Wearables Business: PPAI Expo truly a show that never closes

Byline: BRIAN ANDERSON

While the January PPAI Expo in Las Vegas was setting attendance records, I was setting some records of my own.

Five days in Vegas and I spent about one hour actually gambling. Entering the week, the odds against me spending that little time at a table or video poker machine - were staggering.

I place the blame for my lack of gaming time squarely on the monster event the Expo has become since moving to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. I used to actually spend a waking hour or two in my room when this thing was in Dallas.

Not anymore. As Wearables Business Editor Jeff Rundles likes to say, this show never closes. Indeed, once the exhibit floor closes, the day is perhaps half over. I often end up meeting friends right after the show for drinks to catch up on the last few months since I've seen them in person. Then you have group dinners at fancy restaurants, and there always seems to be special events scheduled either before the show, right after the show, or that start late enough so you can still work in that client dinner.

Doesn't leave much time for gambling, unless you borrow time from your pillow. It's not that I'm complaining - nobody puts a gun to my head and says I have to attend this, that and the other thing after exhibits close. I like to go because most of time these things are interesting and a lot of fun.

While I'm pretty sure PPAI isn't crazy about it, I'm a fan of going up to the big hotel suites to visit the non-exhibiting suppliers, typically high-end brands that have limited distribution strategies. It's a relaxing change of pace from the busy, loud show floor, not to mention the fact that the views from these suites, as well as the suites themselves, are impressive.

Ashworth has staked claim to the Presidential Suite in the Four Seasons Hotel, high up in the Mandalay Bay. There invited guests can sit in comfortable chairs and couches while salespeople present the new line. And then there is the table full of delicacies all created for the event by the mother of Kellie Claudio, Ashworth's Corporate National Sales Manager.

This year, Cutter & Buck held fashion shows - with its sales force as the models - for invited guests in the House of Blues Foundation Room, again high atop the Mandalay Bay. It was a fun show in a funky room.

Greg Norman Collection held a reception in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center featuring, naturally, fine wines from Greg Norman Estates. Guests were also presented with samples of The Ultimate Polo from the Collection.

Boardroom Custom Clothing, who did exhibit on the show floor, nevertheless held a rager of a party one night in its corner suite at Mandalay Bay, which towered over the Strip. Lime green-suited Mark Trotzuk ran the show while party guests were encouraged to walk out with their favorite Boardroom clothing samples.

And of course there was the SanMar party, which was to feature Jessica Simpson. While she called in sick, much to the chagrin of many in attendance, I give credit to SanMar for managing to round up a quality performer as literally a last-second replacement in Kelly Clarkson.

These were but a few of the activities that kept me out of the casinos. While I didn't get my gambling fix on this trip to Vegas, I take comfort in the fact that there's always next year. If it's anything like this year, I'll probably come home with money in my wallet that never found its way to a table.

Brian Anderson is Senior Managing Editor of Wearables Business.