ASR 2009

People

by Jeff Zimmerman

Action Sports Retailer(ASR) is a twice a year event, where the majority of business in the skate industry gets taken care of. People come from all over the world to stay in the over-priced local hotels and write it off as a business expense. This time around you could really see the economy’s effect on the skate/surf industry. Companies you wouldn’t think would have trouble are gone…for example: Split Clothing.

The show normally fills up the entire San Diego Convention Center (which is huge…it’s where they hold Comic Con) but this year I’d say it was less than half full. Attendance is down too, shops are going under, as well as companies.

There are three types of people who go to the show. Those who go there for business, those who go there to get free product/see famous skaters, and those who go there to get drunk while their bosses think they’re working. I am a mix of the three. While there I see if any companies are looking for local filmers, drink the free drinks (only after 4pm though), and manage to come home with a goody bag full of new Tshirts and hats that i’ll probably never wear.

ASR isn’t solely for action sports. One company there sold “clothing for gamers,” because people who play video games too much need to designate themselves as such. The company (called Kiaeneto) also sponsored this guy…for playing video games…he currently has a quarter million dollar contract with Red Bull…and gets something ridiculous like $100,000 for every tournement he plays Halo in…actually…damn I wish that was me.

Speaking of sponsors, one of mine was there. Although I get a box of clothing periodically, as opposed to a quarter million…anyways, Ergophobia Clothing gave a strong presence by handing out M&M candies that had their logo embroidered in! (is embroidered the correct word to use here?) For some reason, I’ve never had a better pack of M&Ms. They also gave out black Tshirts that said “Ergo, stimulating the economy”. They have good stuff, hopefully they get good sales. Go buy it!

I ran into Animal Chin there. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Animal, he is this asian guy that Tony Hawk and friends searched for in the old skate video, “The Search for Animal Chin.” He is now an Xgames commentator. I gave him an Ergo shirt, and he gave me his email. Hopefully its a real address.

I also ran into Danny Way, and got his email. Networking!

The Mega Ramp was set up, and was thoroughly sessioned by pros and no-names alike. Andy Mac and PLG were up there shredding with Jimmy-two-shoes, the local little kid at your skatepark who is pretty good, but you had no idea could air over that Mega Ramp. It was crazy.

The high ollie contest was also pretty exciting. The video is on this site here…but that foreign kid ollied 43 inches! That’s one inch below the record…it was hard enough for me to jump over that thing. Andrew Brophy was his name.

You can’t solely blame the economy for this ASR’s shortcomings. Blackbox (the Zero / Slave / Fallen / Mystery parent company) holds their own tradeshow a day before ASR. A lot of people are showing off their company there, because it is so much cheaper ($500 vs thousands). There is a bbq, good skating, and a best trick contest. It’s a lot of fun, and I recommend checking it out if you’re in the San Diego area (because ASR wont let you in without a pass).

Here’s a few photos I took after putting my video camera away: