are also establishing their presence at Fame. One such platform, Fashion Go launched six vendors at the show out of the 1,000 on its site. These included brands such as Listicle, Sophie Maries and denim brand Just USA.

Cash-and-carry enables purchases

Few years ago, UBM, which operates these shows, introduced a “cash-and-carry” component to them. The idea behind this was to provide buyers with an opportunity to make purchases on the spot which they can take with them.

The Trinkets section garnered significant attention from buyers with vendors purchasing around sold $7 bracelets and $8 to $13 necklaces.