ENK New York and Elyse Kroll

Today we're at the men's New York City trade show and I understand you've done some changes, what changes have you done this year?

This is the launch of ENK New York and what we've done is put together.. its not our biggest show, but so far it's one of our best.  It is a condensed focused show of classic menswear, advanced menswear, new designers, and a brand new section called Clean, which is really explaining to retailers that men are interested in a lot more than clothing right now; they care about their bodies, they care about hygiene, they care about how their hair looks, they care about how they smell.  So we created this whole section called Clean to address that, because stores are looking for something new to do, and if they devoted just a little real estate to fragrance, or to shaving, or to skin care, we're finding that they're liking that.  It's giving them an edge, because that really is what menswear is about.  It's not just clothing, because men are caring about completely different things right now.  It's broader than it ever had been before.

How many brands in the Clean section do you have today?

Well we only have five.

And then in the future?

We did really well.  It was amazing how the stores responded to this, and the brands got very excited.  We have a couple of fragrances.  We have the new york shave company, and they were giving shaves with straight razor and hot cloth towels on your face, and people were just so excited, and they were getting the best shoe shine.  We have a man here that was giving 20 minute shoe shines.  It was amazing.  The stores responded and the brands responded.  So I think that's a section as a matter of fact, going forward, for our Vegas show, ENK Vegas, this is ENK New York, we're thinking of opening an ENK Spa. 

Excellent idea!  I like that!

We surveyed men - "Would you want to have a manicure?  Would you want to have have your feet done?  A pedicure?  Would you do that in the middle of a show?"  And they were like "Oh yah!  Oh yah!"  I was surprised at how many men had sat down and had a shave, they got their haircut.  It was amazing.

And it makes it a very comfortable environment.

Well, this whole show, the reason people are excited about it is that we have it set in a really cool place.  Its two buildings that have been put together and they're both landmarks here in NYC, and one's called La Venue, and it's low cellings, all oak floors, oak walls, oak colunmns.  And then you walk into the tunnel, which has 25 ft ceilings, and its all brick, and so the two locations are very disparate but they work well together.  And when I say they are NYC landmarks, they are, because truth-be-known depending on what era you are looking at , the tunnel was one of New York City's famous nightclubs, but prior to being a nightclub, I was told that this was where cattle and chickens, through train cars, were brought to this tunnel and these is where they were slaughtered for the meat houses.  Well remember right down the street is New York City's meat packing district and it's like all cool now, but this is where it happened. This is where all of meat trade and the poultry trade was brought into New York City vis-a-vis train.  The high line is the big new thing in New York City and the high line was were the trains came in, and the cows were brought through cars in through this facility, and so this is a landmark. and we're very proud to be here.  But first of all it's got great acoutsistcs, so the music been fabulous, and we've had terrific food all day, for three days.  And the retailers and exhibitors have found it to be comfortable, easy to maneuver, we didn't bombard them with a thousand exhibitors.

We hand picked who was here, and it just seemed like the right show at the right moment.  This new young group that we have here called Tomorrow, we probably have 8 to 10 emerging designers, and retailers walked in and said show me where Tomorrow is, because that's what people are looking for right now: "Whats new, whats hot, whats new."  And so then you go to some of the brands, like you go to a Converse, you go to a Ted Baker, or you go to some of the established brands, and ask "What do you do when everyone is asking for a new hot thing?"  And they say "you know what, we are who we are, we have to be true to ourselves, and we just have to continually be current."  And so everyone is comfortable in their own skin here.  It's not a competition.  We have the best denim manufacturers here.  They're not in competition, they're in great company with one another, they want to be in each other's company.  And you have to find the right denim for your store for whatever it is you want. 

The other interesting thing bout ENK New York is by taking away booths, because we de-boothed, there are no booths.  It's smaller, and its open.  You cant hide, it almost forces you to be friendly,  because if you can't hide, you can't go anywhere.  But whats interesting is, because we took away booths, and we don't allow people to prepare a big display. If you noticed: equal playing field.  It is a level playing field.  As a buyer, it's complicated because now you really gotta go, and you can't be influenced.  You aren't influenced.  You've gotta go in and look at that clothes, that collection. You have to go in and see whats goin on.  Because it's not about all that: What kind of hoo-haa, that you've created outside, who can do a better display, who's hired the better display house, the most creative artists.  It's about your product.

Is that how you feel the current trend is going to move forward for trade shows?

I can't speak about anybody else's trade shows, I know for us, I don't know that all of our trade shows will be like this. You have to go to your core group and say "are you willing to move with me?"  Because a lot of people are not comfortable losing their booth, losing their three walls.  They need it for display; they're used to it; they don't know how to move around it.  A lot of people here were scared to death to give up their booth. Not anymore, not anymore.

You came up with the concept and you decided to take the risk to do this kind of concept?  To do something different?

Yes!  We learned it in Vegas, when we did our first show in Vegas.  What we did there was nothing like this.  It was a small little environment. and it became a huge showroom, and the buyers like it.  All of the sudden they weren't at a show.  It was more like this they were at a showroom.  You could just see it, you could see it in them.  We didn't serve a formal meal.  I don't want anyone to leave, so i'm interested in feeding them.  We passed around food all day long, and drinks, so that people were comfortable. And it just worked; it was the right recipe, and do I want everyone doing that?  No.  So for us it worked.

So you went to a new division/a new section called Tomorrow, which is about emerging designers.  Can you give me a little idea about how did you pick the designers and so forth?  How many you have here?  Where you see the features of this category?

