Surf Expo - Fashion Company Profile
Surf Expo is the boardsports industry's longest-running trade show - born in a Virginia Beach hotel-room showing in 1975, launched at Cocoa Beach in 1976, and held twice a year in Orlando since 1989, now produced by Emerald.
Company Snapshot
- Status
- Operating - held twice yearly (January and September) at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando; trade only
- Type
- Trade show - produced by Emerald (Emerald Expositions), which acquired it with the George Little Management portfolio in January 2014
- Headquarters
- Orlando, Florida, United States (show venue since 1989)
- Founded
- 1976 - first show at Cocoa Beach, Florida, launched by Ross Houston out of a 1975 Eastern Surf Association meeting
Company Profile
Surf Expo's current show dates, exhibitor information and registration are on its website, linked above. This page carries no shop box: Surf Expo is a trade-only business event, not a retailer. The linked history page keeps the full record this profile has carried - the Eastern Surf Association origins, the Cocoa Beach launch and the move through the Tupperware Auditorium to the Orange County Convention Center, the 2,400-booth dmg world media era and its industry endorsements - the biography of a marketplace that grew up with the surf industry itself.
The filing, made while the show was produced by dmg world media, records its scale at maturity: held each January and September in Orlando, drawing buyers from specialty stores, surf and skate shops, wakeboard, waterski, windsurf and kiteboard shops, resort, swimwear and urban apparel boutiques, department stores and sporting goods stores across the U.S., the Caribbean, Central and South America and around the world - more than 2,400 booths of apparel and hardgoods, fashion shows, awards ceremonies and boardsport demos, with average attendance above 15,000 retailers, exhibitors and media per show. Endorsements came from the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA), the Board Retailers Association (BRA), the Water Sports Industry Association (WSIA) and the Association of Wind Sports Industries (AWSI) - and all shows, then as now, are open to the trade only.
Surf Expo History
The earlier record for this company - its history, past brand line-ups, figures and photographs from the periods described - is kept on a separate page for historical reference.
Surf Expo History & Historical Profile →Common Questions
When did Surf Expo start?
In 1976, at Cocoa Beach's Cape Colony Hotel, launched by Ross Houston out of a 1975 Eastern Surf Association meeting in Virginia Beach where sales reps had shown lines from rented hotel rooms.
Where and when is Surf Expo held?
Twice a year - January and September - at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, its home since 1989. It is a trade-only show for the surf, skate, watersports, swim and resort industries.
Who produces Surf Expo now?
Emerald (Emerald Expositions), which acquired the show with the George Little Management portfolio in January 2014. The profile's producer description records its earlier dmg world media era.
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