The Big 3-0

I have to admit, the number 30 holds special meaning for me. When I was 30 years old, I joined the Luggage & Leather Goods Manufacturers of America (LLGMA) as editor-in-chief of Showcase magazine. The staff used to joke that my editor’s page photo looked like a high school yearbook photo. You be the judge. (Photo from the November/ December 1988 issue)

Well, time passes quickly. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that I’ve edited the magazine for more than half of its lifetime. This September, Showcase will officially turn 30 and I will mark my 17th anniversary with LLGMA and TGA. 

So, you know what that means — time for a facelift! No, not for me (although the idea is not half bad) – for the magazine! With this, the 2005 Show Directory Issue, Travel Goods Showcase launches its new look.

The staff thought long and hard about how we wanted to present the news and stories to our readers. We wanted the magazine to be more fun both visually and editorially, without changing its b2b nature.

First, we came up with a different look for the magazine logo. It is both a little traditional and a little modern — and a little lighter in feel than what we’ve had in the past. I guess luggage isn’t the only thing that’s more lightweight these days! We’ve also updated the fonts inside the magazine as well to complement the new look of the logo.

Our readers have often told us how much they enjoy our regular departments and feature stories and how useful they found the information they got from them. So, we didn’t eliminate anything — we just added to it, punched it up, and hopefully made the content even better. We also promise you some editorial surprises along the way! 

We hope you feel the same way about the redesign that we do. As always, we are open to feedback and we want to hear from you. Email us your comments at michele@travel-goods.org.

On behalf of all of us at the Travel Goods Association, thank you for your continuing support of the magazine, the Show, the Association, and the industry. We look forward to seeing you in Orlando!

Editor-in-chief