Coterie’s Spring Offerings of Denim, Colorful Knits and Feminine Dresses Score High With Retailers
Coterie, which ran Sept. 19 to 21 at the Javits Center, got the thumbs-up from vendors and retailers that were shopping for spring merchandise.
In conversations with attendees, exhibitors said they like the open and airy feel of the show, and retailers said they were pleased with the selection of spring knits, denim, footwear and dresses.
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The exhibition featured 1,031 brands, up 18 percent from the 853 brands that showed last September.
“There was a redirection of Coterie a year ago and we’re continuing to evolve that,” said Kelly Helfman, president of Informa Fashion Markets, which owns Coterie. “We’re constantly trying to keep up with what’s happening in the industry to make sure we’re delivering value for the brands and all the buyers who come to shop,” she said.
Retailers from stores including Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s, Revolve, Anthropologie and Shopbop were in attendance, and exhibitors were busy writing orders.
Helfman noted that there was a robust denim offering this season. Brands such as AG Jeans, DL1961, Hudson Jeans, Mavi, Warp + Weft, Joe’s, HNST and Wrangler were among the denim brands with booths.
The show featured a section called called Gallery, featuring 10 New York-based accessories and ready-to-wear brands meant to represent “the new guard of the contemporary world,” said Helfman.
In addition, an enlarged section of resort and swim called Destination featured more than 70 resort brands, encompassing swim, rtw and accessories, up from 49 exhibitors last year. Overall, 22 percent of the exhibitors were new to Coterie, and 33 percent of all exhibitors were international brands.
“With inflation and travel costs getting high, we’re able to bring them brands from all different countries — Korea, Brazil and Italy. They are represented in categories across the board,” said Helfman.
The uncertain economic environment means “wholesale is more important than ever,” Helfmann said, as consumers juggle spending between fashion, entertainment, eating out, household goods and more.
“[Retailers] are making sure to put effort into all their wholesale business. That’s why the show is growing show to show and year to year. Wholesale is a big part of it. Overall, our business has been really healthy, our numbers are healthy. It just goes to show how important this part of the business is to them.”
Rachael Robbins Kachko, contemporary rtw merchandising strategist at The Doneger Group, which provides global trend intelligence, merchandising direction and retail analysis, said, “I thought Coterie was great. They added a lot of new brands and there were some brands we haven’t seen at the show in a while since the pandemic.”
One of the biggest trends she noticed was denim, not just in jeans, but tops, dresses, jackets and all lengths of skirts, from minis to maxis. Washed techniques from acid to cloud to variation of tint and saturation of indigos were evident. She observed that accents of color, such as washed out greens, pinks and corals, especially in these new silhouettes, “can bring newness to the selling floor.”
With the dresses, jumpsuits and all the other denim pieces,”they feel really new in traditional denim colors,” Kachko said. In jeans, she saw a wide range of silhouettes, from low-slung to straight to wide-leg.
According to Kachko, another big trend at Coterie was the “whole quiet luxury, minimalist sophistication” — soft tailoring with easy silhouettes and soft linens in a warm neutral palette. She said the vest or the waistcoat has become its own piece with easy trousers. In dresses, she noted that femininity continues to thrive, whether it’s Bohemian, Western, Americana, or maximalist with rosettes and crystals. As for knitwear, Kachko said she saw a lot of crochet and open-knit.
“It’s more artisanal and maybe even a little macrame,” she said. Other big trends included retro and heritage influence, the tennis, pickleball and classic sweaters and sweater sets, and navy, white and creams.
Exhibitors appeared pleased with the pace at the show.
Samantha Sinrich, sales director at Onia, was showing several lines including Rachel Parcell, a women’s rtw and mommy-and-me collection. Parcell is an influencer based in Utah with 1.1 million followers. “She’s had a brand for two to three years, and we took it over. We’ve rebranded it and took over production, fit and tech design,” said Sinrich. Onia launched Parcell’s business online Sept. 18.
Sinrich said the company was seeing a lot of specialty stores at the show, and had appointments with Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s. Parcell sells her collection at Nordstrom, Saks and Anthropologie.
“The pace of business has been strong. We’re a big direct-to-consumer brand, but we’re expanding into retailers,” she said. One of the bestsellers at the show was a tweed cardigan for $108 retail. She said the dresses were also strong performers. The line retails from $78 to $198.
Daniele Chemla, president of Avenue Montaigne, said, “The show’s been very good. Yesterday [Tuesday] we were packed. We had stores such as Joan Shepp, Theodore, Elegance by Edythe and the Rebecca Boutique in Atlanta,” said Chemla.
“What’s selling well is bootleg denim,” said Chemla. She also noted that the brand’s cargo pants are selling very well, wholesaling for $150, in colors such as camel, beige and powder blue.
