Fourteen students from Department of Textiles, Merchandising, and Fashion Design recently traveled to Las Vegas to attend MAGIC, the world's largest apparel trade show. The group was led by assistant professor of practice, Michael Burton MFA and assistant professor Shubha Bennur PH.D.
MAGIC began as the "Men's Apparel Guild in California" in 1933 before moving to Las Vegas where it now takes place twice a year for four days at both the Mandalay Bay Convention Center and the Las Vegas Convention Center. Magic takes up approximately 2.3 million square feet of space and in 2014 the daily average in orders placed with apparel vendors and manufacturers was approximately $200,000,000.00.
Magic is subdivided into nine sections that span the entire supply chain and retail life cycle for almost all of the world's apparel. Students were able to see and interact with representatives from factories in China and Indonesia and speak with vendors from boutique and major apparel brands alike.
Students gained invaluable insight to what it takes to start a retail store, buy for a major company, and create a brand of apparel. They attended several seminars on trend forecasting and retail management. Several students conducted research on starting a retail store by creating a mock business and inquiring with vendors about placing future orders.
To enjoy their evenings the group took a private art tour at the flagship Louis Vuitton store that included a behind the scenes experience in the James Turrell light installation Akhob. They attended the Cirque du Soleil show Zarkana and ate Tapas at Julian Serrano restaurant.
TMFD plans to run this tour yearly.
More details at: http://www.magiconline.com