M.A.G.I.C. Recap

Tuesday, September 4 2012

Twice a year, for 4 to 5 days, buyers/sellers/tastemakers from every market of the retail fashion industry invade Las Vegas for the M.A.G.I.C. Trade Show to showcase upcoming collections, place orders, acquire new business & indulge in every temptation that our City of Sin has to offer.

Last week, the KNYEW Crew (Neva, Jaz, Mig & I) suited up for M.A.G.I.C. & scoured the convention halls at Mandalay Bay searching for new brands, meeting with old ones, previewing new collections & discussing future projects.

One of our first stops was at the HUF booth to meet up with our boy Keith “Sweets” Murray. With a collaboration project in the works, I’m hoping to finalize designs in the next month & release this KNYEW x HUF collab by Spring 2013. Stay tuned Knyewtrons…

Shout to the homie Cesar from Hall of Fame with KNYEW’s own DJ Neva (looking disgruntled as ever).

Vegas has gone Rastaclat crazy in the past year & we have this man to thank for it. Always good to see the homie David Allen.

Since 2010, I’ve been meaning to bring Joy Rich to Vegas. This fashion forward brand from LA has been seen on everyone from Rihanna & Azealia Banks to Wiz Khalifa & we’re happy to have them finally grace our racks at KNYEW. Be on the look out for mens & womens Fall/Winter collections arriving soon. Many thanks to Scott & Jasmine at Joy Rich for making this happen.

2012 has been insane for 10 Deep. Carrying one of the best Summer Collections this year (in my opinion), their upcoming Fall & Winter lines are even more impressive & expansive. Big shout to Josh & Simone who gave us the quickest & most painless viewing ever…respect mami.

Finding any excuse to take a break, KNYEW’s assistant manager & designated “Bag Boy” Mig grabbed a seat in the Flex Fit booth. Inspired by 2 Pac’s “Keep Ya Head Up”, Flex Fit decorated the walls of their booth with hand written lyrics from the song.

Flex Fit is one of the leading manufacturers of fitted & snapback caps in our industry, producing product for streetwear heavyweights like HUF & Bathing Ape. They’re slowly joining the ranks of renowned suppliers like Mitchell & Ness, Starter & New Era.

Not far from the Flex Fit booth, Kid Robot was showcasing a painting battle between graf artists MAD and Sket One with their 4-foot Dunnys.

Jeremy “MAD” Madl carefully adding some marker detail to his acrylic paint. Pretty sick…

LV City was holding it down at P.R.O.J.E.C.T. with hometown hero DJ Mike Attack on the wheels, rocking our KNYEW Native Tee. Much love Mike!

Our boy Mikey Ballz from Tao Group was hard at work, dropping off promotional flyers for P.R.O.J.E.C.T.‘s Official After-Party at Marquee with A-Trak, Wale & Kreayshawn. Two Mikes in one day?

Correction…make that three Mikes in one day. Our NY fam, Michael David, was all smiles with Neva & KNYEW’s manager Jaz at the Rocksmith booth.

The smiles continued at the Publish booth with Nikki Tran & Monica Suh.

Moving onto newer territory, we dropped by CBNC formerly known as Chubby Boob to polly with the homie Joemm.

We stumbled onto CBNC back in February during the last M.A.G.I.C. Show but I couldn’t make room for them at the shop until now. Be on the look out for CBNC Fall & Winter Collections arriving in the next month or so at KNYEW. Big shout to Joemm & Miguel at CBNC…for the record, you’ll always be Chubby Boob to me (love that name).

With KNYEW being the only distributor of Good Wood NYC in Nevada, we have our boy Justin to thank for this. Look out for a possible collabo later this year…

On our way back to S.L.A.T.E., we took a walk through the Pool Trade Show, a collection of emerging up & coming brands carrying a more intimate approach & personal touch with their collections You’ll see a lot of hand crafted jewelry & accessories on display for retail distribution as well as cash & carry.

The clothing lines in the Pool Trade Show are usually more avant garde & edgy. The designs don’t usually follow any trends in the current retail market but rather speak directly from the designers personal vision.

After Pool, we made our way back to S.L.A.T.E. & ended up being late for our meeting with Diamond Supply. And when you’re late for Diamond Supply…they make you wait. Nice work Jazzy.

Despite the fact that Diamond Supply is fucking everywhere, the demand continues to increase for this brand. They can do no wrong & their 2013 Spring Collection does not disappoint.

With Diamond‘s Holiday Collection shipping very soon in the next month, all I can say is “be ready” cause it’ll be one of the larger deliveries arriving at KNYEW this Winter. Big shout to our sales rep Robbie who’s been holding us down all year.

Our next meeting after Diamond was at Primitive with our boy Joey. Primitive has grown a lot at KNYEW in the past year, becoming one of our more premier brands at the shop.

Joey was kind enough to let me snap a couple pics from their upcoming Holiday Collection dropping next month. One of my favorite shirts was this “Native Tee” in navy blue.

Primitive “Classic P” fitted caps also dropping in October for their Holiday delivery. Crack…

Another brand cool enough to let us preview their upcoming Spring Collection on our blog was Orisue.

Gotta love this “Sully” button-up dropping next year in January.

One of my favorite brands this year has been Durkl. The design work, fabric selection & fit on all their button-ups, shorts & caps have been stellar & it’s really comforting for us as retailers to sell such quality apparel at an affordable price.

Peter from Durkl showed us some amazing pieces from their upcoming lines & let me snap a couple flicks for you Knyewtrons to preview.

Look out for their “Salton” button-up shirt dropping in October for their Holiday Collection.

These shorts from Durkl‘s Spring line are definitely something for us to look forward to next year. Stay tuned…

When you take a generic photo booth & throw in some Native American blankets, it’s hard to keep Jaz away.

My Knyew Crew Mig & Jaz hard at work…

I’ll be posting more pics from M.A.G.I.C. later on this week. A lot of new projects are in the works so stay tuned Knyewtrons! Crooked & Crew signing out!