The tough market for surf-inspired and other action sports clothing created a different mood earlier this week at the winter Action Sports Retailer Show—one of less show and more business.
ASR, which brings apparel companies together with buyers from all around the world, was held Wednesday and Thursday at the San Diego Convention Center.
Orange County companies dominate the show, including: Irvine-based Billabong USA, Costa Mesa-based Volcom Inc., Irvine’s Lifted Research Group, L*Space America LLC of Irvine, Cypress-based Vans Inc. and Irvine-based La Jolla Inc., which makes clothes under the Rusty and Lost labels, among others.
There was less partying and more business at this year’s show, along with a sense of optimism, despite lagging sales among clothing makers and retailers.
Several companies at ASR said January sales were stronger coming off of a weak holiday season.
“January was significantly stronger than we expected,” said Ryan Moore, sales representative for Huntington Beach-based Sullen Clothing, which sells tattoo artist-designed clothing.
This year’s show had 550 brands represented, fewer than last winter’s show. But the number of attendees was on track to be up from last year. Usually about 18,000 people go to ASR.
The show had three areas—ASR’s main floor, Class@ASR upstairs, targeted to higher end buyers, and Crossroads across the street for clothes inspired by skateboarding.
Nielsen Co.’s Nielsen Expositions, ASR’s owners, focused on making the show more conducive to business since it bought ASR a couple of years ago.
“We’ve definitely been trying to take the show that way,” said Andy Tompkins, vice president of Nielsen’s Sports Group, based in San Juan Capistrano.
ASR was shortened to two days instead of three and the show moved to midweek, for less of a weekend party type atmosphere.
“We found that most of our buyers like to work a professional work week, Monday through Friday,” Tompkins said.
Class@ASR’s atmosphere lent itself to business.
The Class@ASR booths were simple, adorned with art and set up with tables and chairs and racks of clothing to show buyers.
Costa Mesa-based RVCA Clothing and L*Space were among the companies set up at Class@ASR.
Class@ASR attracted more of the boutique and higher-end buyers, said Scott Madison, cofounder and designer for Costa Mesa-based Atwater Collection. Atwater also had space at ASR.
“We wanted to have our footprint in both places so we could try and catch all the buyers,” he said. “But most of our business is done at ASR.”
Some say Class@ASR could be the future of ASR.
“We feel that Class is the next generation of shows,” said Albert Rosario, marketing manager for LRG. “It’s more sophisticated and cool.”
