California Apparel News

Most trade show booths are plain 10-by-10 affairs, and they give a clear message: Trade shows are just about business.

A pioneer of the “just-business” trade-show booth, Agenda continues to make strict rules about booth design. While there are a few exceptions, the great majority of Agenda booths are required to have wall heights of no more than 6 feet. “If it’s even half an inch over 6 [feet], then it’s too tall,” an Agenda rule book directs.

But in this strict milieu, Agenda organizers believe there’s room for creative brand building. The trade show started giving out trophies for the most-creative booths. During the last run of Agenda, July 10–11, in Long Beach, Calif., brand Matix received the “Best in Show” award for “Best Large Booth Design.” The brand Civil Regime received “Best Small Booth” design. Both were given a hand-crafted trophy made by jewelry makers Good Wood NYC, said Aaron Levant, Agenda’s founder.

“People have become so creative within the confines of the rules,” Levant said. ”At Agenda, most booths are very small. But they come up with great concepts. We wanted to shed light on that.”

Matix, the winner of the “Large Booth” award, designed a space outfitted with wood-like slats, which gave the booth a cabin-like feel. A neon sign with the word Matix was juxtaposed with the cabin feel of the wood booth. The booth sign riffed off the location of Matix headquarters. Matix is owned by Westlife Distribution in Gardena, Calif., which neighbors Compton, an inland city made notorious by the gangster rappers of the 1980s. The brand’s trade show sign? “Compton Surf Club.”

Civil Regime turned its small booth into a space reminiscent of a locker room, filled with lockers, benches and Astroturf flooring, which looked like a football field.