The show floor’s surf section was humming along Wednesday. The area of the floor home to brands such as Salty Crew, Katin, Rhythm, Roark, Dark Seas, and Jetty attracted steady traffic from both scheduled appointments and walk-ups. The broader surf area of the floor offered similar activity throughout the day.
“What (Costa sales reps) told me so far is foot traffic has been great,” Larkin said. “Versus last year it seems to be up. From a marketing standpoint, we’re trying to spend as much time as possible introducing the brand to new consumers and new accounts.”
For some, Day One got off to a bit of a sleepy start, hampered by winter storms that set off flight delays and cancellations earlier in the week. The transportation issues caused many buyers to push their Wednesday meetings to later in the show, with some vendors expecting show traffic to pick up Thursday.
“Generally, it seems slower today. I think tomorrow will be a better judge (of traffic),” said Marquee Brands Executive Vice President and General Manager of Outdoor Sports Peter Maule. “In terms of actual appointments that showed up today, they’re probably off 25%, but they’re probably coming tomorrow. So, in the aggregate, we feel pretty good since we’ve already booked the appointments.”
The I-SEA booth was very busy during the day, and company co-owner Joey Santley said his team had seen 60 appointments during Day One.
See our slide show below to see which brands, executives and retailers were on the show floor Wednesday. All photos by SES.
Eddie Miyoshi of Former and Rivvia, Dane Reynolds of Former, and Patrick Lloyd of Former and Rivvia.
Team Sun Bum
Rip Curl's Shawn Peterson, Somer Harris, and PJ Connell.
Mike Matey and Mike Jensen of Reef.
Reef's women's Water Vista platform sandal.
Chris Payne of Quiksilver, Rich Fingerhut of new Quiksilver apparel licensee O5, Ryan Mangan of Quiksilver, Bill Dreibelbis of Quiet Storm, Sean Smith of Outdoor Retailer, Bob McKnight of Quiksilver, and Roy Turner of Surf Expo.
Christine Warren, Marc Yamaoka, Josh Barrett, and Sean Fleuriau of Rhythm.
From the Rhythm women's collection for Fall 2024.
DIFF Eyewear's Denean Buno, Allison Miceli, and Emily Phillips.
Dale Rhodes and Jason Rodriguez of Katin.
Mei Kwok and Emily Doyle of Dune.
Jaclyn Schroeder of Quiet Storm.
Garrett Watzka, Shaun O'Meara, Caroline Kirscht, and James Lano of Duvin Design Co.
Ryan Sugihara of T&C Surf, Mark Townsend of Surf Station, Adam Borrello of T&C Surf, Daniel Wheatley and Kurt Wilson of Kurt Werks, the new licensee on the East Coast for Town & Country surfboards.
Miriam Siefken of Salty Cali.
Jed Larkin of Costa.
The King Tide, Catherine, and Kailano styles from Costa.
Roark's Drew Dolkas, Ryan Hitzel, Jason Steris, Mike Wallace, Ryan Sirianni, and Dayna Cottee.
The busy Aloha Collection. booth on Day One of Surf Expo.
Tyler Johnson and Mark Moffett of Rooster Bus, located in Arizona.
Kendra Hardy, John Nakajima, Alyssa Villon, and John Chiu of Hi-Tech in Maui.
Jason Shelton, Mary Miller, and CJ Hobgood of Salty Crew; Dave Cropper of Cinnamon Rainbows; Jared Lane and Courtney Kincaid of Salty Crew; and Tony Lincoln of Third Wave Sales and Promotions.
East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame Inductees.
Surf Expo Show Director Roy Turner during his speech at the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame.
Christina Freberg of Lotus & Luna.
Team I-SEA: Don Dyer, Mark Zabelski, Joey Santley, Shea Lopez, Rachel Dorsey, Allison Singer, Cate Stokes, and Erin Bouchard.
The new Ruby style from I-SEA.
Haircuts at the Dark Seas booth.
Quiksilver's Bob McKnight and Pura Vida's John Gothard.
Joe Hodnicki, Cory Higgins, and Dustin Henry of Jetty.
Dayton De Luz and Leigh Tonai of HIC and Dylan Slater of Firewire.
