Après ski looks, denim — especially wider and baggier — and textured and soft-hand knits were top-of-mind for retailers shopping Coterie, which was held Tuesday through Thursday at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York.
The trade show, which featured more than 750 brands, ran the gamut from contemporary and advanced contemporary women’s apparel to footwear, beauty and accessories. Nearly 20 percent of the show floor was occupied by new brands to Coterie, and some 40 percent were international brands.
“It is great to see Coterie New York return, seeing the bustle on the show floor, and hearing buzzing sentiments and connections made between retailers, brands and attendees forecasts a positive outlook in the business. We are happy to see buyers spending more time with each exhibitor and are hearing many of them will be returning for multiple days,” said Purji Kanji, president of Coterie.
“We are able to offer newness on the show floor, and the retailers appreciate the curation of new communities and brands,” she said.
Coterie at the Javits Center in New York.
This season, the Verified Sustainable program returned with Brodie Cashmere, Haris Cotton, Y-Y and 1 People. New to the show floor was Après Ski, a dedicated neighborhood presenting cold weather capsules and functional outerwear made for winter and ski holidays with Halfdays, Moose Knuckles, Canadian Classics and OOF Wear among the brands offered. Premium denim lines included Le Jean, Lee, Seventy + mochi, Jolie, Vacation and DedCool.
Among some of the international brands on display were Italian brands Montereggi Point, Alienina and Giovanni Cavagna, alongside Greedilous and Maison Nica from South Korea and Turkish brands Occleus and Acaria Studio.
Booths such as Z Supply, Drew, Michael Stars, Minnie Rose, Joe’s Jeans, Toccin, Avenue Montaigne, Frances Valentine and Pistola were crowded with buyers writing orders.
“What I loved was the new addition to shop après ski functional skiwear and outdoor lifestyle. It’s a crossover of sport, recreation and playfulness,” said Rachael Robbins Kachko, contemporary ready-to-wear merchandising strategist at The Doneger Group, which provides global trend intelligence, merchandising direction and retail analysis.
She also called out denim as a major trend. “Denim is not going anywhere. Denim is a material, it’s not just a jean, it’s head to toe,” she said, with wider, baggier and relaxed jeans, as well as barrel jeans, which are wider at the thigh and then taper back in at the ankle. Leather leggings were also evident, which pair with softer silhouettes on top. “It can be challenging to have big bottoms and big tops,” she said. She said textures and soft-hand feels to the knitwear, as well as ribbed, fleece, and French terry, were offered in exhibitors’ lines.
Toccin, which showed for the first time on its own at Coterie, was pleased with the pace of business at the show. Michael Toccin, founder of Toccin, said that the brand worked with a lot of specialty stores at Coterie. “The specialty store business was not our [primary] business, but there’s a great opportunity here for great specialty stores to discover Toccin,” he said. He said he picked up new accounts, including one in Raleigh, N.C. Toccin sells to such stores as Bloomingdale’s, Saks, Rent-the-Runway and about 50 specialty stores, he said.
Toccin said the brand’s houndstooth dress was doing amazing. “The hero pieces are the outerwear. Our collection has doubled this season,” he said. In addition to outerwear, power suiting, dresses and knit sets (jacket and skirt) were doing well.
“Athleisure is over, it’s all about getting yourself together,” he said.
Overall, Toccin’s prices range from about $295 to $1,495, with an average price point of $595.
Mavi was showing denim sportswear, and seeing interest across all styles of denim — wide-leg, straight-leg, high-rise and low-rise. “Flares are doing really well,” said Alissa Friedman, senior marketing manager. She said in general for fall, a darker denim was selling well.
“We’re a denim brand at heart and we recently expanded into sportswear. We’re doing a lot of sets, denim on the top and bottom and jumpsuits,” said Friedman. She has also done well with the barrel jean.
“We’re aiming for 100 percent of our denim collection to be sustainable by 2030,” said Friedman, adding the collection is manufactured in Turkey and Istanbul.
Justin Stankiewicz, vice president of Lysse, said the line has branched out into a lifestyle collection, featuring knitwear, bottoms, dresses, coats and jackets. “What’s really started moving are our blouses, knitwear and dresses,” he said. Lysse also makes a vegan leather pant that stretches.
