Skateboard / Snowboard Company conventions? How does it work?
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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.
Skateboard / Snowboard Company conventions? How does it work?
Re: Skateboard / Snowboard Company conventions? How does it work?
I am not sure if your questions are directed at carrying other companies products such as Element, Hurley, Zero, etc. . or if the questions are aimed at showcasing your own products.
I can tell you that the largest skate and snowboard trade show is ASR. I have attended ASR as a Retailer and exhibitor sales rep. and if you love skating and snowboarding, you are going to have so much fun. It's insane.
Re: Skateboard / Snowboard Company conventions? How does it work?
ASR is the west coast show for the U.S. Surf Expo is the east coast show for the U.S. I believe that both of them have good shows in January every year.
Re: Skateboard / Snowboard Company conventions? How does it work?
Quote:
Originally Posted by dfalk
I can tell you that the largest skate and snowboard trade show is ASR. I have attended ASR as a Retailer and exhibitor sales rep. and if you love skating and snowboarding, you are going to have so much fun. It's insane.
Sorry to get off-tangent, but did you enjoy ASR, Derek? I'm considering attending it this January as a non-buyer retailer to network and see what's up-and-coming, but I'm wondering if spending $400 per person on registration would be worth what I could get out of it. What input can you provide me? (Feel free to PM me if you want, so that we don't hijack this thread.)
Lostwages, as I personally have not attended a tradeshow yet, I have done some pretty extensive research however and here's what I've uncovered from feedback:
Quote:
Originally Posted by lostwages
I know they have conventions that you go to and see all different brands, and pick the one that fits your company, but how does it work? Do you order the shirts, pay upfront?
I believe this depends on the company you are looking to buy from. Some prefer to just sell their entire stock, some prefer consignment (discussed in more detail later in my response). A high majority of companies require that you place a deposit on your order to secure it as well. (I'd estimate the deposit to be anywhere between 25-50% of your purchase order.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by lostwages
Do you have to order bulk to get a good deal?
Once again, this may depend on the company, but typically, and this is standard in several print-related industries; your answer is yes. The more you buy from a company, the cheaper you will receive each item. More volume means more discounts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lostwages
What happens if you can't sell a particular style, can you send it back or are you stuck with it?
This will depend on the company whom you have purchased from, and exactly how you purchased the items. Typically, if you have directly purchased the items from a wholeseller, you will have no guarantee that all of your items will sell, nor will you be able to return those products that gathered inches of dust in your inventory closet. However, if you decide to sell items from a company on consignment, defined (loosely) as an agreement between parties that a reseller will sell as many goods of a wholeseller as possible, while the wholeseller agrees to readmit unsold inventory into their possession, you may be better off. As this is an agreement, a contract would be drafted, with more strict terms than just through direct purchase, but you are more secure in selling your products. This is a two-sided agreement though, so if the wholeseller for one reason or another decides that you are not worth the time and/or money, they may have the right to terminate the agreement, thus dissolving your rights to resell their items. Once again, all of this information is relative to the individual situation, so I am just providing some information based on hypothetical events.
(One more thing to note about purchasing items through consignment, and this may apply to some direct purchases as well, is that I've heard from several people that some exhibitors at these tradeshows are weary of consigning their products to small, first-time buyers. Apparently, most exhibitors are primarily there to see retailers and to network, but they have a propensity to not sell any of their items initially until they see the retailer at the next season's event, knowing that the retailer is serious about what they are doing. This situation also applies in vice versa to buyers as well, in case you were wondering.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by lostwages
Do you think the internet will ever take a huge chunk of the retail clothing market?
I highly doubt it. As much as us on-line retailers would hate to admit it, there still are plenty of people in the world that are insecure about purchasing anything via the internet. I believe that the internet will never take a huge chunk of revenue from the in-person retail clothing market, but it very may well become quite the competition in the near future. That's just my personal opinion though.
I hope this information helped you out Lostwages. If you have any other questions, don't be afraid to ask.
Last edited by jgratil; November 27th, 2007 at 08:24 PM.
Re: Skateboard / Snowboard Company conventions? How does it work?
Quote:
Originally Posted by lostwages
Hey all, got a quick question for you.
I've been thinking about opening a skateboard / snowboard company, and I have a question about selling shirts.
I know they have conventions that you go to and see all different brands, and pick the one that fits your company, but how does it work?
Do you order the shirts, pay upfront?
Do you have to order bulk to get a good deal?
What happens if you can't sell a particular style, can you send it back or are you stuck with it?
Do you think the internet will ever take a huge chunk of the retail clothing market?
Thanks
The ASR Convention is usually the one I go to for Skate and Snowboard Apparel.
I assume you are talking about selling your own label.
Shirts are usually paid up front before shipping, unless you have some sort of credit system in which you cna provide retailers net 30, net 60, or net 90 terms.
Online sales are a good way to start, I think having both or having other retailer carry your line in order to have the customers touch and see your products.
Re: Skateboard / Snowboard Company conventions? How does it work?
Good luck! I work at a retail surf/skate/snow board store. I sell some of my shirts out of there, and they do pretty well, however I think you would be fighting a losing battle if you didnt stock the mainstream companies to get people in the door. You most likely will not do great business without some kind of reason for them to come other then your clothes that they will have never heard of.
If you stock snowbards, skateboards... etc.... then you will prob need accessories like sunglasses, goggles, etc... also. These are pretty tough to break into as a start up business but going to a tradeshow you can probably get your foot in the door.
How it works at our store is this : You get hooked up with reps....these reps will bring you catalogs, come by your store and try and sell you things, sometimes they will even ship you stuff you don't want...just to make you either pay for it or ship it back to them. They also have minimum order amounts when you 1st start off, but after that you can order smaller amounts although you still will have minimum order amounts. That is pretty much how it works.....at least at our store.
I honestly don't think the online retail store will ever truly take more then a small piece of the pie as far as sales. (However, people like Life Is Good, and Johhny Cupcakes and a handfull of others are proving this wrong)
Look at how many little companies pop up daily online. The mere fact that someone can make a shirt that says I HEART BEER and sell them makes it impossible for people to take online companies seriously. People will jump into anything they think they can make a quick buck in by doing no work.
Re: Skateboard / Snowboard Company conventions? How does it work?
Quote:
Originally Posted by dfalk
I am not sure if your questions are directed at carrying other companies products such as Element, Hurley, Zero, etc. . or if the questions are aimed at showcasing your own products.
I can tell you that the largest skate and snowboard trade show is ASR. I have attended ASR as a Retailer and exhibitor sales rep. and if you love skating and snowboarding, you are going to have so much fun. It's insane.
Check out ASR's website.
It's glad to knowing that someone have attend ASR, I often browse their site especially EXHIBITOR list, I found many brands interest me to distributing here in Indonesia. if you act as exhibitor sales what brand you carry, and can you help me to contact some brand on my behalf for becoming their distributor in My country.
Also If I want to promote our product in ASR there's any Booth for joining? because it's hard to get Visa for USA ( and europe)especially in september, last year I failed to get Visa for visiting EICMA in ITALY
This is a discussion about Skateboard / Snowboard Company conventions? How does it work? that was posted in the Offline Retail and Tradeshows section of the forums.
Skateboard / Snowboard Company conventions? How does it work? 
