The MAGIC week in Las Vegas

The JUZD booth was on the edge of the eco section in POOL Tradeshow. This was our first clothing tradeshow and I was very excited. I’ve done two shows and each was disappointing but the cost for this one was a lot more so I anticipated the results to be a lot better. I got a booth for my friend Cristofer Carrado right beside mine.

It was our first show together and we got a bad location. All the way near the back. Very little traffic, we were in a pond with little fishes. All the tees sell for $20-$30 retail. It wasn’t right for us. To make it worst, POOL was known for it's eco section but this year MAGIC had it's own eco section and stole a lot of the bigger eco brands. The people that did drop by were very impressed and we made a few good contacts and got a couple of leads. Stay tuned to find out what happens.

We did have a good time and met some interesting people. Couple of interesting brands I checked out was Pnatrul. This brand is by musician Peter A Witting, which pimped out his booth with his drum set. He tells me that he get musicians he travels with to wear his gear, including Tommy Lee.

Right across from us were Forrest + Fauna, a brother sister duo. They spent the most time setting up their booth of all the lines at Pool. It took them two months to make and several hours to put up and take down. Painted, cut, diagramed, each piece of reclaimed wood. It felt like a nice personal shack in there, it even comes with a mini fridge…filled with beer. And they also produced their own eco paint. That's cool.

For any designers that are looking to do a show, they can check out Thread Show. Their concept is pretty cool; they’ll rent you half of the space for half of the price. Instead of $4000 for Pool, you’ll pay only $2000 and get your stuff in. But the section is smaller than a regular booth.













Free shirts and live screen printing from Alternative Apparel. Pick your size and the screen you want and it's done. I got this last time I was at the show. The shirt feels amazing, very light weight and fits good but after a few washed it looks crusty.













Tag bag lady! These bags are made from license plates from Africa. Buy a bag change a village. The company making the bags employs local African workers so you'll be directly helping them with each purchase.













Hard working Yvonne!

JUZD team at Magic / Pool / Project shows in Las Vegas

From February 12th to the 15th the JUZD team was in Las Vegas checking out North America's premiere fashion trade shows, MAGIC, POOL, and PROJECT. Despite the predicting US recession the buyers were spending and spending lots. It was a good season for the brands we visited. Above photo (Jing Liu aka me! [lead designer of JUZD Bamboo Streetwear], Masahiko Nakane aka Polo [owner of Panty Japan], Christian Audigier, Yuichi Ishii [buyer for Panty Japan])



Once again Christian Audigier was the talk of the show.With the largest booth at Project, guest stars, naked (but artistically painted) girls, swimsuit models, and a performance by Snoop, Christian Audigier's booth was the spot to chill. Christian Audigier also premiere his latest label Crystal Rock, named after his daughter.


The colorful Creative Recreation showcased its new sneaker collection and style for Fall. While smaller labels such as Shmack Footwear were making head waves and extending their distribution for the fist time to Japan.

I was able to check out Raw 7. It maintained it's high end grudge style. It brought its unique style of art to sandals and underwear (which I got samples of woohoo). Another brand that caught my eye was Hard 8, an up and coming brand out of LA. It has simliar grunge style as Raw 7 and strong symbolic designs. What was also great was the overall fit and design of the shirts. It fits and feels really good and the designs was perfect for the shirt.

Pool was also a very interesting experience. It was one big chilling lounge. Lots of cool and funky brands. Alternative Apparel was a major sponsor, they were giving out free t-shirts, hats, and other cool stuff. But one of the most interesting brand is Cyberoptix Tie Lab. They print designs on ties and their creativity and craftmanship are amazing. Had a chance to talk to Bethany who is the principle designer and she's a really nice girl. It's not the usual silk suit ties I'm use to.

As for Magic, the big show, it wasn't all that interesting...to me anyways. Lots of huge brands. As for the streetwear section, it was like night clubs, with girls in skimpy outfits handing out flyers. But that's the streetwear culture. I prefer the class of Project.

Overall it was a very enlightening trip and I had a lot of fun. We are currently trying to get a booth at the Project show in August. Come check us out!