If exhibitors at the recent Action Sports Retailer Trade Show in San Diego had it their way, young people would stuff their closets with nothing but the likes of Toes on the Nose zippered shirts, Hurley Girlie gold dusted denim jeans or studded “Rock Star” sandals from Sugar Shoes.
Let’s not forget accessories: Lucy Love has cell phone cases, Alex Goes has Voyager travel bags and Paul Frank Industries has a new watch line with cartoon logos to match his mod-style handbags.
Orange County companies dominated the Action Sports Retailer show, with companies such as Costa Mesa-based Quiksilver Inc., Irvine’s Billabong USA and Rusty and others taking up large chunks of space on the San Diego Convention Center floor. In all, 130 of the 600 companies at the show made the trip down from OC, according to show organizers.
More than 20,000 people attended the three-day show held Sept. 8 to 10, including more than 4,000 retailers and 1,725 international buyers representing 1,080 stores and 60 countries, according to director Court Overin.
The gathering, which takes place three times a year, brings together apparel, footwear and accessory manufacturers, retailers and journalists,this time to showcase the spring 2001 lines made for alternative sports enthusiasts as well as beach goers.
Among the OC newcomers to this year’s show were Evos and Sugar Cosmetics of Irvine as well as Paskewitz Apparel LLC, Greg Noll Oceanwear, Von Zipper eyewear and Electric eyewear, all of San Clemente. Also debuting was the Nike action sportswear division ACG, based in Beaverton, Ore., with offices in Irvine.
The show floor was like a roving circus, with blondes from Mattel Toys Inc.’s Hot Wheels dressed in silver mini skirts, San Diego-based Reef’s bikini babes signing autographs, and brunettes in white feathered hot pants at the disco-style booth of Irvine-based Ocean Pacific.
Once almost exclusively a showplace for surf-oriented pioneers such as Ocean Pacific, Quiksilver and Billabong, the trade show continues to etch out more space for the growing skateboard industry.
“The skateboard industry has become a big chunk of our show representing about 30% of our vendors,” Overin said.
The growing alternative sports industry,surfing, skateboarding, motocross and wakeboarding,is fueling edgy new companies and brands such as Huntington Beach’s Blitz Distribution and World Industries, Costa Mesa’s Giant Skateboard Distribution and Shortys of Carpenteria.
“The skate market is creating more opportunities because everybody can do it,” said Angelo Ponzi, president of market tracker Ponzi Group of Trabuco Canyon. The company’s Board-trac study tracks the top selling brands among retailers.
Among skateboarders ages 12 to 24, Ponzi said their favorites are Element and Shortys skateboards, denims by JNCO Jeans USA and footwear by DC Shoes Inc. and Osiris Shoes.
“The skateboard market is exploding,” said retailer Thomas Brown, who heads up a nine-store chain of 17th Street Surf and Pride Surf Shops in Virginia Beach. “I’ve always sold skateboard products and it’s been a factor, but it’s taken off in the past three years along with extreme sports. It’s more viable for kids who are not near the beach. These kids are out there every day on the street board riding.”
Thomas said skateboard-related items have grown to about 20% of one of his store’s floor space with a large part of that coming from the footwear companies.
The industry continues to grow as companies add new categories such as juniors, women’s, girls, boys and toddlers lines to their businesses.
From Quiksilver’s sprawling booth, Chief Executive Robert McKnight surveyed four of his company’s brands on display: Roxy for juniors, Raisin Company juniors swim, QS Silver Edition men’s wear and the new Alex Goes women’s line. Quiksilver’s latest acquisition, the Hawk Clothing skateboard line for boys and young men, made its debut at the show nestled among the core skateboard maker on the other side of the floor.
“The lines are all cranking,” McKnight said.
McKnight said he is upbeat about the company’s Alex Goes women’s line. It caters to customers that have more money to spend than those who wear his junior’s Roxy line, he said. Roxy broke the $100 million annual sales mark last year and represents roughly a quarter of Quiksilver’s business.
Around the corner from Quiksilver was a fun loving fictional gal called Lucy Love. Think Brigitte Bardot meets Gidget. Resting on a chair in front of the pink heart-shaped window of her booth is the juniors line’s creator, Holly Sharp. This year, she showed off her new lingerie line, Lucy’s Sleepover. There’s also a group of clothes made out of “ugly” retro 1970s prints for the girl who skateboards, she said, as well as the Mardi Gras collection for the jet set group.
Sharp recently hooked up with distributors Aleskar Inc. in Japan and DiVerse Group in Vancouver, British Columbia, which plan to buy her clothes and sell them to targeted boutiques as well as build stores within stores. The first is set for January in Tokyo.
“Since the day we started, we have had big interest from the Japanese market,” Sharp said.
Lucy Love is also kicking off its development of a new store within a store program domestically to showcase its merchandise here. Six locations under construction including one for Jack’s Surf Shop’s new junior’s store, Jack’s Girls. The initial goal is 16 stores including at least four each in California, Hawaii and two in Japan. n
