If prebooked appointments and reorders are any indication, sales representatives here project a healthy turnout of buyers at the upcoming fashion market Oct. 25 to 28 at the Dallas Market Center, which features a special show of resources from Italy.
“I think this will be our best market of the year,” said Allyson Cooke, owner of Launch contemporary showroom at the DMC’s World Trade Center. “We’ve been calling stores and I’ve been on the road and everybody says they are coming. I’ve doubled my staff for market.”
Traffic at the last two shows suffered from poor timing, she noted, with June falling close to Memorial Day weekend and August sandwiched between shows in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
“I definitely think business is getting better,” said Rebecca Jacobs, a partner in the Shawn Jacobs showroom of misses’ lines. “I’m getting consistent reorders daily on Not Your Daughter’s Jeans, Erin London and Jana, a sweater line. The majority of our retailers are mom-and-pop stores.”
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For the second year running, the Italian Fashion Expo will showcase about 40 resources from Italy on the sixth floor of the World Trade Center.
The Italian exhibit features many fashion categories — including men’s and women’s contemporary clothing and shoes, fine and fashion jewelry and leather handbags — from vendors throughout Italy including Milan, Rome, Venice and Vicenza.
Among the fashion lines that plan to show are Allagiulia espadrilles; embellished leather pumps and boots by Phoe’N; Raggio Veneziano leather handbags; 18-karat gold and gemstone jewelry by Gabriela Rigamonti; handmade men’s hats by Barbisio, and detailed leather jackets for men and women by C.M.J.
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A runway show of highlights is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Oct. 26, with informal modeling on the morning of the 25th and the afternoon of the 27th. The group will also host daily lunchtime tastings of Italian food and wine Oct. 25 to 27.
In other news, the DMC plans to highlight the roughly 75 Canadian resources that consistently show in various permanent showrooms at the World Trade Center. Grouped by the Quebec government under the name Montreal Collections, they include L.A.M.B., Frank Lyman, Joseph Ribkoff, Tribal, J.S. Collections and others.