Discuss the process of getting your t-shirt line into brick and mortar stores and selling offline. Topics include industry tradeshows, events, line sheets, sales reps and other retailing tips and advice.
I attended this year. IMO, it was a waste of time. I spent A LOT of time walking, and it seemed to repeat itself for the most part. There weren't many spectacular "gotta have it" type products, only a handful. Also, it was ALL ABOUT going green...EVERYTHING was "organic" or "green". I'm sick of this gimmick.
This show is geared towards wanna-bes or outdoor extreme-ists. Most likely people with tons of money, that have to have the newest, brand name stuff, yet only venture outside for the annual flyfishing trip for the doctors.
There was one other thing, there was a serious lack of samples and gifts given at the show. I believe one of the reasons we all like to attend tradeshows like this one, is to get a huge bagfull of little prizes to bring back. Stickers, food samples, catalogs, etc. I got one sample granola bar and a Free "Outside" magazine. Did I mention there were 1000s of retailers?!?!
Sorry it was a bad for for you. We attended just to do some research and had a very different experience. Walked out each day with bags full of give-aways and met lots of interesting people. In looking at your website I can see how this might exactly match your outdoor sportman/woman demographic.
It wasn't necessarily bad, just not out target market, in the least. I hope to attend more hunting expos like the Western Conservation Expo in February, and I'm sure it will be a completely different experience.
What kind of research were you doing? Did you find what you were looking for?
We're a new company focused on Baby Boomers. We went to the show to see if it was a venue for us, meet some suppliers, get as many catalogs, price sheets as possible so we'd have some idea of wholesle pricing structure, competition, etc. It's very expensive to exhibit and wanted to make sure we'd get the contact we need to grow our wholesle side. Looks like it is a fit so we're going to try it next Summer. Good luck to you. The guy who does our screening used to own a t-shirt company focused on the hunting/fishing crowd and said he made the rounds of all the Sportsman shows. Think it was called Skeechers.
It wasn't necessarily bad, just not out target market, in the least. I hope to attend more hunting expos like the Western Conservation Expo in February, and I'm sure it will be a completely different experience.
What kind of research were you doing? Did you find what you were looking for?
Ann, I really love your website -- and your designs are beautiful. We have an event here in Atlanta called the "buckarama" that's huge with high traffic (at least usually) and we're going to set up there. Our stuff isn't outdoors (even though we are outdoors-people), but we feature labrador retrievers, so thought it would still be our market.
I would look at the Shot Show in Vegas if you haven't already... Probably quite expensive, but absolutely your market.
Summer Outdoor Retailer Show 
Re: Summer Outdoor Retailer Show 
