Features

Know?Show West

What’s hot for Fall ‘08

By Sara Tollestrup

On Super Bowl Sunday, a.k.a. Feb. 3, Roberta Rodger and I hopped in her car and headed for the Know?Show in downtown Vancouver. The Know?Show is an exhibition that brings retailers, industry and media together to check out what over 160 brands will be offering next season. I guess everything in Canada has to be divided the way the NHL does it (even on Super Bowl Sunday), so there are two Know?Shows a year—a western exhibit in Vancouver and an eastern edition in Montreal.

In the middle of downtown Vancouver, Roberta and I simultaneously looked over at each other and asked, “so where is the Know?Show?” It wasn’t really a lack of information that had us asking, it was more disbelief. This year’s show took place at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre, a place more familiar to surgeons and CEOs than team managers and retailers. As we rolled up to the 5 Sails, our doubts about the location were subdued since there were a bunch of guys hanging out at the entrance with tight jeans and skateboards. Walking through the front doors, things seemed right as nearly everyone had a Coors Light in hand. In some industries, drinking lager at 2 p.m. is reserved for Super Bowl Sunday, but in the snow industry it’s the norm, and it served as confirmation that we were in the right spot.

Just beyond the beer drinkers is where the real work was getting done. An artist by the name of Tim Barnard was at work on a massive mural. He was using an XXL sharpie to draw a comic book-like design of cool little characters. I haven’t done his work justice with that description so have a look at the photos, or check out Tim’s website at www.timbarnard.com for more. Tim told me that he had the length of the show, Feb. 3-5 to finish the piece, but with the kind of detail he was putting into it, three days didn’t seem long enough.

More real work was getting done at the booths. I imagine that the scene was a lot like that of the Vegas SIA show the week before, but likely a hundred times more lowkey. Name a skate/snow/lifestyle brand and they were there. Local companies like RDS (Centre Distribution) and Stepchild Snowboards had all of their next season’s goods on display. I was stoked because I got to have a look at JP Walker’s new pro model with Stepchild—it looks awesome and the word is it’s great to ride too. All of the big brands that you would expect to see like Burton, Volcom and DC were there too. Volcom’s booth had so many buyers in it that it looked more like a press conference “excuse me, excuse me Mr. Volcom dealer, I have a question.” Some brands that I didn’t expect to see were also there such as, J Brand denim and Fly 53. I have to throw Lifetime a bone because their booth looked sick. I have some love for RVCA and Gentlefawn Clothing too because their reps were working super hard showing off their product every time I walked by. It was cool to see next season’s trends—everything from high heels and necklaces to goggles and shred sticks. I’m a girl that likes to shred powder and pop a few kickflips now and then, but I also like to shop. There was definitely some tempting clothes, shoes and shred gear on display, so I’ll be ready to bust out Mr. Visa when new product hits stores this fall.