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GIRL POWER – Focus on Females Brings Changes to ASR

For years, Orange County surfwear and other apparel makers have courted girls and young women in the hopes of broadening the market.

The effort has brought dedicated business units, stores targeting girls, sponsorship of female athletes and an influx of women designers into the once tight-knit boy’s club of actyion sports clothes.

And now the trend has brought changes to the industry’s annual trade show and party, the Action Sports Retailer show, held earlier this month in San Diego.

Take a display by shoemaker Etnies, a favorite of scruffy teen skatebrats (read: boys). A group of girls at the booth were designing T-shirts as they sat on plumpy pillows around a sewing machine.

The scene, which could have been a page out of any teen girl’s room, was a far cry from the testosterone-heavy image of Etnies and its guy team riders.

The ode to girls (as female buyers are broadly referred to in the industry) was evident throughout the show. Flowery surfboards, pink helmets, handbags, hats, funky shoes and colorful sneakers abounded.

Also telling is what the show lacked: the pervasive bikini babes of years past. And, in contrast to ASR’s party reputation, the show was tamer than prior ones.

“That’s something we’ve worked for,” said Lora Bodmer, a spokeswoman for the show.

ASR, put on by a Laguna Beach-based division of VNU Expositions Inc. of Virginia, is a meeting place for retail buyers, clothing designers and others in action sports, such as surfing, skate boarding and snowboarding.

This year, about 6,000 buyers and 450 exhibitors attended the 24-year-old show. OC companies, such as Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc., Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc. and Irvine’s Billabong USA, dominated.

But whether a more mature ASR will be the trend remains to be seen.

Some say a slew of back-to-back trade shows left little energy to hype the show. Many exhibitors were fresh off Surf Expo in Florida, about a week before ASR, which ran Jan. 14 to 16.

Even so, things weren’t all tame. After 5 p.m., the scene gave way to a party atmosphere, as in years past. Dickies Girl, part of Fort Worth, Texas-based Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Co., put up a sign reading “free beer.”

Ping-pong balls were flying, magazines had been trashed like confetti on the floor and more people were fleeing their booths.

Attendees were saving up for parties in the evening, said Duke Edukas, co-owner of Surfside Sports in Newport Beach.

But it wasn’t all dullness before the bell rang.

Volcom’s booth theme was “nuts,” as in Volcom’s gone nuts. The workers manning the booth went for a sort of 1980s prom look, wearing ruffled shirts with the sleeves torn off at the shoulders and black bowties. Volcom was serving up peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and assorted nuts, which littered the floor of the booth.

Still, there was a sense of business. You couldn’t get inside of the booth unless you were a buyer. No media interviews.

The vibe at Quiksilver’s Roxy,the standard-bearer for girls surf fashion,was serious. The booth was booked with buyer appointments all day. Peruvian professional surfer Sophia Mulanovich was on hand to promote the brand.

“Quiksilver looked really strong,” Surfside Sports’ Edukas said.

Irvine-based Hurley International LLC, part of Nike Inc., Volcom and Billabong, part of Australia’s Billabong International Ltd., also appeared to have written a lot of orders, he said.

Costa Mesa-based Lucy Love, a maker of swimsuits and other female apparel, did business strictly behind drawn curtains. No snazzy promotions out front.

Amber Sharp, one of Lucy Love’s designers, said the company signed up about 20 new accounts at the show.

“We’re just as happy as we can be,” she said.

Amber Ozinga, who owns Long Beach-based California Leash Co. with her husband, was a hit with her colorful handbags made of wetsuit material and surfboard leashes as handles.

“The girl industry is growing,” Ozinga said.

The bags, designed by her husband, are named after beaches. She modeled the Laguna Beach Bag, which is pink with white hibiscus flowers.

Ozinga said her company does better at the Surf Expo in Florida. But not all of her California buyers make it to the show, she said, so January’s ASR show still is a must.

ASR, in contrast to Surf Expo, has become more of a place to mingle with your peers, she said.

“It’s like, ‘Let’s get together and hang out,'” Ozinga said.

“Back in the olden days you’d write a lot of orders,” said Arty Hargrove, national sales manager for Costa Mesa-based Fly Industries LLC, maker of Black Flys sunglasses.

Now, Fly chases down orders after the show, he said. Exhibiting at ASR is more of a marketing thing, according to Hargrove.

“Everyone has to show their face,” he said.

It doesn’t come cheap. The show can set you back about $15,000, including a booth, freight and hotel rooms for workers, Hargrove said.

The show still is a must, he said.

“This is the biggest show for us,” Hargrove said.

Black Flys, known for their bad boy image, was hawking four sunglasses styles for women. “Big and gaudy,” a la Paris Hilton, is hot, Hargrove said.

The company’s Fly Girls has been around since 1995 and is growing, he said. Men’s sunglasses still make up about 70% of sales, he said.

Sole Technology pulled away from the pack, said Yasemin Oktay, the company’s marketing director. The shoe company had teaser displays downstairs on the main floor, but upstairs it kept its treasures, the fall shoe lineup.

In November, Sole Technology beefed up its marketing by assigning managers to four of its brands, including Etnies Girl. It also signed on two of the best females in skateboarding, Elissa Steamer of Florida and Lauren Perkins of Huntington Beach.

Etnies Girl breaks from Etnies skateboard shoe heritage with styles such as Arroyo, an ankle high moccasin with a cork sole and a beaded E insignia. There also was a more feminine, pleated silk slip-on shoe.

The girl’s line is getting a big push from within the company, according to Patrice Fernandez, Etnies Girl’s brand marketing manager.

“Females who work in the company are really embracing it,” she said.

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