The Hurley exhibit at the Agenda Show. Photos by Brian Addison.
Tequila-Rose Star said her UK-based gothic clothing brand, Killstar, was like the black sheep of the Agenda Show.
And she’s probably right, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. People popped in and out of her booth throughout the day Thursday searching for something different among the endless aisles of skate attire, shoes and active wear.
The Agenda Show, which started yesterday and runs through today at the Long Beach Convention Center, offers an exclusive outlet for buyers, distributors and press to check out merchandise relevant to the worlds of skateboarding, surfing and alternative cultures. The show also takes place in Las Vegas and New York City.
Those who were lucky enough to gain access into the show saw designs and purchased merchandise from hundreds of brands like Doc Martens, Adidas, Dickies, Glamour Kills and Hurley, as well as smaller, less common names.
As she stood in front of shirts with pentagrams and studded vests, Star said that the Agenda Show gives up-and-coming brands like hers the chance to be discovered. There, she said, store representatives can decide if clothing brands are a good fit for their shops.
“This is the first time we’ve ever done the Agenda Show, but we feel like this is expanding our view on where we can be,” she said. “We’re kind of the odd ones out but it’s a good expansion for us because it’s a new territory. It also gives us good exposure in the United States since we’re from the United Kingdom.”
Dennis Bence, who co-owns Killstar with Star, said the feedback they got at the show was overwhelmingly positive.
“People are loving our quality and just how different we are,” he said. “Our stuff has diversity. We have conventional clothing, like street wear, and more alternative stuff, like leather. It’s not like anything else around. We stand out, and hopefully for all the good reasons.”
Bethany Zollner, a representative of Doc Martens, said the show is just as important for bigger-named brands.
“There’s a lot of exposure around Agenda, and it’s an awesome show to see what’s trending,” she said. “We pick up on that and see the trends that get started, and that helps us with our brand. A lot of our accounts know we’re here and come see us here, so that’s really beneficial, too.”
Zollner said that because Long Beach has a great surf and skate culture, it was an ideal fit for the Agenda Show.
Sasha Wheatcroft, the U.S. representative for Killstar, said since the show travels to the East Coast and West Coast, it allows different perspectives.
“For us, the West Coast version of the show is really good because a lot of the styles that we do feed into the West Coast attitude of being more in your face,” she said. “The East Coast stores are somewhat more boring, even though I don’t really want to say that. There’s just more attitude on the West Coast, and that definitely works with our brand.”
The Agenda Show will travel to New York City from July 21 to July 22 and Las Vegas from August 18 to August 20. Registration for buyers, distributors and press is open now on www.agendashow.com.