viva las vegas...

This week I attended a fashion trade show in the scorching (I mean like 42 degrees) city of Vegas! For those of you that have never been to a trade show before, it's basically a place where companies in a specific industry come and show off their latest products/services. I have been to different trade shows in L.A & New York but this one was by far the most massive one I have ever experienced! It probably felt even bigger to me because I was solo; most companies here had a team of at least 5 buyers and were working with some big department stores (i.e. Bloomingdales... you may have heard of them? ;))

{My badge I had to wear at the trade show}  

Vendors rarely look at your face when you walk into their booth, they just look at your badge to see what company you are from.  Having "Start Up Retailer" on there tells them that #1) you're a newbie and #2) that you probably wont be their biggest sale ;)   One vendor told me that they actually don't work with "small companies like mine" and I should "probably go visit another vendor". 

Do you remember the scene from Pretty Woman where she gets kicked out of the store. Well, it was sort of like that (minus the belly baring blue and white hooker number)!  Although my first reaction was to take it a little personal, I remembered that this is the reality of this business... When stuff like that happens you just have to shrug it off because everyone at one point or another has to start somewhere.

{Just a peek at some of the pieces I picked up...}

All in all, I met some great vendors and picked out some beautiful new pieces for Fall!