“Atlanta Apparel kicked off 2022 with a bang – the positive energy carried throughout all 11 floors of permanent showrooms and temporary exhibits,” says Caron Stover, International Market Centers (IMC) senior vice president, apparel. “Orders were being written throughout the building and trend education was highly attended, further establishing Atlanta as a leader in the wholesale apparel landscape.”
Attendance at the February apparel market has more than fully recovered, growing some 10% over February 2021, and totaling retail visitors in numbers not seen since Atlanta Apparel’s last record-breaking attendance market. International Market Centers welcomed a more diverse geographic range of buyers this February than in recent years with continued gains from the Northeast, alongside Atlanta’s solid attendance from the Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and international.
Atlanta Apparel exceeded historic resource numbers this February as it showcased its largest-ever brand collection with 60+ newcomers among the market’s 400 temporary exhibits and 500+ permanent showrooms.
Place Showroom, which relocated and expanded its showroom of 28 women’s apparel, social occasion, shoes and accessories brands, noticed a positive impact on business in the new and larger location.
“The market was fantastic and probably our best to date. We had a great turnout, lots of appointments, and buyers loved our new showroom,” said Maria Pozza, sales manager. “We saw more new clients than we have in the past and we had sales on every line in the showroom.”
Buyers came to Atlanta Apparel from far and wide in search of new clothing, accessories and shoes for Spring / Summer, especially in the popular children’s category, “mommy and me.”
Whitney Byrd of Ollie Cate children’s and women’s boutique in Daphne, Alabama, visited Atlanta Apparel for the first time for the February Market and said her sourcing trip was “the perfect timing in the best location for our business.”
“I heard great things from several people I know about Atlanta Apparel. We were able to source our most requested items, summer toys, swim and towels, sibling sets and mommy and me,” says Byrd.
Robin Siegel, owner of Siegel’s Clothing, a store for men’s, women’s and children’s apparel in Winter Park, Florida, visited Atlanta Apparel to shop the latest trends for summer and fall.
“This market, I was looking for fall lightweight clothes and fun casual dresses, and we found lots of wonderful looks,” Siegel says.
A number of children’s brands reported strong business with healthy order writing for full collections including apparel, accessories and decor on floor 13, which presented 25 children’s temporary exhibits alongside the 65 children’s showrooms showcasing a full range of apparel, shoes, accessories and decor.
Lisa Morris, owner of LE LA LO, a modern “mommy and me” apparel and lifestyle brand that moved to the Children’s temporary exhibits from the women’s apparel neighborhood, showcased her entire collection and noticed higher sales volumes.
“The show was amazing. This is our first time showing on the Children’s floor and I feel really good about it. I feel like our customer resides here,” said Morris. “We’re up day-to-day and our orders are bigger. We're a lifestyle brand and in Children’s at Atlanta Apparel, buyers have wanted everything in our line.”
To get ahead of industry-wide delays in sourcing, many Atlanta Apparel exhibitors were showcasing spring and summer immediates as well as early fall collections in all categories.
Cary Hack, sales representative at Marc Fisher Footwear reported more buyers sourcing for fall than ever before.
“We surpassed our October Market sales on day one,” says Hack, who reported buyers interested in immediate orders for casual sandals, dressy sandals and pumps and placing early orders for fall boots. “I'm surprised to have so many fall orders because usually retailers are buying immediates. Our sales ended up being about 50/50 for immediates and fall.”
In-person education and market events kept the positive momentum during the five-day buying event, which began with outstanding attendance at the co-located live model trend demonstration and Pantone Colors of the Year market party on Wednesday, Feb. 2. The momentum continued through packed Mid-Day Soiree daily educational sessions, including the JuniperMarket by IMC session, in which buyers learned more about IMC’s newly launched B2B ecommerce platform.
“Buyers and suppliers are ready to return face-to-face to celebrate the apparel industry, to network and to learn about trend direction,” adds Stover. “Our first market of 2022 had incredible turnout and feedback, and we’re expecting April to raise the bar even more.”
The next Atlanta Apparel Market is April 11-15, 2022 (temporary exhibits April 12-14) at AmericasMart Atlanta. Both temporaries and showrooms will be open for an earlier date pattern to accommodate religious holidays later in the week, with all exhibits opening together on Monday, April 11. Temporaries will run Monday through Wednesday, and showrooms will be open Monday through Friday.
