California Apparel News

Athletic action was everywhere at the first Action Girl Sports show, held July 17–19 at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, Calif.

Half-pipe ramps were set up for girls, big and small, who flew from end to end on skateboards in search of big air. A gaggle of girls also participated in the OP Girls Learn to Ride event, where pros taught young women how to maneuver skateboards.

There was lots of energy at the trade show, a new girls-only competitor to the much bigger Action Sports Retailer show in San Diego. But many apparel and accessory exhibitors said one thing was missing: buyers.

“The show was well-organized in terms of the sporting events and the athletes, but there weren’t any buyers,” said Julie Erinc, co-founder and president of A+A2, a junior loungewear company that is a division of Oxford, Penn.–based Jamatex Inc. “There was lots of press and independent film producers there [shooting the fashion show]. I never felt such great camaraderie among the people. Had the buyers turned out, it would have been a tremendous show.”

Still, for the show’s organizers, the first-ever event was a great success.

“Overall, everything that we did really exceeded our expectations,” said Jaime Sparks, founder and organizer of Action Girl Sports. “The exhibitors who did a lot of pre-marketing ended up with a lot of sales. One exhibitor, Sugar Kiss, ended up opening an account they weren’t expecting: Millers Outpost.”

Some 2,000 buyers showed up, Sparks said, although 3,500 had preregistered. The event had 92 booths, where exhibitors sold everything from plain T-shirts with catchy phrases to wet suits and surfboards.

Most of the exhibitors were small companies in their infancy rather than the giants of the boardsports apparel world, such as Quiksilver and Billabong.

Sales for some

This was the first trade show for Steve Koehler, who co-founded Scottsdale, Ariz.–based Femme Athletic LLC five years ago to sell T-shirts and athleticwear to women.

To promote his booth, he hired Miss Arizona USA and Miss New Mexico USA, who wore sequined sashes and handed out company literature to passersby. Still, Koehler said, business was slow.

“We’ve had only two orders in two days,” he said. “But then I’ve talked to other exhibitors, and they said that was pretty good.”

The show was better for Sam Lee, owner of 15-year-old Big Bang Clothing Co., a Los Angeles company that makes retrostyled T-shirts, tie-dyed jogging suits, dresses and loungewear. Lee decided to set up a show booth at the last minute, after wagering it would be better to participate in a small show rather than a big event.

“I knew that with under 100 booths, buyers would come and look at every single booth,” Lee said on the second day of the show. “I was kind of disappointed the first day. But today I had a lot of important buyers come in.”

Lee sells primarily to gift shops in big Las Vegas hotels and casinos and at amusement parks across the country. He was delighted to get visits from a buyer representing theme-park operator Six Flags Inc. and from a representative of nearby Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Both were looking for gift-store merchandise and liked Lee’s apparel.

For Lisa Shin, who recently founded Kookie Inc., a Los Angeles T-shirt company, the event was moderately successful.

“We have covered our costs to pay for this show,” she said, holding four order forms that were filled out for her T-shirts with glitter and rhinestone embellishments. Buyers from Coppel Corp., a Calexico, Calif.–based company with 300 stores in Mexico; Delia’s Corp., an Internet shopping boutique; and Ross Stores Inc. stopped by her booth.

But Teri Tolmack, founder of Dirty Girls Active Wear—an Orange County company started in 1997 to sell T-shirts, sweatshirts and caps to female motocross riders and other athletes— wondered if she would come back next year.

In the first two days, she had about 10 buyers stop by her booth to look at her clothing lineup. There were more textile and trim manufacturers cruising by trying to sell their products than there were buyers, she noted.

“It is a little slow compared to a lot of shows we do,” Tolmack said. “I think it is going to take time to build the show.”

Next stop: East Coast

Sparks is planning to make the Action Girl Sports show part of Surf Expo held twice a year in Orlando, Fla.

She is also preparing a March event that will be held near Times Square in New York. And she intends to be back in Long Beach next summer.

“Launching a new concept to the market is a really big deal,” said Sparks, a former skateboard champion. “My goodness— when you think about it, we have launched the first allgirl [apparel trade] show.”