For fall, the collection starts at under $100 at retail and goes up to $300. “This is going to be our best one [Coterie] yet. We have the most appointments we’ve ever had,” he said.
Christine Rinere, owner of The Dressing Room, a two-unit retailer in Wallingford and Madison, Conn., that caters to mothers and daughters, was shopping with her daughter, Lyndsay Rinere, for new international brands and U.S. brands. Lyndsay Rinere said they were looking for trends and items and everything from jeans to gowns, and a mixture of suiting and casual.
“The menswear trend is in style. We’re looking for wide-leg pants and elevated denim in general,” Lyndsay Rinere said.
Susan Tamberino, owner of Living, with two stores in Cold Spring and Bay Shore, N.Y., was walking the show with her buyer, Rosemary Connors.
Tamberino said they were looking for newness in accessories and some things to spice up the spring season. They were finding a lot of brights in both jewelry and hats at the show.
Connors said that basics have to be elevated, and people are excited about the wide pant. Tamberino also said she was excited about the barrel pant she was seeing at Coterie.
Connors said she liked what she saw at Lisa Todd, which offers special and fun knitwear pieces in cashmere and cottons.
“Because people’s lifestyles are now casual, they still want to look special and put on jeans and a Lisa Todd sweater and look great,” said Connors.
Walter Baker, owner of his own eponymous brand, said the show was “going great.”
“Our leather is always phenomenal. We have a lot of repeat customers,” he said. The brand added some new styles and textures, such as pressed lamb that looks like crocodile for jackets and shorts, and a lamb leather with a vintage look. Baker said his favorite jacket for fall is an oversized washed cow vintage jacket that retails for $998. Most of the lamb jackets are $695 and $795. He’s also offering a studded jacket and one with rhinestones “which is definitely a statement piece,” he said.
Walter Baker launched handbags for the spring season. “They just hit the stores for spring, and we’re already getting re-orders,” said Baker. For fall, the bags are priced to retail from $250 to $500. The bags are made in the same factories as the jackets, in India.
Bouclé was also attracting interest at Coterie. “The whole bouclé look is on fire,” said Baker. A three-piece bouclé set retails for $140 for the vest, $150 for the skirt and $250 for the jacket.
Autumn Cashmere saw interest in whip-stitching, the cottage-core trend and anything textured, said Adela Libic, sales manager. Red was a big seller at the show for the brand, as was cashmere silk tweed.
For Commando, the Ballet Body turtleneck bodysuit has been the bestseller, said Alex Kondracki, head of merchandising and sales at Commando. The bodysuit comes in new colors, such as brown, blue and pink retailing from $108 to $118. The company was also having success with underwear “meant to be seen” with genuine crystals, and hosiery. A high-rise panty retails for $128, the body suit for $228 and the bralette is $148. Kondracki said the brand has seen business gains in the triple digits, versus a year ago.
“Soft suiting is my new favorite,” said Lisa Shaller-Goldberg, founder, president and creative director of Minnie Rose, which saw military, Western, cables and cashmere styles sell well. She said the cropped jacket was “the item du jour,” and overall she has sold 10,000 units. The brand did the short blazer and is now adding a longer blazer, as well as pants, in a lot of different colors.
Rebecca Young, owner of Rebecca Boutique, which has a 4,000-square-foot store in the Buckhead section of Atlanta, said that she’s sold Minnie Rose at her store for 16 years.
“Her cashmere is unbelievable. I live in it. All my customers love her cashmere. I love the colors she’s done. We sell a lot of dresses and this is a great sweater to wear over a slipdress,” she said, pointing to one of the cardigans. She now ships all over the country because of the store’s Instagram. “Instagram has been a game changer for us,” she said.
Avenue Montaigne was busy showing several new pant styles at Coterie, including five-pocket pleather pants in four colors, liquid satin, wide-leg pants in velvet, cargoes in satin, and four-way stretch pants (white, black, dark brown and cognac), priced from $130 to $160. Owner Daniele Chemla said the company was doing re-orders for spring at the show.