LG Shaw of Wave Riding Vehicles.
The busy Firewire booth.
Matt Biolos of Lost.
Lost boards at the Lost booth.
Bryce Cope and Lance Varon of Xcel Wetsuits.
Dez Price, Craig Frick, and Matt Keenan of BN3TH.
Brooks Riley of The Critical Slide Society.
A piece from the Boneyard capsule from The Critical Slide Society's Fall 2024 collection.
Jeremy Glik, Elliot Glik, Jim Glik, and Jeff Glik of Glik’s, along with Shop Eat Surf founder and Editor-in-Chief Tiffany Montgomery during a panel on Day One of Surf Expo.
Chris Broders of Dark Seas.
Lyndon Cabellon, left, and Jay Larson, right, of L8night with Choccy interview NJ sales rep Mark Neustadter at the show.
Slowtide's Danny Leder, Simon Aaronson, and Tim Hayashi.
Free Fly's Tanner Sutton and Mike Reilly.
Linsey Cottrell and Thomas Lysengen of Island Water Sports, Phillip Watters of Rip Curl, and Cheyne Cottrell of IWS.
John Gothard of Pura Vida with Mark and Blake Richards of Val Surf.
Bermies founder Uki Deane.
The R1S SUV from Irvine, California-based electric vehicle maker Rivian.
Sean Kelly and Shauna Metz of Bajio.
Bajio sunglasses.
Beth Roberts, Avery Strickland, Nathan Floyd, Jake Hollomon, and Mason Brent of Howler Bros.
Nick Meistrell and Peter Maule of Marquee Brands, owner of Body Glove and Dakine.
Body Glove models showing off various styles from the swimwear brand's 2024 range.
Alex Geittmann of Stanley.
Puffin's Sarah Mackey, Rhi Ferman, Tyrone Hazen, and Julian Davis.
Puffin wetsuit drink holders.
Lines for the customization stations at Smith.
Nick Lhotsky and Joe Comba of Dark Seas with the Mesanko New Jersey retail dynasty - Luke, Grog, Dillon, and Tyler.
Kasey Feller and Trevor Reese of Thread.
Carver's Surfskate Demo Zone at Surf Expo.
Birdwell at Surf Expo.
Reef CEO Gregg Ribatt and President Mike Jensen.
New 4Ocean sunscreen.
Team 4Ocean: Jennifer Fernandez, Stacy Bencomo, Jeff Harvie, Ryan Langhorne, Tony Ernst, and Laura Evans.
One of several fashion shows at Surf Expo.
Derek Miller of Fair Harbor.
Fair Harbor's busy booth.
Keith Bolen, Kent Stevens, and Meredith "Merv" Burch of Cova by Jantzen.
Pieces from Cova's line for Fall 2024.
George Leichtweis, BRA Chair and owner of Modern Skate & Surf; Coco Tihanyi of Surf Diva; D. Nachnani of Coastal Edge; Jaime Gassmann of Order Monster; and Jeff Plattman of CohnReznick discussing holiday performance, clearing through slow-moving inventory, and tech during a panel on Day Two of Surf Expo.
Amy Stickler, Mary Repko, and Sheila Martin of Wallaroo.
Oakley at Surf Expo.
Party Pants showing Summer and Fall 2024 at Surf Expo.
The Pura Vida booth on Day Two of Surf Expo.
Erik Ingersoll of IPD, Leigh Tonai of HIC, and Mark Simpson of IPD.
Bob Rohmann during an AVID showing.
Stephanie Nachnani, Madeline Egbert, Kelsey Ward, and Bunty Lakhani of Coastal Edge.
D Nachnani of Coastal Edge.
Elyse Cornett, Elena Qualls, and Nate Clark of Nomadix.
Javier Arredondo and Anthony Latorre of TOMS.
Kris Kimball and Doug Cole of Keen.
Shape Off participant Scott Busbey on Day One of Surf Expo.
Fahlo's Mikayla Warner and Bianca Foxx.
Fahlo's signature bracelet.
Designing custom hats at Pukka.
Dave Cropper of Cinammon Rainbows with AVVA's Kekoa Cazimero, Josh Lopez, and Charlie Setzler.
