California Apparel News

When the Action Sports Retailer Trade Expo shuttered last year after nearly 30 years covering the surf and skate market, the trade show left a void in the market.

Many of ASR’s surf and skate brands spent the last year testing business at several other trade shows—including Los Angeles–based Agenda and Class, the giant MAGIC show in LasVegas, the Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake City, and Surf Expo, the long-standing surf and swim trade show in Orlando, Fla.

Now, a new trade show—with roots in both the surf and skate markets—is set to bow next year in Southern California.Surf Expo parent company, GLM, sent out the first invitations Oct. 24 for a new Los Angeles area fashion trade show, which will be called Launch LA. The annual trade show will debut July 25–26, 2012 at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif.

The trade show will serve a national audience of specialty boutiques and better department stores with a mix of better activewear, fashion and emerging brands that epitomize the spirit of California fashion, said Joshua Hunter, head of sales and marketing for Launch LA.

“The whole idea is to show brands not scared to take chances with their direction. There is a newness and an excitement around them,” said Hunter who left his job as editor-in-chief at action-sports trade newspaper TransWorld Business in July to help lead Launch LA.

Launch LA will reach a maximum of 150 booths, which will be selected by a jury of action sports, designers and fashion executives which include such as Michael Tomson co-founder of surf brand Gotcha and Jeff Yokoyama of OrangeCounty brand Generic Youth (and founder of Modern Amusement).

All of the show’s details have not been confirmed, Hunter said. But most Launch LA booths will be sized either 10x8 or 10x10 and will cost under $3,000. Vendors will be invited to show their most directional pieces and capsule collections at the small booths.Booths design will land somewhere in the middle ground between a minimal look of a rack and some seats and other shows which offer vendors a lot of brand expression. Booths will be organized around a central lounge where DJs will play music.

GLM felt confident in producing a new show trade show in a sluggish economy because no company is producing an event which will showcase a California look for menswear, womenswear, lifestyle and apothecary brands, Hunter said.

The debut Launch LA however is scheduled for about the same time as the summer 2012 run of Agenda, the trade show that has been the dominant West Coast marketplace for streetwear,fashion and activewear since the pioneering ASR went out of business. Agenda, which produces shows in Southern California, New York and Japan, has a mix of merchandise that includes fashion, contemporary street, skate and urban lines. Agenda President Aaron Levant said Launch LA could have trouble carving a niche in the busy trade show calendar.

“There is no need for another show on the West Coast or anywhere else in the U.S., for that matter,” he wrote in an email. “As it stands, there are too many shows going on and retailers are struggling to get to them all.”

But Hunter said Launch LA will not compete with Agenda because it will offer more women’s fashions and lifestyle goods.

Jason Bates, who produces the Class show, declined to comment on Launch LA, but added that his show is currently on hiatus while he looks for new dates and venues. Before ASR shuttered, Bates produced Class@ASR, a show-in-show at ASR featuring contemporary streetwear collections. The mini show ran for two seasons.

Don Zuidema, co-founder of veteran premium fashion store LASC, based in West Hollywood, Calif., received an invite to shop the show and he confirmed that he would shop Launch LA just to find if it is appropriate for LASC. However, to keep business, the new show must prove it can produce something no one else can offer. “It’s the opportunity and the challenge of offering retail buyers and press to see something in a new way,” Zuidema said.—Andrew Asch