DESIGNERS & AGENTS LAUNCHES MENSWEAR

Menswear brands are a natural addition to the Designers & Agents strategy; Menswear business has long been conducted at D&A shows in New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo, by virtue of the numerous presenting brands that offer both men’s and women’s designers under one label. Moreover, the broad-based traffic of buyers attending D&A shows has consistently expanded the wholesale dollars spent on men’s fashion, and since the inception of D&A Lab- Designers & Agents Tokyo outpost, menswear brands have represented 40% of the exhibiting vendors.

The expansion into stand-alone menswear comes as Designers & Agents prepares to celebrate its 10th anniversary. Since its launch in 1997, Designers & Agents has recorded almost unprecedented growth in its core business in the better women’s contemporary and young designers market. Recent seasons have seen the successful addition of home and lifestyle vendors, proof that cross-pollinating the offering of these three distinct markets is a viable and user-friendly service to the buyers who attend the shows.

Like previous expansions of the D&A shows, the addition of menswear will be managed in the traditional D&A fusion of creativity and its signature out-of-the-box- focus, maintaining the singular D&A viewpoint that the fashion industry has come to expect. The founders have extensive backgrounds in the menswear industry; Kramer’s launching menswear showrooms and Mandelbaum’s Aubrey Company.

The installation of stand-alone menswear lines will debut at the Los Angeles D&A show for Spring 2007, taking place August 11th –14th at The New Mart and Cooper Design spaces in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.

Menswear brands that have previously been represented at D&A markets include Converse by John Varvatos, Earnest Sewn, Camper, Robin’s Jeans, Ever, Z-Brand, Cool Hunting People, Doe, Monarchy, E Label, Fred Perry, Jeff Gallea Belts and Bags, Stetson Modern, The Stronghold, What Comes Around Goes Around, Black Dog 8 Showroom, 575 Denim, Raw 7 and George Belts.