Hello, Old Friend! I've Missed You!
One of the things I've missed greatly in the last year and a half is the regular treks up north to New York City. Before I owned Kiskadee, I went quite often. My best friend lives there, and we often did girls weekends. These weekends always included some shopping... a show... good food. I loved everything about these trips. Then, when Kiskadee came into my life, these trips turned into work trips, and I got to see one of my favorite cities and best friend often. I could tell at the last show I went to in February 2020 that things were amiss. As retailers, we could already see the effects of Covid as China and Europe started to shut down, and so did their manufacturing ability.
Fast forward to now, and again, the big show in NYC, Coterie, was happening. I was super excited to get back as it was a small indication that things are slowly getting back to normal. Well, as normal as can be expected. Things still aren't back to where they were before the pandemic. It was a quiet show. In years past, the entire Javits was filled with booths, and the crowds were thick. It can take a while to work with one of our lines because they are so busy working with so many people at the same time. That wasn't the case this time. Many of my lines were spread out between showrooms, the Javits Center, and other smaller shows. I spent a lot more time in Ubers than I normally do. What I did get to do was explore new lines, and that's always a treat. With less people to contend with, we were able to really explore, and I am happy to say we found three new lines for Spring 2022 that I'm excited about.
As for trends that we saw well, honestly, we didn't see a lot that was different from this past spring. The colors are still bright. There were a lot of yellows and pinks. Styles seemed consistent with this past spring, indicating to me that at least the lines we carry weren't interested in taking big risks on the unknown in this uncertain retail environment. Don't get me wrong, we loved so many things, and I'm excited to see everything come in.
I've had a few people ask me how NYC was in general. Well, honestly, it seemed pretty much the same to me. With the exception of some closed restaurants, most businesses seemed to be doing ok. I spent an extra day in the city to see a Broadway show with my bestie. The next day, we headed into Soho and ate at Balthazar. The place was packed on a Wednesday morning. I was so happy to see that. The show was amazing... mainly because of the palpable excitement and joy at being open again. I felt safe, and the Covid precautions everywhere were good. If you love NYC as much as I do, go ahead and take the trip! It'll be worth it.
