Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from February, 2012

Industry on its head

Sorry to have been absent for quite so long, but this is show season, and I have been traveling the world to "see what's new." It has been a difficult, perhaps strange, tour that ends with the Hong Kong show that begins tomorrow. Thus far I have been to Vicenza Fair, the JA Show, the New York International Gift Fair, and the Bangkok Fair. I walked every hall of every show.  I say difficult because the shows were not very productive from my point of view (I am working on merchandising fashion jewelry for a client). It has been strange because too much of the industry seems stranded in no-man's land. At every show I saw similar patterns. In a nutshell: Many vendors have shifted entirely out of gold, no surprise, and mostly went into silver, though bronze and steel are no longer unusual. Most of these companies have not made the transition well, essentially translating their gold designs into new materials. They probably know it since they appear a bit in s