Brother of Pool Founder Plans Show
The world of trade shows always seems to be growing. Ryan Walker, the 25-year-old brother of Pool Trade Show founder Ronda Walker, said that he plans to debut a trade show. His project, United Trade Show, may revive the halcyon milieu of the first Pool trade shows in 2001, according to Walker.
The show will concentrate on new and emerging brands and plans to exhibit in some of the same locales as the original Pool shows.
Walker worked as a salesman for Pool since the organization’s founding in 2000. He left the company on Oct. 6, according to Pool director Mindy Wiener. Ronda Walker left the organization in July 2006, less than one year after the show was purchased by Advanstar Communications, the parent company of the MAGIC Marketplace trade shows.The market for streetwear trade shows has become more crowded, said Aaron Levant, president of the Agenda Trade Show, which produces events in San Diego and Tokyo. One of the most important players in this game is MAGIC. Its streetwear section produced during its August 2006 show was deemed a big success, since important streetwear brands Obey Clothing, based in Santa Ana, Calif., and Los Angeles–based Fresh Jive exhibited there, according to Levant.
“I used to think the market was wide open,” Levant said. “But now there is a general consensus that MAGIC’s streetwear is the place to be.” Levant’s showroom business, also called Agenda, represents Fresh Jive.
Pool is forecasting to double its typical crowds of retailers when it moves from its most recent home at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. It will put down stakes in a compound of climate-controlled tents across the street from the Las Vegas Convention Center, where the MAGIC Marketplace is held. The move is scheduled for Feb. 13–15, 2007. “We’re putting a focus on new designers,” Wiener said. “Pool will focus on what it always has done—being the incubator of new brands.” —Andrew Asch
