TRADE SHOWS

Launch LA Goes on Hiatus

GLM, the organizer of Surf Expo and more than 20 other trade shows, announced it is putting its 1-year-old Launch LA trade show on the back burner while it rethinks the concept.

“We are putting Launch LA on hold,” said Roy Turner, senior vice president at GLM Shows. “We still feel strongly about starting a show with premium brands, but we were not getting the traction we wanted. I think we will retain the project. We’re just figuring out a better way to highlight those brands.”

Launch LA’s concept was designed to serve a mix of better activewear, fashion and emerging brands that epitomize the spirit of California. The next Launch LA show had been scheduled to start on July 17 at a location in Santa Monica, Calif.

Last year, Launch LA was held at Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Municipal Airport. Companies occupied some 125 booths inside the spacious hangar, which has been used in the past by Barneys New York for its semiannual warehouse sale. Exhibitors included swimwear brand Mara Hoffman, Skargorn denim and Tallow, a surf lifestyle brand from Australia.

“We got really good reviews, and I so love the Barker Hangar,” Turner said. “We will continue to evaluate the best way to highlight these brands in a venue that maximizes all the resources that GLM brings to the table."

But the show did compete with Agenda, a predominant surf and streetwear trade show that takes place July 25–26 in Long Beach, Calif.

Right now for California, GLM is concentrating on The Boardroom, a surf-oriented show for consumers and the industry at the Orange County Fair Grounds in Costa Mesa, Calif., that will feature surf-oriented hardware and software during its Oct. 5–6 run.