California Apparel News

ORLANDO, Fla.—Coming off what was reportedly a strong holiday season, attendees and exhibitors arrived at Surf Expo, held Jan. 6–8 at the Orange County Convention Center, to find a new trade show landscape.

With the demise of the Action Sports Retailer Trade Expo, Surf Expo becomes the biggest action-sports trade show in the country. Nipping at its heels, however, is the Agenda trade show (see following story here), which debuted a larger format with dates directly coinciding with Surf Expo.

Many key brands opted to participate in both shows. A handful, including Hurley, chose to support only the Surf Expo show, while a few, including Volcom, sat out the East Coast show. Despite a soft opening day, show organizers reported a more than 9 percent increase in attendance over the same show last year. Exhibitors said they were pleased with the retailer turnout, especially on the show’s second day.

“With Agenda being held the same days, there was potential for the retailer base to be split,” said Mike Martin, vice president of sales and marketing for Ezekiel. Although the bulk of buyers on the show floor proved to be East Coast and international buyers, some West Coast retailers made the trek east, including Jack’s Surf Shop and Sun Diego.

The show—which attracted biggies such as O’Neill, Quiksilver, Roxy, Rip Curl, Vans, Reef and Billabong—greeted buyers with a segmented apparel offering. The show was too early for some brands to show their Fall 2011 collections, so retailers were met with exhibitors showing Immediate, Summer and Fall apparel.

Nearly all exhibitors showing Fall 2011 lines reported increased prices to reflect the rising costs of Chinese labor and cotton. “It’s a perfect storm right now,” said Ezekiel’s Martin. Some brands noted they were leaning more heavily on synthetic fabrics and cotton blends, but virtually all said that wholesale costs for goods would go up by 10 percent to 20 percent for Fall 2011.Root bound

Regardless of the season, however, exhibitors emphasized heritage, accessibility and a dose of newness in their product offerings.

Quiksilver—which came to Surf Expo with its DC, Roxy, Quiksilver, Quiksilver Waterman, QSW and Quiksilver Girls lines—was strong on a back-to-basics approach to product. Roxy, which in recent seasons has pulled back on its more fashion-forward offerings in favor of beach-oriented staples, debuted a revamped denim collection.

Deanna Jackson, senior vice president of sales, said the brand is narrowing its focus to select core staples such as denim and fleece. She said the brand is looking to do a few things well. Denim programs in the past took too wide of an approach to the market. “We had to refine our approach hellip; to get a point of differentiation. Our focus was to really ’beachify’ our denim.”

For the Fall 2011 season, Roxy’s denim features upgraded fabrications and unique touches, such as retro patchwork and boardshort-style drawstrings for some styles. The collection—which includes a tight selection of skinny, boot-cut, flare and shorts silhouettes—will retail for $44.50 to $69.50—roughly $10 more than previous Roxy denim offerings. “We can’t compete in price. In response to fast fashion, we got back to the beach. It has been proven time and again that we need to be true to our DNA—no matter what is going on in fashion,” Jackson said.

Rusty, which has found success with its Wired Series of garments that feature built-in headphones and MP3 jacks, debuted surf shirts that include waterproof versions of the technology. The shirts, which are part of a 2011 initiative to broaden the scope of the Wired Series, wholesale for $49.50. Another focus for the brand is skate. With the launch of its So Rad capsule of skate-inspired apparel for men and the signing of its first team rider in approximately five years, Rusty is making a play for the core skate business.

Vans came to Surf Expo with a new women’s “Made in the USA” denim program, which features a tight capsule of jeans made in Los Angeles. The four styles of denim, including an extreme skinny, cropped cigarette jean and a slouchy take on the skinny jean, will wholesale for $22 to $28. “We had denim before, but we struggled with consistency in wash and fit,” said Sylvia Niles, Vans’ category director for girls.

The brand’s men’s denim did not receive a similar reinvention. Instead, the men’s outerwear offerings for Fall 2011 were expanded to include elevated fabrications and more fashion-forward silhouettes.

Split, the Santa Ana, Calif.–based surf brand, reintroduced itself to the market at Surf Expo after its acquisition by Life Distribution in 2010. The brand showed a men’s line packed with basic surf apparel—woven plaid shirts, walk shorts, boardshorts—and a decidedly more boutique-friendly women’s line. The collection—which includes vintage-inspired bucket bags, skinny moto-style jeggings, oversize Navajo-print cardigans and cotton lace tops—wholesales for $13 to $44.

Billabong, which brought its Summer goods to the show, gave retailers a heads-up on new projects set to debut for Fall, including a new Bob Marley collaboration for the women’s collection, which builds on the success of the earlier men’s collaboration. Retailers will get their first peek at Fall offerings from Billabong and its stable of brands, which includes Element and Element Eden, at a special invite-only event in Southern California later this month.