Year-Round Surfwear Catches Wave of Spring Trade Shows
Surfwear isn’t just for summer anymore. And, in another sign of the style’s growing importance to retailers, planning is underway for trade shows that could put more beach-influenced attire on store shelves during the back-to-school season.
Atlanta-based Surf Expo, best known for staging East Coast shows, this week announced plans for a new surf apparel trade show at the Anaheim Convention Center in March 2002. Laguna Beach-based ASR Trade Expo, which has dominated West Coast surf apparel shows, also is planning a new exposition.
Both shows would target manufacturers hoping to display their new designs during a narrow window in March when retailers are writing orders for the back-to-school season. Southern California’s $2-billion surf apparel and accessories industry traditionally has revolved around trade shows that pushed new apparel into market during weeks leading into the make-or-break summer months and the important winter holiday season.
Because of the expense involved, manufacturers and retailers typically greet talk of new trade shows the way surfers respond to a flat ocean. But Surf Expo Director Lori Kisner said the industry is open to the added cost if the show will bolster back-to-school sales prospects.
“I’ve talked to more than 100 people about the [March] idea and not one has said ‘I don’t want it,’ ” Kisner said. “Our research shows that between 25% and 30% of business is now occurring during the [back-to-school season], and Quiksilver tells us that upward of 30% of its business is back-to-school.”
Surf apparel--including board shorts, T-shirts and tank tops--continue to make a powerful summertime fashion statement. But surf apparel also has evolved into “a legitimate back-to-school business,” said Scott Daley, vice president of marketing for Hermosa Beach-based Body Glove. “And that’s the angle Surf Expo is using to create a new show. It’s all based on timing.”
“Fall already is the primary selling season for most of the bigger companies,” said Bob Hurley, founder of the Costa Mesa-based Hurley surf apparel line. But, because of timing issues, “there hasn’t been a good trade show,” Hurley said.
“Vendors aren’t ready in February to show their back-to-school line,” said Chris Saenz, a buyer for Huntington Surf & Sport, which operates three Southern California surf and skate stores. “So we’d love a show when vendors are ready for us.”
Surf Expo unveiled plans for its March 2002 show early this week, prompting an immediate response from ASR Trade Expo, which hosts shows in San Diego in September and in Long Beach in February. “We do have something in the works for March 2002,” said Court Overin, general manager of VNU Expositions, which operates the ASR shows. “The manufacturers want a venue to show their [back-to-school] products, and retailers want a show that’s convenient and well-timed. We plan to put it in front of [the surf industry] in the next week.”
Surf Expo’s proposal is expected to put pressure on the Dana Point-based Surf Industry Manufacturers Assn. The trade group historically has endorsed Surf Expo shows held on the East Coast and ASR shows on the West Coast. “There are going to be some anxious moments at SIMA because many of its members will support this new show,” said one SIMA member.
Surf Expo claims support from such surf industry stalwarts as Quiksilver, Hurley and Body Glove for its Anaheim show. Overin countered by describing industry support for VNU Exposition’s still-evolving show as solid: “Half of the space we’ve planned for is already committed.”
Surf Expo’s planned incursion into ASR territory highlights the increasingly competitive nature of trade shows in general. Dutch conglomerate VNU Corp. acquired the ASR shows in 2000, and Surf Expo now is part of DMG Media Group, an arm of England’s Daily Mail and General Trust. DMG Media Group also plans to host a swimwear trade show that could bump up against ASR’s existing shows. “DMG doesn’t want to hear about somebody saying we can’t go west of the Mississippi,” Kisner said. “They’re in the business of producing trade shows, no matter where they occur.”
VNU Expositions earlier this year postponed plans for a back-to-school show in New York City in 2002. “The dates we arranged didn’t work for the industry, so that’s on hold until 2003,” Overin said. “But the venue we have planned [in Southern California] in 2002 is more cost-effective than what [Surf Expo] is talking about.”
The shows being proposed for next March would only deal with clothing--not surfboards, footwear and other accessories marketed through existing trade shows.
