Finding new brands that appeal to price-sensitive consumers required a lot of legwork at Project, which offered about 1,300 vendors brimming with denim and sportswear at the Sands Expo & Convention Center here.

But the effort was worth it for retailers such as Jaye Hersh, who ordered $68 denim rompers from Heartloom and Dégaine’s $95 boyfriend jeans for her specialty shop, Intuition, in Los Angeles.

“We’re really on a treasure hunt to find something well-priced under $300 at retail,” Hersh said.

As blue as retailers were about the economy, so was the color palette awash in varying shades of azure: a $249 French blue leather jacket...