California Apparel News

Swim Collective and its sister trade show, Active Collective, have a new owner. Emerald Expositions LLC, the San Juan Capistrano, Calif.–based owner of Surf Expo and Outdoor Retailer, has purchased the Santa Barbara, Calif.–based show for an undisclosed amount from Shannon Leggett, the founder of Swim Collective and Active Collective.

Leggett and his team will join Emerald Expositions.

“The Collective trade shows have grown strongly over the last few years under Shannon’s leadership, and we are excited that they will now join Emerald’s Specialty Sports and Apparel Group, which includes leading trade shows such as Surf Expo and Outdoor Retailer. The Collective shows are truly must-attend events and share many like qualities with our existing brands,” said Darrell Denny, executive vice president of Emerald Expositions, in a statement. “Bringing Collective events into Emerald will allow us to quickly leverage the strengths of all our shows to enhance each individual show and create new and better opportunities for brands and retailers to succeed.”

Founded in 2010, Swim Collective is a biannual trade show focused on the swimwear market. Held in Huntington Beach, Calif., the show features companies such as L*Space, Manhattan Beachwear, SGS Sports, Mara Hoffman and Indah. Leggett launched Active Collective in 2014 with a focus on the activewear and athleisure market. The show is also held biannually in Huntington Beach. Exhibitors include Beyond Yoga, ALO Yoga, Breath by Body Glove, Colosseum, Gaiam, Koral, MPG, Lucy and Prana.

“It is gratifying to see how critical the Collective shows have become to the swimwear and activewear markets,” Leggett said in a company statement. “I am confident that Collective’s exhibiting brands and attending retailers will benefit from Emerald’s presence in overlapping and adjacent markets and also from Emerald’s scale, resources, infrastructure and industry relationships.”

This year Surf Expo celebrated its 40th anniversary. The show, held biannually in Orlando, Fla., was acquired by Emerald Expositions in 2013. In addition to Surf Expo and Outdoor Retailer, Emerald operates more than 80 trade shows, including GlobalShop and the Imprinted Sportswear Show (ISS).

Next January, Active Collective will hold its first East Coast edition Jan. 26–27 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood. Plans include adding a separate section devoted to men’s activewear and athleisure brands.

Other plans in the works include adding a new show for upscale, contemporary swim and resort brands called Beach Collective. The show is set to bow alongside Swim Collective in July 2017 in Huntington Beach. A third edition of the Swim Collective show is being added in November 2017 as well.