Adam's Show Assemblist Process - Part I
Photos by Bridget Badore for The Assemblist
WITH ALL OF OUR TALK OF TRADESHOWS AND MARKET WEEK, WE WANTED TO TAKE A STEP BACK AND PROVIDE A LITTLE MORE INSIGHT INTO HOW AND WHY WE ASSEMBLE THESE IMPORTANT EVENTS.
Enter Adam Eisenhut, our resident Show Assemblist who has contributed his creative acumen and love of fashion time and time again when organizing our market week events both here in New York City and Los Angeles. With the craziness of market season slowing down, we wanted to share Adam’s process on building our tradeshows from the ground up. Today we’re sharing part one of his process, which chronicles moments leading up to our recent LA show. Check out our pre-show interview with Adam below, where he shares a glimpse into his preparation, inspiration behind Fall and his assemblist essentials.
I’M ADAM THOMAS EISENHUT—SHOW ASSEMBLIST HERE AT BRAND ASSEMBLY!
I oversee logistics of our New York space as well as nearly every aspect of our Los Angeles tradeshow. Since our latest chat, it’s been all systems go on putting together another great market here at The Brand Assembly Square, which has been very exciting to see the industry embrace, as well as our biggest show ever in Los Angeles! It’s been a pretty busy few months, but an exciting time as well.
REMIND US, WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF A TRADESHOW AND HOW IS BRAND ASSEMBLY REDEFINING THE LANDSCAPE FOR CONTEMPORARY AND EMERGING FASHION BRANDS?
Tradeshows are important because they offer a level of convenience to both buyers and brands. By curating a significant group of like-minded brands representing nearly every category, our buyers can theoretically do all of their shopping in one room! It’s similarly great for brands to knock out appointments back to back without having to pack up the collection and take it store to store as well. More importantly, tradeshows are great because they offer an opportunity of discovery. The industry isn’t easy for new brands because it’s always tough to secure appointments with the ever busy buyers that may not know who you are, so being visible and making connections is hugely important. Brand Assembly is providing a platform to contemporary and emerging brands that otherwise doesn’t really exist in LA. While LA isn’t as big of a market as New York, it still sees a critical mass of great buyers and provides an opportunity to engage with stores who may not travel to NYC or may be too busy to see newer brands while they are there.
WITH MARKET PLANNING BEING FRONT AND CENTER THE LAST FEW MONTHS WHAT HAS YOUR DAY-TO-DAY LOOKED LIKE?
These days in particular have a lot going on. With market in full swing here at The Square, I keep pretty busy making sure the space looks great, that our brands have what they need and that everyone is properly fed—organizing catering and doing lunch runs every day. When I have a moment at my desk, I am working with our LA brands getting them all ready for the show, prepping show announcements, working with our furniture vendors and putting all of our amenities together. It’s interesting to go from preparing food trays here to finishing our tote bag design to picking up the phone and helping a brand decide the best configuration for their space all in a matter of minutes, but it’s what makes this job so dynamic.
HOW DID THE INSPIRATION FOR FALL COME ABOUT?
Aesthetically, I decided on a “painterly fall” theme—like being outdoors… if those outdoors were in a surrealist painting haha. It’s kind of a weird theme, I guess, but I’m really excited for it. It originated with the inspiration we got from our graphic designer, Jennifer Park, who puts together the templates for our marketing materials. She included these cool “hand painted” like accents and I ran with it. We did an indoor park theme back in October, so I liked the continuity of this, too.
Other details include 115 really spectacular brands. This season we brought in The Kooples, Calypso St. Barth, Scotch and Soda, Pared Eyewear, Öhlin/D, Paul & Joe Sister and so many more—the show is really going places in terms of the level of brands that we are working with, so that’s pretty great.
I’m also pretty excited about offering Aussie Pies from Bronzed Aussie at the show for lunch and our bar sponsored by Dolce Vita. I think it’s going to be such a fun environment!
CURRENTLY WHAT ARE YOUR THREE GO-TO “SHOW ASSEMBLIST” ESSENTIALS?
My show binder never gets too far away from me- it’s where I collect all of the brand paperwork and vendor information so it becomes very important as a quick reference tool. At this point in the game, I’m pretty much sleeping beside our floor plan, too. It’s a bit of a puzzle to figure how to fit everyone comfortably and in a way that makes sense to the buyers. Now that we are getting into the final details of the show I’ve got the entire Adobe Creative Suite open on my computer too, as I toggle between finishing up our marketing pieces, draw and redraw the floor plan and create visualizations of different parts of the show for our team.
STAY TUNED FOR PART II OF OUR CHAT WITH ADAM WHERE WE SHARE OUR AFTERNOON OF SHADOWING HIM AT OUR RECENT LA TRADESHOW. FOR MORE REAL-TIME COVERAGE BE SURE TO FOLLOW US ON @BRANDASSEMBLY TO SEE WHAT WE’RE ASSEMBLING DAILY!