Hundreds of artists and vendors are converging on Las Vegas this weekend as DesignerCon sets up shop at The Expo at World Market Center for its third straight year in the city. The convention, known for bringing designer toys, collectibles, and pop-art culture under one roof, is billed as celebrating its 21st year overall, according to ktnv.com.
A Growing Footprint at World Market Center
DesignerCon is returning to Las Vegas, as FOX5 Vegas reports, with artists and merchants coming together at World Market Center for the event. Other event materials describe the show as a three-day run from November 13 through 15, 2026, at The Expo at World Market Center, located at 435 S. Grand Central Parkway, according to a release distributed via globenewswire.com. FOX5's own coverage states that World Market Center hosts DesignerCon starting November 14, a detail that conflicts with the three-day window cited elsewhere, so attendees should confirm opening-day specifics directly with organizers before heading out.
Show hours carry a similar wrinkle. DesignerCon's own FAQ lists Saturday hours as 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday hours as 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., while a listing from knpr.org gives hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day through November 15. Ticket pricing is also inconsistent across sources: the event announcement on globenewswire.com lists single-day passes for Saturday or Sunday at $45 and three-day VIP passes at $150, whereas a listing from 963kklz.com says tickets start at $50.95. Given those discrepancies, anyone planning a visit should verify hours and pricing with DesignerCon directly.
Anime Anniversaries and New Collectible Categories
This year's lineup leans into nostalgia, with exclusives celebrating Ultraman's 60th anniversary and Kamen Rider's 55th anniversary, according to knpr.org. The show is also expanding its offerings beyond vinyl figures and prints, with DesignerCon's announcement noting the convention will expand into artist-driven collectible cards and automotive die-cast collectibles, per the globenewswire.com release. Event information describes a gathering of more than 700 vendors and 350 artists for the 2026 show, the same release states.
The event’s focus on collectibles comes as the broader U.S. toy market is expanding: dollar sales rose 20% from January through September 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier. Collectible toys grew 56%, with adult buyers among the forces driving demand, while licensed toys rose 27%, figures that put DesignerCon’s mix of fandom-driven merchandise and artist-made goods in a fast-growing part of the market. Circana’s 2026 sales figures show the scale of that momentum.
DesignerCon founder and CEO Ben Goretsky said in the announcement that “our third year here is set to be our biggest and most dynamic yet,” a line that speaks to how far the convention has stretched since its earliest days.
Goretsky’s route into the convention business began with an online toy shop. He and his brother Alex co-founded 3DRetro in 2003 to sell art toys, before DesignerCon grew beyond that niche to include artists’ books, prints and apparel. The company’s origins help explain the show’s blend of independent creators and established brands: it grew out of a retail operation built around collectible art, then widened its reach as the convention took shape. The Los Angeles Business Journal’s account of 3DRetro’s beginnings traces that evolution.
From a Pasadena Meeting Room to a 300,000-Square-Foot Show
The scale of this year's event stands in sharp contrast to DesignerCon's origins. The convention started in 2005 as a gathering in a 1,100-square-foot meeting room in Pasadena and has grown into a show of 700 vendors and 350 artists, according to the knpr.org listing. DesignerCon's own FAQ page puts a finer point on that growth, stating the event has now grown into over 300,000 square feet with over 700 vendors.
The growth of the broader collectibles market has not erased pressures facing smaller art-toy gatherings. Five Points Festival, another designer-toy event, says it changed course because the cost of doing business in Brooklyn kept rising and the art-toy community had been shrinking since the pandemic; organizers said the move was intended to help ensure the festival’s longevity. Its experience offers a counterpoint to headline toy-sales growth: a bigger market does not necessarily mean every independent event or creator has an easier path. Five Points Fest’s explanation of its changes describes those pressures.
That expansion extends to the convention's nightlife as well. DesignerCon's official after-party page compares this year's 12,500-square-foot venue to last year's 3,000-square-foot space, though the page also notes that the attendee count isn't increasing despite the larger footprint, stating plainly that organizers are not expanding the number of attendees and that the count is staying the same.
