LAS VEGAS – Clarion Events’ Womenswear in Nevada (WWIN) and ANDMORE’s Las Vegas Apparel (LVA) were co-located for the first time at The Expo at World Market Center in Las Vegas from Feb. 13-15.
According to Clarion Events and ANDMORE, these were the first Las Vegas fashion trade shows held outside of the Strip.
Customer-Centric Approach
Melissa Montes, Clarion Events North America’s Vice President, AXN and WWIN and DEI Business Partner Lead, said that since both shows work to make order writing “as seamless, as easy [and] as comfortable as possible,” the partnership was “a perfect fit.”
Caron Stover, ANDMORE’s Senior Vice President of Leasing, Apparel, shared that the shows’ teams had a shared motto of “the best customer service” and gave attendees “a new buying destination with the ease of one location, so that they can spend their time buying instead of traveling all over the city, and also seeing more products under one roof.”
To further enhance customer experience, LVA added a new exhibitor package, inspired by WWIN’s. Also, in response to attendee feedback, the shows were held in the city’s Arts District instead of the Las Vegas Strip, a first for Vegas Fashion trade shows, according to ANDMORE and Clarion Events.
A “New Vegas”
“We were getting feedback that navigating casinos was just really starting to get challenging for some of our buyers,” Montes said, explaining that WWIN and LVA moved to the Arts District because “it’s fully accessible for all of our audiences. It’s easy to get in, it’s easy to get out.”
Stover called it a “’New Vegas,’ especially for the fashion world… you’re not wasting time running through casinos or huge valet lines.”
Additionally, ANDMORE’s ownership of The Expo at World Market Center drove further flexibility and efficiency at the shows.
Related Article. Two Is Better Than One: LVA and WWIN to Co-Locate
Extended Hours
The 2024 Super Bowl, held in Las Vegas on Feb. 11, meant that WWIN and LVA were shortened to three days instead of four. WWIN and LVA extended their evening hours and scheduled an earlier breakfast, a first for the latter show, to maximize buying time.
“By day two, day three, all the exhibitors were skipping anything they were doing at their hotels and… getting in there, having their coffee and breakfast, and being ready to go first thing… that’s rare for Vegas,” Stover shared.
Montes added that the extended hours were also infused with “quite a bit of fun,” including a ribbon cutting on the first morning and a Galentine’s event on the evening of February 14. “We did get really good customer feedback on it, about how exciting that was.”
Looking Ahead
Clarion Events and ANDMORE promise more collaboration and show enhancements in the future.
“The sky’s the limit. We’ve definitely got room to expand, and we’ve got the right two organizers together to get it done. We’re very, very excited for August and beyond,” Montes said.
The next LVA and WWIN shows are planned for August 18-21.
Reach Melissa Montes at mel@airportxnews.com; Caron Stover at cstover@andmore.com.
