How to Know When Your Business is Ready for its First Trade Event?
Trade events can be game-changers for brands looking to grow, and they also require a serious investment of time, money, and strategy.
How do you know when your business is ready?
What do trade show curators actually look for in applicants?
How can you make the most of your experience once you’re there?
To get real answers, we turned to two people who know this world inside and out: Deirdre Maloney and Minya Quirk, the founders of Afternoon Light and the upcoming design fair Shelter.
Deirdre Maloney and Minya Quirk
With nearly two decades of experience launching and running some of the most influential trade events—Capsule, Shoppe Object (a Wolf Craft favorite!), and now Shelter—they’ve redefined what a trade show can be.
In this Q&A, they break down what it takes to succeed at a trade show, share insider tips for standing out, and offer a behind-the-scenes look at what’s coming next with Shelter.
If you’ve ever wondered whether a trade show is right for your brand, this is the place to start.
P.S. we also love trade events because the press always attends, it’s a great way to get in front of members of the media and start a relationship!
If after reading this Q+A you want to apply for Deirdre and Minya’s show, Shelter, you can email us hello@wolf-craft.com and we can connect you!
1. What makes trade shows a valuable investment for small brands or independent designers?
Trade shows are a great way to get exposure to a large swath of retailers or trade professionals that would otherwise be hard to wrangle for a new brand.
Being in a space together with your peers and fellow brands is also great for networking, forging new partnerships or collaborations, and of course making new friends!
2. How do you know if your business is ready to exhibit at a trade show?
I think this is not an exact formula but if you have the capacity to make more of your goods, and have interest in a wider distribution, a trade show is a good option to find new business.
If you’ve had success in a smaller market, locally or even online but not in stores, it may be time to present your brand with a like minded roster of companies to a larger group of retail partners.
3. What do you, as a curator, look for when selecting brands for Shelter (or when you were previously selecting for Shoppe Object)?
Good quality, authenticity, beautiful design, and market readiness.
For bigger brands it’s what’s coming next down their pipelines, will they be a draw, are they doing exciting things.
4. How important is branding, product photography, or storytelling in the application process?
All of these things, when well done, demonstrate to show organizers and potential retail partners that you’re serious and market ready from an aesthetics and branding POV.
Of course, you’ll need to be able to handle wholesale orders first and foremost, but polished collateral always helps your cause in terms of brand and marketplace awareness. '
The stronger your story, the easier it is for people or stores to get behind it and tell it too.
5. What are some common application pitfalls brands should avoid?
Dead links or too many clicks to see your stuff. Rambling email messages or biographies. Unpolished imagery.
Treat the application process like a business pitch and put your best foot forward – short synopses, key stockists, great pictures, links to social - give us the highlights.
6. If a brand is rejected from a show, what are some steps they can take to improve and try again?
I would seek feedback from the show organizers/curators and take that feedback into mind when reapplying. Or find another option if you really believe that the time is now.
If your heart is set on one show, the good news is…there’s always another one coming up! Take the time to grow in tangible ways that you can demonstrate to organizers.
7. What should a brand expect to invest in a trade show beyond just the booth fee?
This varies from show to show and brand to brand, but at a minimum you will need to transport your goods to and from the show, and set it up in a compelling and visually stimulating way which may include display furniture, painting, etc.
Always ask show management what additional fees could arise. Then there are travel and hotel expenses, plus the creation of any materials like lookbooks or line sheets you will want to have on hand.
8. What are the best ways to maximize your time at a trade show as an exhibitor?
Make as many appointments with your existing retailers, press and other targets as possible via email and/or phone call.
Even if you can’t confirm appointments with all, it’s good for you to be on everyone’s radar in advance of the show.
Blast the news that you’ll be showing across your social media channels. A tradeshow will bring in traffic but there are no guarantees. Any proactive outreach will help you to get the word out.
The tradeshow organizers appreciate that effort too. When everyone works together, everyone benefits.
9. How can brands effectively capture leads and follow up after the show?
Follow up is key and maintaining the relationship, no matter how brief or fleeting, with anyone you made at the show matters.
The buyer who may not be ready for you now may be looking for you in a year. The cool brand owner you met might be looking for a collaborator just like you.
Keep all the cards! Stay in touch.
10. What mistakes do brands make when deciding to exhibit too soon?
Spending too much money, not researching who’s shopping the show and who else will be there, not being ready to accommodate orders in terms of communication, production, packing, shipping, invoicing.
All of the steps need to be ready to work.
11. What role does press or media coverage play in trade show success?
Lots of media outlets, especially trade media, run tradeshow coverage or brand round ups which can drive attention to you either before or after the show.
If you are a new brand or have new products launching at the show, emphasize that to show organizers so that their PR teams can be sure to have that information on hand for reporters.
If you’ve previously been in touch with reporters, make sure to email them that you’ll be at the show and invite them to see you as you would any retailer.
To apply to Shelter, send us an email hello@wolf-craft.com :)
11. Tell us about Shelter, the design trade show you just launched! How is it different from other trade shows?
Well for starters, we aren’t calling Shelter a trade show. Yes, we will be courting architectural and design trade in a big way, it’s design week after all, but we are also open to the design loving public via ticket sales.
Shelter is three-day event featuring approximately 100 best-in-class brands in furniture and home décor.
This hybrid fair will be a fresh, comprehensive, community-focused nucleus for NYC x Design week and will be an exciting find for emerging designers and industry vets alike, and scratch the itch of the cool stuff hungry public. Shopping on site is encouraged.
12. What is the application process for Shelter like, and what brands should apply?
We want Shelter to represent all that is exciting in design right now.
This is why we have legacy brands like USM and Carl Hansen & Son, studios like Bower and Fort Standard, designers from gallery showrooms like Colony and Matter, and small home goods brands like Yamazaki and Tortuga Forma.
The throughline here is good design.
Shelter is technically by invitation only, but please be in touch via the Wolf Craft team if you feel like your brand would be a good fit and we have not been in touch! You can email hello@wolf-craft.com!
13. About the founders of Shelter
Business partners for 20 years, Afternoon Light founders Deirdre Maloney and Minya Quirk have built their careers on experiential trade events that break the mold and set new standards.
Their storied, apparel trade show Capsule took American fashion global, then the duo radically transformed the look and feel of New York’s gift market with Shoppe Object in 2018. Shoppe Object is the twice annual trade show for home and gift that features 750 of today’s most compelling brands and was acquired by International Market Centers in February 2022.
Both ferociously entrepreneurial—Maloney the analytical and Quirk the creative—they are inspired and driven by challenges, problem-solving, and activating ideas. With two successful exits now under their belts the duo started Afternoon Light in 2022 to provide a one-stop e-commerce platform for the best creators in the home industry.
Their latest venture Shelter, a three-day design fair slated for May 2025, will do what Capsule and Shoppe Object did before: reimagine what a trade event for the design community can look and feel like. As a global epicenter of creative output, New York is ready for a new, pared down, at once elevated and accessible showcase of exactly who designers need to meet and know right now, with an element that breaks down industry walls and invites the public in to explore, learn, and buy.
14. Any last words of advice for brands considering their first trade show?
Think positively, do your proactive outreach, get your ducks in a row, put your best foot forward and get ready to network!
The hours are long, but the experience should be fun and rewarding. Take some time to enjoy the city if you’ve travelled to attend, have a nice dinner at a place you’ve been wanting to try - work is no good without a little play! Be open.