Chemla said she liked the new format of the show. “I like that it’s all open. I think it’s much easier to find your way around,” she said.
“Our spring business is very good. My fall was very strong,” she added. “A lot of customers are selling out of the pants. What’s been very strong, too, is the denim. Dark denim is selling for fall and spring,” she added.
Lisa Shaller-Goldberg, owner of Minnie Rose, was in a much smaller booth this time at Coterie. “With the economy and a lot of people don’t want to travel…the show is expensive, the future is uncertain, but we were slammed,” she said. She went from a booth about 10 x 30 to one that was 10 x 10, and it was packed.
“If I do the same business, it’s a win. We already beat our numbers from last year on Day One,” she said.
She was offering two collections: a botanical/floral one and a pro-shop-oriented one, with items such as a pickleball sweater and vest and golf and tennis sweaters, along with a pleated mini skort. That collection wholesales from $75 to $150.
In her botanical/floral collection, which she’s calling La Vie En Rose, she’s doing great with jackets, one of which has “Peace and Love” embroidered on the back, as well as stonewash blasted cable knit-frayed sweaters.
“We are so busy for spring as much as fall. We’ve developed this cotton cashmere that’s almost 60 percent of the overall business,” added Megan Darling, sales director. The fabric is 95 percent cotton and 5 percent cashmere and is washable. “Stores love it,” she said. She noted that the luxe tanks that are sleeveless and frayed in cotton cashmere are their number-one style.
Brodie, the luxury cashmere brand, said it was doing well with oversize cardigans and sweatshirts, many of which had appliqué embroidery and “are offered in fun colors,” said Anne-Marie Holdsworth, owner of Brodie.
“It felt very quiet…[Tuesday] but we’ve been busy. We’ve seen our lovely stores and written business with some new customers,” she said. One knit that was a strong performer was reversible with pearl buttons going down the front, that can be worn either front or back. That comes is “soft pale blue and diva pink,” she said.
Walker & Wade, a women’s dress company, was showing for the second time at Coterie. “The show’s been great. It’s super busy,” said Virginia Smith, marketing director. Among its bestsellers was the Kaylee dress, which had a blue wave print, wholesaling for $81. It is handmade in Bali.
The company, a favorite of Katie Couric, has a showroom in Greenwich, Conn. “We continue to recut every year our bestsellers and infuse new designs, shapes and prints,” she said. Another bestseller is the Carrie dress, named after Couric’s daughter, Carrie Monahan. “It’s an easy dress. All of our dresses are meant to be very comfortable and wearable. You look very chic, they’re not formfitting and everything is soft,” said Smith. The average retail price is $198.
Retailers who were shopping the show were on the hunt for unique styles.
Eimee DeRise, owner of Treasures of the Valley boutique in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., was at Coterie for the first time. “I’m looking for things that are unique — New York street style, something we don’t have Upstate that’s trendy, fun and colorful,” she said.
“BlankNYC is probably our favorite so far. They have a lot of denim and a lot of sparkle and versatility. It has to be super versatile. I also like the cargoes. They’re a little different,” she said. DeRise said she was seeking tops and bottoms that can mixed and matched. She was also looking to buy items at ASTR the Label and Pistola, which had a lot of denim, cargoes, parachute pants and coveralls. She also liked the vintage T-shirts at RetroBrand, which do really well for her store.
Nadia Saleh, footwear buyer at Century 21, said, “We are looking for the best trends we can give our customer. We are looking for full-price and then we give [our customers] the best deal we can. We are focused on emerging contemporary brands.”
Saleh said she liked Step New York, Kelsi Dagger Brooklyn and resort styles from Seychelles Footwear. “Schutz [another footwear brand] made me want to go to Greece,” she added.
Overall, she said there was a lot of bling in the footwear market, as well as metallics and a lot of flats. “Sneakers are here to stay. Companies which have never done sneakers before are expanding with sneakers,” she said. Also important are colorblocking and mixed media and the “low heel” for the stylish working girl.
Nancy Cain and Megan Stephenson were shopping for their stores in Okoboji, Iowa, called West Boutique, which focuses on swimwear and resort, and Palm at the Park, which carries lines such as Lilly Pulitzer and Vineyard Vines.
“We’re revisiting brands we’ve been carrying for a bit,” said Cain. She said it was their first visit to Coterie and she liked the fact that she could visit both MAGIC and Coterie in the same building. The buyers said they liked Marine Layer’s sustainable, easy pieces, and Threads for Thought, which is a new brand for them. They were planning to buy some simple pieces and loungewear. “It’s easy and chic and mix and match,” said Stephenson.
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