Interview with Mr Chris DeMoulin

Face2Face

Mr Chris DeMoulin
Executive Vice President, Advanstar Fashion Group
President, MAGIC International

MAGIC International is the preeminent trade events organisers in the international fashion industry, hosting global buyers and sellers of men’s, women’s and children’s apparel, footwear, accessories and sourcing resources. It is the wholly owned fashion events business arm of Advanstar Communications- a leading worldwide media company providing integrated marketing solutions for the Fashion, Life Sciences and Powersports industries. Advanstar serves business professionals and consumers in these industries with its portfolio of 147 events, 68 publications and directories, 267 electronic products and Web sites, as well as educational and direct marketing products and services. Mr Chris DeMoulin is the Executive Vice President, Advanstar Fashion Group & President, MAGIC International since 2008. He is responsible for the growth and strategic direction of the MAGIC Marketplace, strengthening the alliances between exhibiting and retail customers, and developing initiatives that drive increased Marketplace value globally. Mr DeMoulin has extensive experience in the fashion, retail and marketing sectors, having held the position of Senior Vice President, Retail Alliances of Disney’s Consumer Products Group. At Disney, he was responsible for the strategic planning and execution of all business and product development, setting global retail and merchandising strategies, and leading the marketing, retail planning and trade activity for Disney Licensing in North America. He successfully reenergized Disney’s relationships with major US and international retailers, overseeing a dramatic increase in retail sales of Disney’s licensed products from $11 billion to over $20 billion globally in just 5 years. Prior to joining Advanstar, he held the position of Executive Vice President, Marketing at Philip Anschutz's film production company, Walden Media, helping to build and launch the successful Chronicles of Narnia film franchise. Before Disney, Mr DeMoulin spent 9 years with the New York office of advertising agency DDB Worldwide. In a tête-à-tête with Face2Face team, Mr Chris DeMoulin provides current pulse of fashion fair market worldwide.

Face2Face is glad to get once again the opportunity of a talk on industry and Magic, Mr DeMoulin. How is Magic doing these days?

As always, the MAGIC Marketplace is the most important, full-service apparel event, from fiber to finish representing the total supply chain. In particular, the growth and evolution of Sourcing at MAGIC provides exhibitors direct access to the largest concentration of buying power in the United States and offers educational seminars presented by the world's most influential industry leaders. A sampling of topics include “TRADE POLICY AND THE BOTTOM LINE: OBAMA'S TRADE AGENDA AND FASHION!”, “The Wonderful World of Mosaics for Winter 2010/2011 / PANTONE” and “LEVI STRAUSS: Terms of Engagement and Sourcing Policy” “THE NEW ECONOMY, THE NEW CONSUMER, THE NEW RULES – ARE YOU READY?” from Marshal Cohen of NPD. There is no other market that provides resources, contacts, buying power, and industry knowledge comparable to Sourcing at MAGIC and The MAGIC Marketplace.

Sounds impressive! Taking the topic of global trade-fairs industry further; shall we request you to throw some light on present trends in textile fairs arena, and how does Magic cater the need?

In the textile world, many companies are becoming totally vertical or creating partnerships within their regions offering full package service manufacturing options to meet the needs of sourcing executives and product development teams - taking them from fiber to finished fashion. Our trade show, Sourcing at MAGIC, is the only trade fair in the U.S. that provides attendees the complete range from information and education to fabric to finished products in all apparel, accessory & footwear categories. Today, trade shows must be networking, educational and business forums for both exhibitor and visitor. The MAGIC MARKETPLACE is a unique venue worldwide meeting all of these criteria.

That's true. Trade fair today, definitely needs to be much more than just a display of converged products. Now turning to another important issue; please let us know which all are the sourcing challenges that global fashion and textile companies confront presently?

I would say the biggest challenge is the constant ongoing change in international trade law; some examples would be in regards to social accountability, environmental sustainability, free trade agreements and import regulations. This makes the sourcing executives job challenging worldwide. Sourcing at MAGIC consistently provides an ongoing educational series, partnering with leaders in the industry world wide to provide up to the minute information on all aspects of the industry.

Published on: 27/07/2009

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.

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