THE MEETING: Katie Wibben of Burton shows some of the line’s upcoming styles to Won Suh of Left Lane Sports.

THE MEETING: Katie Wibben of Burton shows some of the line’s upcoming styles to Won Suh of Left Lane Sports.

AGENDA

Surging Retail Traffic & New Lines Debuts

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SHINE ON: A neon-lit Agenda sign lighted the way to the two-day show in Long Beach, Calif.

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EL REY: The hot-rod car named El Rey was one of the art exhibits at Agenda.

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THE DEBUT: Mandy Fry shows some new looks from Amuse Society. The women’s surf fashion brand showed at Agenda.

Agenda has always staked a claim to being the go-to place for streetwear and action-sports clothing, and it defended that position this year by attracting a host of big-name retailers and a wide array of apparel outposts.

That was evident during the July 10–11 run of the show at the Long Beach Convention Center.

Buyer delegations hailed from majors such as

Nordstrom; national chain stores such as Pacific Sunwear, Zumiez and Urban Outfitters; e-commerce stores such as Nasty Gal, Revolve Clothing and Left Lane Sports; and specialty shops such as Zebraclub in Seattle and Kitson in Los Angeles. There were also overseas retailers and off-price outlets such as Ross Dress for Less.

Vendors reported being thrilled to see their day crammed with back-to-back appointments. “This is the busiest show ever,” said Shaun Neff, founder and chief executive officer of Neff, a line of snow and skate headwear and other accessories that has sold at retailers such as Pacific Sunwear and Tilly’s as well as core boardshops. Neff said his booth hosted more than 250 appointments on the first day of the show.

Agenda is also the place where new labels hoping to make a splash in the street, surf and skate, and fashion worlds take off the wraps and display their new offerings.

The highly anticipated women’s surf fashion brand Amuse Society, helmed by star surf-industry designers Summer Rapp and Mandy Fry, took a bow at Agenda.

Top boardsports label Volcom formally unveiled its new marketing campaign, “True to This.” It emphasized the exhilaration of boardsports. Volcom’s previous, more rebellious campaign was “Youth Against Establishment.”

Another highly anticipated clothing line, Depactus, introduced its first line at the show. Outdoor-clothing line Patagonia also made its Agenda debut at the trade show, which stages twice-a-year events in Long Beach, Las Vegas and New York.

Agenda also was a place for emerging brands to be seen. The chiefs of Orlando, Fla.–brand Duvin Design traveled across the country to debut their line at the show. “A lot of the bigger stores were here,” said Austin Duvall, co-founder and creative director of the brand. “It was good to get our name out.”

More female fashion

Agenda WMNS, the show’s section devoted to women’s fashion, grew from 50 booths last January to 60 booths this July, said Vanessa Chiu, Agenda’s director of women’s sales and marketing.

Aaron Levant, Agenda’s president and founder, said that more booths exhibited at the July show compared with the January show. However, he declined to say how many more booths exhibited at the recent show.

In a departure from the way the floor was organized in the past, some booths were set up in the outdoor area of the convention center, where food trucks served everything from fish tacos to gourmet grilled-cheese sandwiches and cold-pressed juices.

With lots of buyers perusing the show, many brands said business was brisk, which may be the start of a good second half of the year, said Steve Ward, general manager of O’Neill Men’s brand. “It was a really late spring,” he said of the first half of the year, which was dominated by cold weather in many parts of the United States. “But business was strong for the most part.”

While every vendor came to Agenda hoping buyers would place orders for clothes ranging from Immediates to Spring ’15, many vendors, such as Annabelle Lee of Los Angeles–based See You Monday, said many formal deals would be signed after the show. “This is a great show for brand building and building relationships with retailers,” she said. “I touched base with all of the GMs and DMMs for my best accounts,” she said, referring to the general managers and district merchandise managers that shopped the floor.

Because Agenda is scheduled earlier than many trade shows, some vendors consider it a dress rehearsal for the rest of the year, said Eric Martin, founder of the Los Angeles showroom The Park. “It’s a first show. We work the kinks out, make sure everything is priced right and everything is fully sampled before the primary, contemporary shows start later in the year,” he said.

However, some retailers were placing orders at the show. Roberto Felipe, who works in marketing for Los Angeles–based Crooks & Castles, estimated that 20 percent of his show’s orders were for Immediates. But many retailers also were ordering Spring ’15 merchandise.

Fraser Ross of Kitson said he placed an order for 200 Timberland-brand boots at the show. “Every influential musical artist is wearing Timberland now. It is their moment,” he said of the brand.

Headwear, such as beanies, was important for the Kitson lineup. Ross also requested that New York–based KTAG make caps with “Los Angeles” printed across the front.

What’s hot

Popular trends at the show included “jogger” pants, or bottoms featuring drawstrings and cinched ankles, said Dale

Rhodes, vice president of sales at Katin.

Silhouettes with an activewear edge, such as the sweatpants-inspired jogger, were popular, said James Appleby, a director at Etnies. “It’s becoming a traditional pant silhouette. There’s denim, chino … and a jogger,” Appleby said.

Todd Roberts, co-founder of influential specialty shop ZJ Boarding House in Santa Monica, Calif., shopped Agenda. Popular at his shop are vintage-inspired boardshorts for men, especially those with short, 16-inch out seams and a “scalloped leg,” or an upside-down V at the side of the legs.

“Short-sleeve wovens are still popular,” he said. “Aloha shirts are still super popular, especially if you can steal them from Dad or Grandpa. There are bonus points for having vintage shirts,” he noted.

Neoprene wet suits bearing bright swimwear prints have become highly popular for the women shopping at ZJ. “They are buying it like swimwear,” Roberts said of his female shoppers. “They’re buying multiple colors in the same suit or mixing and matching bottoms and tops. It’s come to the point where I’m calling my Billabong rep and asking, ‘Did anyone cancel their neoprene orders?’”