Press Release:
Prepare for LAUNCH LA, The Trade Event For The West Coast Lifestyle
Santa Monica, CA (October 24, 2011)—LAUNCH LA will be held at the historic Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California on July 25–26 in order to provide a select group of design-driven brands, influential buyers and media a needed alternative to the trade shows currently available on the West Coast.
The event is a departure from the conventional concept of trade shows, offering the press and key retail buyers a distilled, first look at game changing products at the true beginning of the buy/sell cycle. LAUNCH LA will present those offerings in a way that’s evocative and easily digestible, enabling attendees to quickly discern apex items and brands that lead the market.
LAUNCH LA is a juried event and our panel of experienced and influential experts will screen each company based on quality, design and originality in order to ensure the best product assortment from leading men’s and women’s contemporary fashion labels, footwear and accessories brands, lifestyle and action sports lines, as well as swim, apothecary, and technology collections.
In order to offer a level playing field for young designers and emerging labels, each exhibitor will be limited to either a single or double studio space where they can create enticing, unique environments to display their brand’s highlighted product and company DNA.
“The market is rich with fresh creative talent, and that’s exactly what this show celebrates,” explains Josh Hunter, Head of Sales and Marketing at LAUNCH LA. “Working as a magazine editor for six years, I covered countless trade shows and realized that ultimately each brand’s collection could be defined by one or two directional items. With LAUNCH, we encourage our exhibiting brands to distill their presentation down to these pinnacle items in a manner that caters to time-pressed media and retail accounts looking to identify leading trends at the very front end of Spring/Summer selling cycle.”
The first five LAUNCH LA jury members to be announced are Gotcha Founder Michael Tomson; Saturdays Surf Co-founders Morgan Collett, Josh Rosen and Colin Tunstall; and Jeff Yokoyama, who founded Maui & Sons, Pirate Surf, Modern Amusement, and most recently Generic Youth.
“What do you bring to the table that is substantially different?” asks Tomson, who has been an advocate for innovation in the surf lifestyle market for decades. “You have to do one thing better than anybody else. That’s critical.”
For more information on LAUNCH LA, contact Josh Hunter at (910) 200-0454 or jhunter@launchshow.com. Visit the Launch LA Web site at: launchshow.com
