SCHMOOZING ON THE SHOW FLOOR
More beautiful menswear, more upbeat reports from retailers, some delivery problems from brands, many happy reunions, and optimistic projections at this week’s Chicago Collective trade show. Key buzzwords: soft, sustainable, colorful, luxury!
It is not just the merchandise, which never fails to overload my brain in a very good way by the end of each show. It’s the perfect ease of shopping a single (albeit kind of large) floor at the best menswear arena I’ve ever shopped. It’s a show of this caliber taking place in an awesome place like Chicago (although there don’t seem to be any restaurants at all in downtown Chicago, was I just not paying attention?).
The people that comprise this apparel industry (which I invented, by the way) are full of energy, wit, creativity and inventiveness, perseverance, and determination. They (we) convey a unity that is awful to go without.
This is still a very nervousing time. I’m told that a few big cities are on the verge of shut-downs again. Even if they don’t, the bottlenecks and price gouging in shipping costs are surreal, and will be for a bit as some sort of normalcy is regained. It’ll be a bit. But it sure feels good right now, doesn’t it? We got to our damned jobs again.
Thanks for having that opening night party just for me, I appreciate it.
Great photos and so nice to see the shows success! great industry filled with great people! thanks MR