Action Sports Retailer Trade Expo, the San Juan Capistrano-based trade show operator, is revving up for its September show at the San Diego Convention Center.
Thousands of people are expected at the show,the main event for surfwear and other action sports apparel. It runs Sept. 8 to 10 and includes more than 500 brands in some 1,500 booths.
Andy Tompkins, show director, said he expects more urban and street wear brands alongside surf and skate labels, such as Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc., Costa Mesa-based Volcom Inc., Irvine-based Billabong USA and Costa Mesa-based Hurley Inc., part of Nike Inc.
More East Coast urban brands are looking to ASR as “the place to cross over between street fashion and skateboard culture,” Tompkins said.
Street wear companies set for ASR include Live Mechanics and Troop, both of New York, Fountain Valley-based Orisue Clothing and San Diego’s Tribal Streetwear. Other brands debuting include new skate shoe company Supra of Costa Mesa.
“We reach the hip-hop, graffiti and rock worlds, but we also have a small skate team,” said James Germani, general manager of Tribal Steetwear. “Our clientele is lifestyle, urban and skate. So ASR is a good place for us to reach out to wider markets.”
A section of ASR for upstart brands has tripled in size since starting last year. The section, called the GoldBox Mission, is sponsored by Irvine-based Boost Mobile LLC, part of Sprint Nextel Corp.
The area is noticeably absent of flashy booths with couches, TVs and swanky marketing displays found on the rest of the show floor.
Instead, new brands such as Orisue show off garb using a folding table and clothing rack.
Grouping new brands together makes it easier for buyers, said Mark Willingham, alternative retail specialist at Boost Mobile.
360 Moves
Mission Viejo-based 360 Business Consulting made staff changes after picking up an account.
The shop promoted a worker to director of client services and hired a new chief financial officer to help manage its growth, President Ron Zayas said.
Former controller Elizabeth Hernandez now is overseeing clients’ day-to-day work, including marketing, Web work, public relations and advertising.
Recently, the shop was tapped by Los Angeles-based Praxis Computing for marketing work, and just launched its first direct mail campaign.
Young Again
Laguna Beach-based Young Company is up and running after splitting from Los Angeles-based the Phelps Group to go it alone.
Earlier this year, Young Co. founder Bart Young said he decided to separate Young from Phelps so he could “more intently serve a select group of key clients with a level of involvement that takes full advantage of his experience and hands-on style.”
Some of Young’s clients include Seiko Instruments Inc., Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. and MWS Precision Wire Industries Inc. The shop also recently picked up three new accounts, including Costa Mesa-based Commerce Energy Group Inc.
In 2003, Young combined his shop with Phelps and oversaw the Laguna Beach office as executive vice president.
Young Co. now has seven workers.
Out of the Barn
The White Barn Group in San Marcos just launched a Web site for San Juan Capistrano-based J.F. Shea Therapeutic Riding Center.
Tim Hackbardt, founder of White Barn Group and former marketing executive at Lake Forest-based Del Taco Inc., said the site lets the riding center sell online tickets to its annual country barbecue fund-raiser, which typically draws 1,600 people and raises more than $325,000.
White Barn recently picked up marketing work from J.F. Shea after beating out three other shops in a review, Hackbardt said.
Creative Lab Win
Lake Forest-based The Creative Lab bested several undisclosed shops to pick up work from Credit Union Direct Lending, which works with credit unions on auto loans.
Tony Serna, the Creative Lab’s vice president of creative, said the shop created some specifications for the review, which got the credit union’s attention.
“Having extensive experience working with financial institutions enabled our work to have more of an insider’s perspective, which paid off in the end,” he said.
The Creative Lab will be handling marketing and advertising work.
Register Web Changes
Freedom Orange County Information, the Santa Ana-based unit of Irvine’s Freedom Communications Inc. that publishes the Orange County Register, continues to make online changes.
Freedom recently revamped its Web site for the Register. Changes include more breaking news, multimedia, searchable classified ads and events listings.
The company also launched DiscoverOC.com, which is aimed at visitors or residents who want things to do.
The site includes dining listings, videos and a blog to give perspectives on local amusement parks and nearby destinations, such as Universal Studios.
