GirlRider was a winner of LAUNCH, a new product section of Surf Expo one of the biggest trade shows in the surf industry. A few months ago I submitted GirlRider in a contest for new upcomming designers and last week I found out I won! So I got a free booth, marketing, write ups and logo placement in the show.
The show itself was huge, much bigger than ASR which I had done the week prior. I opened a few new accounts, met about 5 women who are riders that want me to sponsor them. There was a very large wake, kite and boating presence as well as some gift stuff too. The LAUNCH section was cool, we had 10 winners out of about 100 applicatants. Most were good quality and we had a lot of fun together as the new brands.
They were doing some crazy stuff at the show, out back with wake boarding tricks in a huge pool with rails and ramps. Needless to say I was completely spent after doing 2 back to back shows. But I did not open as many accounts as I needed so I jumped into the THREAD show in SF the following weekend, 9-23. That show as just OK in terms of business, I thought it would have been business to business but it was more of a trunk show. Once I figured that out it made more sense.
I'm not sure whats next, maybe the SFAM show in October, but I need to get down to LA for more exposure or to Project in Vegas. We'll see, but I am working with 3 reps, got a new one if Florida and one in Northern CA. Also I'll be working on sponsoring some riders here in the next couple weeks. Stay tuned for more...
Some of the hot new brands and cool people I met:
- Skull Candy - they rock! hot product, great people
- Cardboard Robot - incredible artwork (blows away Upper Playground) fantastic printing techniques
- Wake surfing - surf behind a boat with no ropes, forever....
- Pro Kayaker - this girl rocks! Check out the drop off, I will find a way to sponsor her.
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