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MONTREAL - With the first installment of the FashionNorth Womenswear Show in the books, Canada finally has a new national women's trade show. The event, held March 19-21 at Toronto's International Center and produced by Meteor Show Productions, the same organization that puts on the highly successful FashionNorth Menswear Show, is the first national women's show in Canada in more than a decade.
As expected, the initial FashionNorth Womenswear Show was a modest affair with about 70 exhibitors, but show organizers are hoping they've created something they can build on for the second edition, taking place Sept. 17-19 at the same venue.
"It was the first national women's show in at least 15 years and, because of that, it kept a lot of people at bay," said show president Joseph Nutzati of Bod & Christensen. "But for every exhibitor here [in March], five or six others said they would definitely be here in September. And don't forget, when the [Fashion] Coterie started out, they only had 22 exhibitors, so we feel pretty good."
The September show should see a significant increase in both exhibitors and visitors, according to Ralph Weil, president of Meteor Show Productions, and show producer of the women's wear event. "A lot of people have asked for show information, and we actually received three thank-you letters from exhibitors, which is almost unheard of in this industry."
Although small in numbers, the first show managed to attract some big names, including Buffalo Jeans, Bod & Christensen, Gimpex/Hide Society, ITA, Lipson Shirtmakers, Rudsak, Nygrd International, Report Collection and Paula Lishman.
But in September, unlike in March, FashionNorth will be butting heads with the Ontario Fashion Exhibitors Market, which will be held at the same time at the nearby Toronto Congress Center.
However, Joan Brachman, owner of boutique L'Engage de la Mode in Toronto, who will attend FashionNorth, believes there's room for two shows because they...