Quiksilver Inc. will debut its first skateboarder apparel line, Hawk Clothing, and a women’s line, Alex Goes.
Billabong USA will plunge into the scene with new juniors’ swimwear and wristwatches.
Ruby Kiss will debut as a new girls’ brand for R & S; Trading in Irvine.
And O’Neill will test the waters with a new wetsuit with loose-fitting legs that fit like trunks, for warm-water surfers.
The Action Sports Retailer Trade Show, to be held at the San Diego Convention Center this weekend, is a gathering of manufacturers large and small whose clothing, swimwear, accessories, footwear and hard goods represent the extreme sports and beach lifestyle from surfing and skateboarding to snowboarders and BMX cyclists.
Roughly 130 apparel and accessory companies who all call Orange County home will make the trek south to join dozens of other firms from around the world and showcase new spring lines for some 18,000 attendees, including retail buyers and journalists tracking the latest trends. The Laguna Beach-based trade show, founded in 1981, is a division of Miller Freeman Inc., a subsidiary of United News & Media PLC.
The show, which kicks off on Friday and runs through Sunday, is not only a who’s who among the industry’s top apparel companies such as Quiksilver, Billabong, Volcom, Sole Technology, Rusty and Vans. It’s also a gathering place for top athletes who represent these companies and a showcase for skateboarding with its 10,000-square-foot street course. And it’s a party. This year the trade show’s organizers put together an outside concert behind the convention center featuring gangster rapper Ice T, the Long Beach Dub Allstars and Common Sense.
Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. will stake out the biggest space on the floor.
Hawk Clothing, which is designed for boys and young men, will be in the growing skateboard neighborhood of the floor, near skateboard and apparel makers World Industries from Huntington Beach.
But don’t confuse this line with some of the more edgy stuff.
“It’s not for the hard-core skate kid,” Quiksilver CEO Robert McKnight said. “It’s for the normal guy who is into the sport and does flips and tricks. Not the green-haired, tattooed, earringed kid.”
The line is expected to go beyond skateboard shops.
“Tony Hawk’s name has mainstream appeal with stores like Nordstrom and Pacific Sunwear,” said Dave Rosenberger, national sales manager for Hawk and Quiksilver’s winter sports lines.
Quiksilver will continue to target women with its new line, Alex Goes, designed by Lissa Zwahlen.
Quiksilver has grown its Roxy juniors’ division to a $100 million business. But this line targets an older group, ages 25 to 40, with apparel, footwear and handbags. Zwahlen’s designs include a stretch gingham shirt with zip-off sleeves, reversible skirts, packable jackets and a raincoat with removable coin pockets. The company’s Roxy juniors’ and Teenie Wahine girls’ lines will be the first under the direction of the division’s new head designer and merchandiser, Dana Dartez. This year’s Roxy line has a more mature vibe, she said.
“We are making it more for an older girl,she’s 17,who wants to be 30. She aspires to be older,” Dartez said.
At ASR’s next show, she’ll be expanding the loungewear category from pajamas and camisoles to include bras and panties for fall 2001.
Billabong USA, Irvine, which recently went public on the Australian Stock Exchange, will launch its first swimwear line for juniors and wristwatches for men and women at this year’s show. The 30-piece swimwear line is designed by Cathy Paik. The watch line features both dressy and sporty styles and includes more than a dozen models with prices ranging from $80 to $240.
The spring lines by Lost Enterprises in Mission Viejo have grown this year from about 60 pieces to 90 pieces, said CEO Joel Cooper.
“Spring for us is like our coming out because not only did we recently make a deal with La Jolla Sports, but we’ve installed a new design team,” Cooper said. “So everything for us is new. We have a comprehensive fully coordinated sports line now, whereas before we had mostly board shorts and T-shirts.”
Lost struck a deal with La Jolla Sports in June to become its licensee.
The new design team is headed by former Gotcha MCD designer Jim Zipala, now Lost’s designer for men’s and boys apparel.
The company, founded by surfboard shaper Matt Biolos and surfer Mike Reola, got its start six years ago as an edgy surfboard maker in SanClemente. New at this show will be miniature surfboards designed and shaped by Biolos for Tech Deck. The company, which plans to sell about 300,000 in specialty surf shops, has eight designs on three different shaped boards.
Irvine-based O’Neill has a new Superfly trunk for men, which closes without velcro.
“It’s getting a great response,” said Joey Santley, marketing director. “I actually wore it surfing. It’s insane from a surfer’s perspective.”
The traditional fly system has a tie-up with a Velcro enclosure, but the velcro system can be harsh on the male anatomy, Santley says. O’Neill men’s designer Chris Bolin used a rash guard fabric that’s soft and replaced the Velcro with a flyless enclosure, he said.
Expect to see a lot of citrus colors and brightness in fabrics for O’Neill’s spring juniors’ line, along with rhinestone studs on T-shirts, denim jeans with frayed boot cut bottoms finished in vintage washes and green tints, said Cindi Carper, vice president, design and merchandising.
O’Neill and other juniors’ brands such as Hurley Girlie are designing some of their jeans without waistbands.
“It’s a new fad going on right now,” Carper said.
Mark Tinkess, vice president of marketing for O’Neill in Santa Cruz, says the company has a new series of connected wetsuits that join a traditional top with a loose-fitting trunk-length pant and retail for $159.95.
“People love to surf in warm water in a trunk and shirt, but sometimes it creeps up in the waves and they get sunburned,” he said. “Our designer combined a shirt and trunk together into one garment made out of neoprene.”
But O’Neill’s booth may attract crowds this year for reasons other than apparel and wetsuits.
They also will be equipped with two big-screen monitors for attendees to play a new Pro Surfer game by Mattel for Sony Playstation featuring O’Neill’s logos and surf team. The game is due to hit stores Nov. 5.
“They were working with Billabong, but they pulled out of the deal,” Santley added. n
