Workroom Doubles in Size
August 27, 2010
The second edition of
Workroom was double in size from last season’s show of 21 exhibitors. Held Aug. 17–19 at the
Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, the 45 exhibitors at Workroom offered buyers a focused slice of fashion-forward brands in the men’s and women’s contemporary market, including
Factory by Erik Hart,
Left Field,
LnA,
Surface to Air and
The Stronghold.
Workroom drew buyers from
Barneys Japan,
Beams,
Tobi,
Urban Outfitters,
Harvey Nichols,
American Rag,
Ships,
Neiman Marcus,
Oak and
Holt Renfrew.
Hillary Taymour of
Collina Strada said she was pleased with the number of new accounts that wrote the brand’s leather and canvas bags for Fall deliveries. Taymour has exhibited at Project in the past but felt her brand was more visible as one of the few accessories designers at a smaller show, such as Workroom. “Even though there was less traffic [than Project], I feel like people were coming to buy at Workroom. They weren’t just browsing,” Taymour said. “The buyers that walk into Workroom, they were looking for that aesthetic. They were more prone to write orders.”
Randy Brewer, owner of
Convert in Berkeley, Calif., shopped Workroom, ENK Vegas and Project. Within the criteria of companies that manufactured domestically and used eco-friendly materials, Brewer said, he was looking for “something a little more innovative, beyond the norm.” At Workroom, Brewer said, the selection encompassed “a lot of really interesting and forward brands,” and he wrote
Left Field,
Kanvis and
Dickie’s 1922 replica work wear for the first time at the show. “I like when they separate out a separate niche,” Brewer said.
Workroom’s open layout was a platform for young brands to get noticed. Kfir Levy, owner and designer of Kanvis, relaunched his line at Workroom last season and returned this season. “You can breathe there. [Buyers] spend more time looking around. You get a lot more attention and interest,” Levy said. Levy took a more artistic approach to Kanvis in its relaunched form, stepping it up from the cut-and-sew basics and raw denim he made from 2006 to 2008. Levy’s parents were fashion designers, so he grew up in garment factories. “I know the industry from the non-glamorous point of view. It’s fashion with no pretense. I’m not trying to be the next cool guy, super-cool brand. I’ve been having more fun with it, more of a creative expression, a lot more fashion and art.”
The buyers have responded to Levy’s more daring pieces, such as a strapless jumper with full pants. “There wasn’t a single store that didn’t write it,” Levy said of the jumper. Wholesale price points for denim with subtle details and style lines ranged from $65 to $75. In women’s, basics ranged from $22 to $28 and topped out at $72 for a cotton/rayon layered dress.—Rhea Cortado
Source:
California Apparel News 
