Fashion Terms — the Apparel Search fashion terminology directory
Market week is a time period in which clothing, footwear or accessory buyers travel to a particular location to plan their purchases for the season. For New York Market Week, for example, store buyers travel to New York to meet apparel wholesalers in their showrooms, review the new collections and decide which vendors to buy from, placing official purchase orders. Salespeople work in advance to capture buyers' attention and get appointments while buyers are in town. Market weeks run in major cities — New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas and Atlanta among them — in merchandise marts such as the California Market Center, Dallas Market Center and AmericasMart, and in individual wholesaler showrooms.
A market or market place is an open place or a covered building where buyers and sellers convene for the sale of goods. This could be a flea market, store, or any other location to buy and sell product.
What is fashion market week?
Market week is a time period in which clothing, footwear, or accessory buyers travel to a particular location to plan their purchases for the season. For example, for New York Market Week, clothing store buyers will travel to NY to meet with various apparel wholesalers. They will review the new collections and make decisions regarding which vendors they plan to utilize. Market Week is a good time for buyers to meet with new vendors as well as vendors that they have purchased from in the past.
Prior to market week, sales people from the clothing stores contact buyers with the goal of getting them to come and visit their showrooms. The idea is that sales people need to capture the attention of buyers when they are traveling to their city. The concept is similar to making appointment for trade show meetings, but in this example buyers will come to the sales persons showroom (their office).
Fashion market week allows designers to present new fashionable garments to buyers. They present product and take official purchase orders from buyers.
Is Market Week the same as Fashion Week?
No, it is not. Completely different. Fashion Week is comprised of runway shows so that fashion designers can showcase their latest collections to retailers and the press. It is not a place for buyers to sit with designers to place official orders to purchase product. Fashion Week is primarily to display merchandise to buyers, celebrities, and the press. The events are not arranged specifically to “sell” the product. The hopes are that buyers will like what they see, but it is not the place to make the actual purchases. Read the fashion week definition to learn more.
Where is Fashion Market Week?
Market Week takes place in various locations. Primarily major cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, etc.
In addition to taking place in large merchandise marts, market week is also very relevant to individual wholesaler showrooms.
Below are a few examples of merchandise marts around the United States.
Los Angeles Fashion Market: CMC is an essential resource for buyers during Los Angeles Fashion Market, presenting downtown's most comprehensive selection of brands for Women, Men, Kids & Home in every price point & market niche. Find hundreds of the season's newest collections in permanent Showrooms and Exhibitor Show Areas located throughout the CMC. Visit the CMC website to see LA Fashion Market Week dates. California Market Center
If you know additional information about fashion market, please let us know and we can possibly update this page to make it more helpful to members of the apparel industry.
Men's market week and women's market week are generally not the same dates. The menswear & womenswear fashion market each beat to their own drum.
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Because buyers are in a market city for only a few days with more lines to see than time allows, market week is won or lost before it starts. Wholesalers and their salespeople contact buyers in advance, promote their new collections, and book the showroom appointments that fill a buyer's calendar. A vendor who fails to get on that calendar may not be seen at all, however strong the line — which makes market week as much a sales and scheduling exercise as a fashion one. Buyers, for their part, use the trip to compare vendors side by side, renew proven suppliers and test new ones, all against the season's budget.
Merchandise marts concentrate hundreds of showrooms in one building so a buyer can work a whole market from a single address, and the marts publish market calendars and host the temporary exhibitor areas that supplement their permanent showrooms. The California Market Center describes its Los Angeles market as downtown's most comprehensive selection of brands for women, men, kids and home across price points. Individual showrooms outside the marts serve the same function for brands that keep their own space. The fashion week definition and merchandise mart pages linked on this page cover the two neighboring concepts.
A buying period: retail buyers travel to a market city, visit wholesaler showrooms and merchandise marts, review new collections and place official purchase orders for the coming season. It is working trade time, arranged around appointments.
Fashion Week is runway shows that display designers' latest collections to retailers, celebrities and the press — it is not arranged for writing orders. Market week is where buyers sit with vendors and make the actual purchases.
Primarily in major cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas and Atlanta, in large merchandise marts and in individual wholesaler showrooms. The Los Angeles market centers on the California Market Center in the downtown fashion district.