Surf and Skate Industry Gets Serious at ASR Back-to-School Show
Action sports Retailer Trade Expo's Back-to-School show proved the benefits of quality over quantity for many of the skate and surf industry’s retailers and vendors.
The compact trade show, held March 8–9 at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort in Huntington Beach, Calif., was the final show for a Fall sales season that for many vendors included ASR’s January show and MAGIC International.
More than 100 exhibitors previewed their Fall lines at the Back-to-School show, compared with the 450 vendors who had exhibited at ASR’s September 2004 show. While the September show is considered the most important of ASR’s three annual events, buyers such as Todd Kellogg gave his thumbs up to the March run because the atmosphere is serious.
“It’s the only show I actually work at,” said Kellogg, senior buyer at Beach Bums, an Anaheim, Calif.–based boutique chain. “There are so many distractions at other shows, so much goofing off.”
Keeping with the “business first” atmosphere, the show’s tone was low-key. Exhibitors, even large companies such as Quiksilver Inc., worked out of small booths furnished only with racks and banners bearing company names.
The subdued milieu was embraced by vendors because they could spend more time with retailers, said Mike Makos, marketing director of Costa Mesa, Calif.–based Rip Curl.
“I don’t want the show to get bigger,” Makos said. “I want this show to be about business. There’s no hype here. We bring in the vendors, and we show them the product.”
More than 600 attendees shopped the show, an increase from the 550 who attended the March 2004 edition, according to Show Manager Kevin Flanagan, who said buyers from Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., Macy’s and Amazon.com browsed the recent exhibition.
But the majority of the attendees were boutiques from Southern California, including Jack’s Surfboards of Huntington Beach, The Closet of Newport Beach and ZJ’s Boarding House of Santa Monica. Out-of-state boutiques such as Zumiez Inc. of Everett, Wash., Bora Bora of Puerto Rico and Design Depot of Toronto also attended the show.
Matt Smith, a sales representative with Los Angeles clothing line Greed, said the show was a good venue for mopping up the last few Fall sales.
“A lot of stores come to this show because they didn’t want to go to [the January] ASR [in San Diego] or MAGIC [International’s February show in Las Vegas],” Smith said. “They feel these shows are too crazy. Also, this show is in their backyard.”
Both buyers and vendors reported that foot traffic had increased from ASR’s 2004 Back-to- School show. Natalie Rendon, women’s sales representative for Foothill Ranch, Calif.–based Oakley Inc., estimated that traffic at her booth had doubled but said most of the traffic was driven by appointments, not walk-ins.
While most vendors noted an increase in attendee traffic, they also said that sales had not grown from ASR’s March 2004 event.
Soft launch
Marketing was not entirely out of the picture at this business-oriented show.
New labels West of Oceanside, Calif., and Ol’ 84 Clothing of Costa Mesa, which both formally launched in 2004, took the opportunity to introduce their brands at the regional show, which they said is as potentially important as the nationwide September show.
“Los Angeles and Orange counties are at the center of skate culture,” said Shannon McGraw, sales and marketing representative for Ol’ 84. “If you do well in these counties, you can take over the world.”
Trend watch
Because Fall clothes traditionally bear darker shades than Summer clothes, Beach Bums’ Kellogg forecasted stores will stock dark T-shirts made lively with splashes of color. Trieste Graham, Beach Bums’ women’s buyer, said she expects blazers and peacoats to be fashion musts for Fall 2005.
She also predicted that women will prefer fashion tops to T-shirts in Fall and that plaids will become more popular.
Bob Abdel, partner and buyer for the influential Jack’s Surfboards, said the Fall previews exhibited at the show were strong but he did not see much that was new. He said short Eisenhower-style jackets could gain popularity in the Fall.
