California Apparel News

Several hundred retail buyers turned out for the Action Sports Retailer Trade Expo’s Fall/Back-to-School edition, which took place March 9–10 at the Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Buyer preregistration, with about 1,000 retailers, was slightly higher than the show’s figures for the same time last year, according to officials of ASR, which is based in Laguna Beach, Calif., and produced by Chantilly, Va.–based VNU Expositions Inc. Roughly 75 actionsports companies with 187 lines occupied the 12,000- square-foot exhibitor hall.

ASR’s Back-to-School/Fall show is a pint-sized version of the trade show’s Spring and Fall editions. Nevertheless, the recent show offered a plethora of action-sports lines for young men and juniors by heavy hitters including the Ocean Pacific Apparel Corp., Billabong, Hurley International, O’Neill, Oakley Inc., Redsand, Stussy Inc., Monument, Element, Rusty, Lost Enterprises, Lucy Love and Volcom.

Dick Baker, chief executive officer at Ocean Pacific in Irvine, Calif., said the mood at the show was very upbeat. “Retail sales are getting better, and the overall business trend continues to be strong,” he said.

Many exhibitors said buyers came to the show with their wallets open and pens in hand, especially for the young women’s category.

Classics with a twist

Exhibitors offered Fall/Back-to-School juniors apparel in bright, upbeat colors as well as muted tones, such as rust, dark gray and black. Prints, from retro-inspired large florals to abstract screen-printed artwork, dominated the collections. Last season’s beaded and stud embellishments were toned down, with more attention paid to silhouettes.

Juniors apparel makers continued to emphasize classic silhouettes with preppy fabrications and edgy details. “The look is country club chic with an ’80s twist,” said Directives West retail consultant Shelda Hartwell.

“The surf industry is on an up cycle, and juniors apparel is red hot,” said O’Neill President Kelly Gibson.

O’Neill’s Fall/Back-to-School offerings included polo shirts, plaid oxford shirts, hooded sweaters, twill trousers and corduroy miniskirts. Gibson projected a double-digit sales increase for the young women’s category for the Back-to-School season.

For the women’s category, Oakley offered a contour-waist zip jacket with stitch accents and snap closures, a mermaid skirt, a racer jacket with an embroidered icon accent, herringbone pants with stitched nylon panels, and a jersey knit top with a motorcycle screen print. The company recently added a handful of clean-cut denim styles for the show, said sales rep Nathalie Rendon, who added that the 1-year-old line projects a sales increase of 30 percent.

Lucy Love’s clean and colorful merchandise strategy earned the company a 50 percent sales increase in 2003, said designer Amber Sharp. The better juniors sportswear and swimwear company is hoping for similar sales results for the Back-to-School season, she added.

Sharp showed green tea– and cranberry-tinted hoodies, rolldown skirts, trousers, jackets, and neck warmers in Lycra-blend, thermal and corduroy fabrications to specialty store buyers from Chick’s, an action-sports chain in California’s Inland Empire region; Val Surf in Los Angeles; and Huntington Surf & Sport in Huntington Beach, Calif.

The young men’s category is still not as trend-driven as the juniors market segment, so surfwear manufacturers have focused on increasing their dollars in denim and wovens, said Carrie Harris, Directives West retail consultant for young men’s apparel.

Woven and cotton poplin shirts, sweaters with contrast panel construction, loose-fitting pants, and industrial denim proved strong sellers for Back-to-School.

Retailers upbeat

Retailer Jim Vaughn, owner of the Whalebone Surf Shop in Nags Head, N.C., came to the show on the lookout for independent surfwear lines. Although Vaughn’s core show resources were heavy hitters like Quiksilver, Billabong and Hurley, he showed strong interest in buying styles by some of the more independently run action-sports labels, such as Element and Volcom. His shopping list included woven and knit shirts and corduroy pants, as well as T-shirts and sweat shirts.

“Sales were good last year because I bought smarter and cleaned up my offerings,” he said, noting that the store’s budget is up almost 10 percent.

Michael Mangimelli—owner of Boca Man, a men’s activewear and sportswear specialty store in Pacific Palisades, Calif.—said his budget is up 15 percent for Fall goods. Spring business was right on target, leaving room to test some new styles, he said. “We made some changes to our store’s merchandise mix by adding certain styles at higher price points,” he said.

Mangimelli found newness in silhouettes and details but stuck with familiar silhouettes, including knit tops and woven bottoms. He expressed enthusiasm over new styles by Blue Marlin and Petrol Jeans.

The latest action-sports buzz among exhibitors and buyers at the show: Huntington Beach–based Quiksilver acquired skate-inspired apparel and footwear label DC Shoes Inc. The surfwear giant purchased the Vista, Calif.–based action-sports lifestyle brand last week for a total of $87 million in cash and stock, plus a four-year earn-out estimated at $57 million, according to Quiksilver’s public-relations team, The Rose Group in Los Angeles.