NEW YORK — Women’s wear is steadily growing — but at a slow pace, said vendors and retailers at the Capsule trade show here.
The show shines a light upon smaller, independent and emerging designers. A sister event to the more-established men’s Capsule, which is held annually in January and July, Capsule Women’s will be moving to a bigger location, Pier 94, in February to accommodate new brands.
“We’ve been getting a lot of traffic,” said Katy Lee of her accessories brand, Gold Philosphy. “But we’ve seen that it’s just a little better than last year. I can’t tell if it’s much better [than 2013] but I do know that there’s a slight growth.”
Brian Awitan, national sales manager for Levi’s XX, echoed Lee’s sentiments.
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“It’s our first time showing at Capsule Women’s for our brand,” he said of the brand’s elevated Made & Crafted collection. “We’re showing a handful of department stores but we’re mostly being picked up by premium boutiques. We are still doing well despite the influx of yoga pants and selling in stretch and nonstretch fabrics in 100 percent cotton. We feel that the economy is better than it’s been in the last five years.”
At Billy Reid, women’s is seeing steady sales, unlike the men’s division.
“Men’s is definitely tighter,” said Eddie Marquez, fashion wholesale consultant at the company. “Stores are telling me they’re cutting back because their last season was not very good and they aren’t buying as much. But with women’s it’s must faster and stores always need to bring in the new. Women’s, no matter what, is doing well because the stores still need to bring in new items and trends.”
Gitman Bros. is seeing steady growth as well with its women’s line, though it’s moving at a slower pace than its Pennsylvania-made men’s collection.
“Men’s is strong and women’s is something new for us,” said Ryan Metauro, who handles sales at the company. “Women’s has been around for five seasons and it’s our first time showing at Capsule. We haven’t seen such promising growth until now.”
Indeed, some brands experienced significant growth, such as the London-based streetwear brand Lazy Oaf, which saw sales double in two years.
“Our brand keeps growing and we want to keep it niche so putting orders to all doors doesn’t make sense,” said Faye Efrussy, who handles wholesale at the brand. She said that doubling in size in the next two years would not be part of the plan. “It’s not realistic as then we’ll have to sacrifice brand integrity if we do.”
Young accessories brand I Still Love You NYC is also seeing expansion.
“We’ve been around for five years but what is exciting is that accessories is a great area to expand,” said Carrie Morrissey, founder of the brand. “I definitely think we’re getting out of the recession and we are only growing.”
From the hundreds of vendors, a few distinctive themes were present at the shows.
Activewear seemed to be going strong for yet another season, with joggers, sweatpants, and athletic-inspired technical wear seen in brands like Wood Wood, Adidas and 91,2. Then there were brands that took athletic bras and employed elevated fabrics in suede and leather like Collina Strada and Chromat. Stripes were still omnipresent, seen in silks at Again and Ffixxed Studios.
Skirts were ever elongated — some midi, others ankle-grazing — at the Korean labels Kye and Kaal E.Suktae, as well as shirtdresses seen at Tigersushi and Lazy Oafs.