Text, Vivian G. Kelly
Images, Richard Spiegel
TIME/PLACE: The Altman Building, West 18th Street,
Early Sunday morning, Feb. 24th.
Our first stop at LINGERIE AMERICAS was a sit down with Lingerie Americas’ CEO, PATRICE ARGAIN.
Granted, this isn’t Ready To Wear and doesn’t get nearly the attention that NY Fashion Week does, but the lingerie market is nothing to sniff at.
*Dun & Bradstreet reported in 2006 that the industry's estimated 179 establishments posted annual sales of nearly $1.9 billion. New York led with nearly $827 million in sales, followed by New Jersey with nearly $229 million in sales, and Connecticut with nearly $225 million in sales. Comprised of seven different specialties, the primary segment was brassieres (nearly $973 million in sales) with bras, girdles, and allied garments trailing with nearly $704 million in sales.
Given these numbers, it’s not surprising that there are five lingerie market weeks a year in the US.
Lingerie Americas has steadily been growing in attendance and importance on the trade show circuit. CEO, PATRICE ARGAIN, sat with LYRA MAG and answered a few questions about the how’s and whys.
LYRA MAG: Why did you decide to change the dates and not show over Valentine’s Day?
PATRICE ARGAIN: We changed it after conducting a survey of our attendees. Over 92% of the Specialty Store buyers/owners responded that they needed to be at their boutiques selling for Valentine’s Day,
LYRA: How many people come to Lingerie Americas?
PATRICE: The average # of attendees is 2,500. It’s stayed at that level since the last 2 years. It’s true that the NY show has grown – there’s a 4th floor now.
LYRA: You’re now showing in Vegas. Why?
PATRICE: There’s a West Coast Show for the West Coast buyers in Las Vegas in Feb. and August in partnership with WWDMAGIC. They agreed to have a Lingerie section called “Lingerie Americas at WWDMAGIC. This is a good opportunity for many specialty shops that weren’t necessarily shopping for lingerie to find some great lingerie while at WWDMAGIC and for lingerie vendors to pick up some accounts. WWD MAGIC is a very large show, they have 120,000 visitors and 4,000 exhibitors showing all sorts of lines, from kids wear to menswear, sportswear and now of course, loungewear.
LYRA: You’ve been at the helm since 2002 and we’ve always come here [the Altman Building] for this show. Does this location still work for you?
PATRICE: THE ADVANTAGE is that it’s centrally located and it has wooden floors, which is boutique-like in feeling and works well with the upscale merchandise being shown.
THE DOWNSIDE is that it’s not all on one floor, and we have a waitlist of @ 20 brands
It’s a high-end premium show and a great resource for fine specialty stores, and better Department Stores. Bras here generally wholesale for upwards of $30.
LYRA: What’s the dream? How could you improve an already good show?
PATRICE: TO double the size of the show, have the show all on one floor, larger booths, more rest areas, accept everyone who applies and to do a real [full on] fashion show for maximum impact.
LYRA: Although you don’t have a fashion show [yet] you’re doing some interesting seminars.
PARTICE: Yes, there’s a great one about how to properly fit lingerie being led by Frederika Zappe, an EVEDEN INC. It teaches buyers how to fit their full-busted and full-figured customers.
To learn more about Lingerie Americas, visit
www.lingerie-americas.com
[*From the book, “The Encyclopedia of American industries article published by the Gale Group]