After an optimistic announcement that Kingpins New York would return in-person this winter, organizers have decided to cancel, citing travel and health concerns as Covid-19 cases rise in the U.S.
“After careful consideration and with a heavy heart, we have decided to once again cancel another physical show due to the current pandemic situation,” said Andrew Olah, founder of Kingpins Show. “The New York show would have marked two years between physical shows, and we were eagerly looking forward to welcoming back the denim community in the U.S. We thought our show would be an ideal time to kick off the Christmas season, rejoicing in the belief that the pandemic was behind us.”
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Covid Data Tracker, Covid-19 cases are on the rise in the U.S., as the Delta variant, which can affect individuals regardless of vaccine status, gains traction. Despite having access to some of the most effective vaccines in the world, many in the U.S. have yet to receive one. The CDC reports that, as of Aug. 26, just an estimated 52 percent of the population was fully vaccinated.
The statistics prompted the European Union governments to remove the U.S. from its safe travel list earlier this week, posing challenges for trips to and from international events. Lockdowns and low vaccination rates are also common in many denim-producing nations, including Bangladesh, Vietnam, Pakistan, India and others.
Kingpins New York was scheduled to run Dec. 6-7 at Pier 36 and mark Kingpins’ return to in-person shows after being forced to cancel its physical events in early 2020. Organizers quickly developed a digital solution, Kingpins24, to keep the denim industry connected through the pandemic—a concept that brought in 3,500 livestream viewers and 10,000 visitors to the Kingpins website after its debut in April.
Moving forward, Kingpins will continue to organize digital events, and is scheduled to run Kingpins24 Global (formerly Amsterdam) on Oct. 19-21 and Kingpins24 Latin America on Nov. 9-10.