The group Tomorrow is probably about 10 designers, and it was a very serious screening.  We work with fashion consultants who explain to us what's going on in the world, who's hot, who's not, who travel everywhere.  And in the company of We and Unconditional, and these are brands that we've watched.  We either know the designers or trust what they're going do, because maybe they've been with another company, or we have heard about them.   I dunno, it's a small community. It's just a small community.  Maybe this one tells this one, and this one tells that one, and before you know it we hear about it, and then you have to almost convince the designer that they're ready to be in a show and they can be in a show, and I think that based on the business that they did, that area will grow.But ENK isn't greedy, we're not about real estate.  I'm not about selling booths.  I'm not about selling space.  Are you good enough?  Are you right?  Is this the right collection for us.  It's not about you wanting to be in our show, it's about us wanting you to be in our show.  It's by invitation only.

So today's show in menswear in New York City, have you seen an increase in buyers,  and if so, are there any interesting stores?  Have you seen more buyers come through and visit?

This has been a record-breaking show, record breaking.  Remember we've just lived through a terrible year and it wasn't even just a year, but a year and a half because everyone was starting to get nervous in 2008, and then we had 2009.  But the stores came out today.  They were smiling, they were writing.  People writing serious business on an international level.  There was a lot of Japan here.  A lot of stores from Japan. There were stores from Europe.  A lot of Asian traffic.  A lot of Canadian traffic.  A lot of American traffic.  And I think the change that we felt, was that in the year past, buyers bought much smaller.  Companies obviously trimmed their inventories.  That learning process that was really healthy; it taught us all how to be better business people.  But now what's going is on is that they're feeling more confident because people are shopping.  So they're willing to spend.  They're willing to have bigger buys, but they're also willing to try new products, to try new designers. 

For me, one of the the sure signs of a bad economy is when a store will only buy bread and butter: what sells, classic standard merchandise.  And they don't want to give the young one a try because it's scary.  But look, Tomorrow, these kids rocked.  They had an awesome show.  And the same goes for Clean.  Stores really paid attention.  They really paid attention.  It's like "you know what?  We can do this.  We can have some fragrance.  We can have some cream, lotion, and soap in our store.  Actually it would be kinda cool."  So stores were just more enthusiastic about their whole future, about their buy, about what they could accomplish, and we've just been delighted with the response we've been getting.

As I understand it, ENK started 20+ years ago in 1981, correct?

Don't ask me that. OK hello!

It started many years ago, and so then you've grown obviously, you've include now international trade shows, correct?

No.  We do shows in New York.  We do shows in LA, and we do shows in Las vegas.  We are not there yet.  It's a "yet".  We're on our way.

And where would you like to travel to?  Where do you think the future could be for ENK International?

OK well that's a really good question.  The spotlight has historically been on Paris, because there's business to be done there.  There's Milan, there's Berlin, there's Dubai, there's .. I don't know, the sky's the limit.  It just depends.  It just depends on retail, and what's going to happen.

I see that you shows that you have shows Las Vegas, as you mentiond, Las Vegas, LA, New York.  Which shows are your stronger shows for you as a company?

Fashon Coterie is our strongest show.  It's our women's show.  It's an amazing event, 20,000- retailers from every country in the world.  I don't think there is a country that doesn't attend.  We have 1,200 exhibitors and we still screen. Ii think that's probably the key to our success.  Even if other trade shows say they screen, they may.  

What, I like to think, as the founder and co-owner, because I am a partner with great partners, Forstmann-Little, what I like to think is that we are the Bergdorf-Goodman for the retailer.  We have screened on a certain level.  Once you walk in the door, you are already on a certain level, and if you don't want to buy that kind of product, there are other shows you can attend, but we are about quality. We aren't about quantity, but the women's industry is big, so 1,200 exhibitors isn't that big, considering how big the women's industry is.  But we screen, we try and offer the retailer variety.  We have denim, evening wear, outer wear, sports wear, footwear.

Because you also have children's wear, accessories, men's wear, women's wear,  and shoes, correct?  Shoe show trade shows?

We have one show called Childrens Club, and we do that show four times a year.  We have a show called Accessory Circuit, which is for the best accessories in the world, and that is three times a year.  We have an interesting show called Intermezzo which is also three times a year, and it's timed with the Accessories Circuit, and what it does is offer the retailer an opportunity to replenish, to not wait for your two major seasons, which are fall and spring, but rather come into the city, now instead of two times a year they're coming in five times a year, and they're able to either buy inventory or designers have found that season so important right now that they're designing for it.  So it's an opportunity to see what your shopper, what your consumer is buying and buy more of it.  So, if theyre buying short skirts, they can get more short skirts.  But if they're seeing if the customers are buying more pants they can buy pants, so its an opportunity to shop smart.  

We're also deep into footwear.  We have a this really big show in Las Vegas that's going now for two years and that show is called World Shoes and Accessories.  And we also have a show that's paired with Fashion Coterie called Sole Commerce, and that's a really interesting event because what we did, almost like what we 're doing with Clean, and said if I were a clothing retailer, how can i help my consumer, well instead of buying just clothing in my store, the hottest items, shoes, maybe i can show my customer what shoes I want to wear with the clothing, and so we started showing a footwear show within Fashion Coterie, which has worked beautifully.  And then we have our also have our menswear show, ENK New York, and then we have our show in Vegas called Vegas ENK Vegas.  And I have a Children's Club four times a year.

Thank you so much Elyse.