The MAGIC floor is where factory conversations start, and a purchase order is where they pay off. Between the two sits six weeks of work that decides whether the slots you want are still open: the sample request, two sampling rounds, a quote turned into an order, and a slot locked on a factory calendar. We run the small-batch lane at Kizen Lab in Bandung, and the show weathers every brand differently: leave Las Vegas with a plan, not a stack of business cards, because the sample request, two rounds, and the order window are what get you a March slot.
The short answer: send the sample request within the week after MAGIC, run two sampling rounds at 1 to 2 weeks each, place the purchase order inside your season’s order window, and the production slot locks when the order lands, not when you follow up. For back-to-school 2027 that window closes in April; for holiday it closes at mid-July.
When is MAGIC Las Vegas, and why does the show set the clock?
MAGIC Las Vegas runs February 16–18, 2027, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, with SOURCING co-located on the same campus, and the August edition follows on August 16–18, 2027. The February date is the strategic one for production: a factory conversation that starts there has time to sample in March and order inside the back-to-school window, which runs March to April 2027, and still feeds the holiday window that opens in June. The full math lives on the US woven apparel production calendar at World KNK.
What happens in the first week after MAGIC?
The sample request goes out. Within the week after the show, send the factory the confirmed tech pack, the per-style quantities, and your warehouse date. Waiting a month costs a sampling round, and a round is 1 to 2 weeks you do not get back. If the show conversation happened without a tech pack, send the photo or sketch you promised and start the design conversation; the design step runs before sampling and adds time to the front of the clock, which is exactly why the request cannot wait.
How do samples turn into a purchase order?
Two rounds, run as deadlines rather than discussions:
- Round one (proto and fit). The pattern becomes a garment and the questions are shape, fit, and make, answered in 1 to 2 weeks.
- Round two (correction). Fit comments applied, trims confirmed, colors approved on real cloth, another 1 to 2 weeks.
Feedback speed is the variable you control. A brand that returns fit comments in three days keeps the calendar; a brand that sits on samples for two weeks has spent the March slot on a decision that took none. When round two is approved, the purchase order converts the conversation into a slot: the order names the styles, the quantities, and the ship date, and it lands inside the season’s order window. The order is also where the FOB scope settles in writing, so fabric testing and export packing sit in writing, not in memory.
When should you start booking production slots after MAGIC?
At the purchase order. The slot is a calendar position at the factory, and the honest question to ask at any show booth is not “how fast are you?” but “when does my slot get reserved, at the order or at production start?” At our lane the model is agreed in writing and the slot follows the order. Ask the same question of every factory you meet at MAGIC, because the answers differ and the difference is your delivery date.
How fast can a 500-piece pilot run after MAGIC?
Our pilot lane exists for exactly this moment. A 500-piece-per-style FOB pilot runs 4 to 6 weeks of production after sampling, which on the MAGIC clock means: sample request in late February, two rounds through March, the order by early April, bulk complete in May, and containers clearing US customs in June and July. That is a proven style line for the holiday window, a test season bought with pilot money, and the pilot that works scales up to World KNK, the 1,000-piece-per-style woven factory in the same city, with patterns and history intact.
What if the slot you wanted is already gone?
Three moves, in the order we would try them:
- Run the pilot now, full program next window. A pilot ordered late still finishes; the full program it proves books the next window with data behind it.
- Split the order. Part of the program in the slot that exists, the balance on the repeat calendar, where reorders run faster than first runs.
- Move the season, keep the factory. A program that misses back-to-school becomes a holiday program, and the styles are already sampled.
Factory time is fixed: 4 to 6 weeks of production does not compress to recover your follow-up.
MAGIC to purchase order: the quick answers
When is MAGIC Las Vegas 2027?
February 16–18, 2027, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, with SOURCING co-located. The August edition runs August 16–18, 2027.
How soon after MAGIC should I send the sample request?
Within the week. The request carries the tech pack, per-style quantities, and your warehouse date, and every month of delay costs a sampling round.
When does the production slot lock?
At the purchase order, which lands inside the season’s order window: March to April 2027 for back-to-school, June to mid-July for holiday. Ask every factory when their slot locks, at order or at production start.
How fast can a pilot run after the show?
Two sampling rounds through March and 4 to 6 weeks of production puts a 500-piece-per-style pilot at bulk complete in May on the February clock.
What if the slots are gone when I follow up?
Run the pilot anyway, split the order, or move the season. The styles are sampled either way, and the next window opens with proof behind it.
Ready to turn a show conversation into a slot? Start the quote with your styles, quantities, and warehouse date, or read the full question list before you fly.