Dave Hollander, president of Torrance-based Becker Surfboards, checked out clothes from Orange County’s surf and skate brands at the recent Action Sports Retailer Holiday trade show held in Newport Beach.
Hollander said he booked some 10 meetings for the two-day show,five each day,and had time to check out new lines for his stores.
Becker has stores in Huntington Beach and Corona del Mar.
More than 100 companies, including Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc., Billabong USA and O’Neill Clothing, both based in Irvine, had booths showing off clothes, hats and other garb to be sold during the holidays.
“We saw the lines in one shot instead of over a couple-week period,” Hollander said.
The holiday show is a new one for San Juan Capistrano-based ASR, part of the Netherlands’ VNU NV. It was held May 31 to June 1 at the Newport Dunes Resort.
The tradeshow operator said it launched the show after companies asked for something to drive business at the end of the year.
Andy Tompkins, ASR show director, called attendance at the holiday show strong.
“Reps were fully booked, lines were previewed and orders written,” he said.
Several brands used the show as a coming out party, including Costa Mesa-based Factor 54, which sells T-shirts, sweatshirts and hats. The edgy surf and skate brand, founded in 2002, focuses on art and music in its logos and graphics.
Todd Miller, Factor 54 cofounder, said he made a lot of contacts.
“We got to meet a lot of possible new accounts,” Miller said. “Since we are fairly new I wanted to show everyone that it’s time for us to get serious.”
Factor 54, which employs about six people, is looking to expand its line to include denim pants, Miller said.
Another debut was that of Newport Beach-based Atwater, started by two former designers of Costa Mesa-based Hurley International, part of Nike Inc.
Dean Bradley, Atwater cofounder and former art director at Hurley, said the company aims to make a “fresh new line” that mixes art with surf and street wear.
“We want to bring back the quality to the surf tee and board short without the $100 price tag,” Bradley said.
Atwater’s custom fit T-shirts, which have an embroidered Atwater logo on the left sleeve, are made in the U.S. with heavier weight cotton, he said.
The line also includes surf trunks with a button fly instead of Velcro. Plus, there are “city” inspired pieces, such as a khaki and black fur trimmed jacket, and corduroy blazer.
FCB Getting Drafted
Foote, Cone & Belding, whose Irvine office has seen account losses and management churn, is combining with direct marketing shop Draft Inc.
Interpublic Group of Cos., which owns New York-based FCB and 28-year-old Draft, said it plans to meld the two units to form Draft FCB Group, with Howard Draft, founder and chief executive of Chicago-based Draft, as the new chief executive, according to Chicago Business.
Steve Blamer, who last year took the reins of FCB in New York, is leaving.
This is the latest move by Interpublic to revive FCB, a 133-year-old traditional ad shop.
Dominic Whittles, president of FCB West, who oversees the Irvine and San Francisco offices, said he doesn’t see an impact on Irvine.
He said he plans to continue running FCB in Irvine as a “growing entity.” The shop has more than 200 workers in OC.
The shop cut workers last year after losing work with Beverly Hills-based Hilton Hotels Corp. to Young & Rubicam Brands in Irvine and shifting its $230 million Taco Bell Corp. account to FCB Chicago.
FCB in Irvine still handles a lot of Taco Bell work, Whittles said.
The office has been busy with other clients, including Sunkist Growers Inc., Smokey the Bear, Hong Kong Tourism and Doubletree Corp., he said.
