I’m just starting out my career in the fashion industry and I encounter something new, interesting, and educational every day. This past week I had the exciting experience of attending my first trade show. FFANY for me was a place to learn, meet new people, and see some amazing brands.

We started out our fantastic week at the Via Spiga 25th anniversary event on Monday night and had an amazing night on the rooftop of the Empire Hotel. This is where I got to meet many of Julia’s friends from Brown Shoe and now I know why she is always raving about them! Everyone was incredibly warm, welcoming and how exciting was it that I had the opportunity  to meet most of the executives of Brown including my favorite, VP of Talent Geoff Green, who is also one of Julia’s best buds and the main reason she is so tight with all the Brown Shoebies (as she calls them). I also got to meet CEO, Ron Fromm and President, Diane Sullivan who were super nice and I can see how true what they say about company culture starting from the top down. They were awesome!  For my first industry party, it certainly did not disappoint and I can’t wait for the next one!

Tuesday morning was when Julia sent me out into the wonderful world of FFANY and although I was a bit nervous since she didn’t even come with, I knew I would have a great time!  My first stop was at Rough Justice who Julia met last year in June at FFANY and she was not lying when she told me that they were super fun and the brand is incredible, if I don’t say so myself! I was able to speak with Bodo who is one of the partners of the brand, about the new Spring 2011 line and see their new Junior line. Like Julia reported the last time each style had their own little collection and they certainly have made it easy for their customers to go from fall to spring with their favorite details such as their leaf detail and fringe. It was a pleasure to meet them and I’m looking forward to seeing them again at Magic so I share even more about this fun up and coming brand.

My next stop was at Zoe Kratzmann. The Australian designer is making her way into the American market with her fabulously made, comfortable-yet-fashionable shoes.Much of her spring line consists of flats with a focus on fun and color. The details such as pom-poms and chains and the variety of spring colors are what makes these well crafted shoes fun, fashionable.

Some fun spring flats from Zoekratzmann.com

Zoe works for a well known Australian brand called Zimmermann and additionally decided to design her own line with a focus on comfort and style. She has a great sense of social responsibility and implements her values into her company by holding her manufacturers to high standards that include a high quality of life for their employees with things such as health insurance and comfortable work conditions. Wouldn’t it be great to see more people like her in the industry?!?  All of her shoes are made in China by a family owned manufacturer and she is taking a stand against the not so flattering reputation of the quality of Chinese manufactures as opposed to the quality of products manufactured in Europe. She is doing a wonderful job of this by making high quality footwear and handbags. Congratulations on making her way over to the states with her wonderful brand and I just want to tell her to keep up the good work!!

After that Julia and I had the pleasure of checking out the new Mia Shadow line, which is owned by her good friend Yosi. Thank goodness for him, because we were starving and he was nice enough to order us lunch, if he hadn’t of there is a good chance Julia would have let me starve as she often does when she is running around at a show being distracted by anything and everyone, haha. We were able to get a great shot of Yosi and his partner, showing off their favorite fall style! I am so excited to see how this brand grows over the next few months!

The next day, Julia and I hooked up with her good friend Nicole Rivers to check out Titan Industries and Kenneth Cole. Badgley Mischka was my favorite brand at Titan with their classic look and simple polished designs and L.A.M.B (Julia’s favorite shoe brand) was absolutely amazing as well. Nicole was so nice to let me tag along with her and show me the ropes on my first day.

The Kenneth Cole showroom has such a cool feel.

That night, the Women in the Footwear Industry event may have been my favorite part of the whole FFaNY experience. We were able to mingle with so many amazing women who all have successful careers in the footwear industry. The highlight of the evening was hearing the keynote speaker Susan Lyne, CEO of Gilt Group. From attending events such as this one I’m learning a lot about the importance of networking and this week I was able to see a lot of great things happen because of it.

The wonderful women of the the footwear industry

Everyone I met was friendly and welcoming and I would like to give a special shout out to Erin Conroy from Brown Shoe. Julia introduced me to her at the Women in the Footwear Industry event and she was so amazing to take time out of her day to take me around to all the brands in the beautiful Brown Shoe showroom. I learned about the inspiration behind Carlos Santana’s spring collection and the connection it has to his music and many of the trends of the upcoming season. I saw a lot of great cut out shoes and fun details such as flowers and various ornaments.

Also, if the great eco-friendly shoes weren’t enough I would shop for Naya shoes just because the people there went above and beyond to show me their line. We were able to catch up from when Anedie wrote about them in June. Kasey Gibbs the wonderful designer for Naya took me through her entire spring collection. Thank you, everyone at Brown Shoe for not only your amazing footwear but for being such great hosts.

My overall FFANY experience was amazing and I certainly learned a lot about the industry and how to conduct business. I feel as if I am just jumping right in and so far most people have been helpful, willing to answer all my questions and really just making it easy to learn. I’m looking forward to everything that’s to come especially my next stop Magic in Las Vegas. Julia and I just landed here in Vegas and are ready to bring you all kinds of fun stuff this week, so stay tuned….