As the Florida heat was raging outside, Surf Expo brought cool, beachy vibes from the watersports and coastal lifestyle industries to Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center (OCCC), Sept. 5-7. More than 6,000 qualified buyers from global retailers explored 650-plus exhibitor booths that showcased products from surf, beach and resort categories, ranging from swimsuits and sportswear to marine plush and souvenir gifts.
Held biannually in Central Florida in September and January, Surf Expo was unlike any trade show we’ve been to before. We hit day two of the show and took in the relaxed atmosphere that saw attendees leisurely make their way from booth to booth, with a few participants rolling by on longboards; tournaments at a Pickleball Palooza court; relaxation at lounge spots with hammocks, table tennis and cornhole; and plenty of exhibits that replicated the quintessential surf shops by the beach.
We were surprised by the sparse crowds in the aisles, but it was misleading, as all the action was going down inside the booths. While booths at trade shows usually include meeting rooms in the back to arrange deals behind closed doors, almost every booth on the Surf Expo floor had tables or counters set up out in the open ready to do business. Attendees went into the space to not only explore the merchandise on display (which was mostly apparel across the show), but to shop and place orders on-site for their retail businesses. Exhibitors manning the booths would flip through catalogs and pull shirts or swimsuits off the rack and bring them back to the tables for buyers to decide the products and quantities they would be purchasing.
We were fascinated by the laid-back, friendly conduct of business happening at every corner and by the variety of booth designs found at the OCCC, from the sustainable exhibits produced in-house by small businesses to the large enclosed footprints by big brands, some of which shut us out from entering to take a look and snap photos (looking at you, Quiksilver). Still, the overall environment felt very welcoming and representative of today’s surfer culture and trends, with exhibitors beaming at the opportunity to share their passion for their products and the lifestyle with attendees.
Here, we round up 10 standout booth builds from the show floor to paint the picture of the vibrant Surf Expo landscape.
MORE TRADE SHOW FLOOR COVERAGE:
- Surf Expo Exhibit Trends: Brands Roll in with Wood Features, Pony Walls, Live Models
- Field Report: Walls, Wellness and Art at the MAGIC / Project Shows
HAVAIANAS
Flip flop brand Havaianas leaned into its Brazilian heritage and transported attendees to the South American destination with its colorful, thoughtfully designed booth. Blue shutters lined the main entrance, where a brand ambassador greeted passersby at a front desk. What drew us into the booth was an artful display of the brand’s solid-colored flip flops that hung across five columns on the exterior booth wall. Above the booth, ropes were strung across white wooden beams, which created a crisscrossing striped lighting effect inside the semi-enclosed space.
A wall display of Havaianas’ iconic products throughout its 62-year history led into hanging displays of various men’s, women’s and kids’ flip flops arranged by their upcoming release dates. Four white tables, with wicker chairs staggered in the middle, provided space for brand reps to meet with buyers. Branded retro travel posters including flip flops and tropical imagery hung in backlit frames around the inside and outside of the booth, in addition to a side exterior wall completely made up of a collage of colorful Brazil posters.
SUN BUM
Covering a large footprint, sunscreen brand Sun Bum brought the great outdoors into the convention center with grass carpet, picnic tables, potted plants and wall graphics of waves and palm trees. But the most inviting aspect was a dj that pumped out smooth reggae music. Next to the dj booth, attendees could try their hand at a branded Whack-A-Mole game on “The ABCs of Skin Cancer Screening,” and across the way was a seating area of wicker sofas that had attendees huddled around a boxy retro TV set playing the live Lexus World Surf League Finals competition.
That was just half of the booth space; the other half transitioned into a room of product displays and meeting areas made up of long tables and stools. It was surrounded by walls of branded surfing imagery, fencing with a Sun Bum gate, wood flooring, and shelving units filled with sunscreen sprays and lotions, each display decorated with monkey statues (befitting its logo). Sunny vibes all around.
FLORENCE
Florence, founded by World Champion surfer and Olympian John Florence, provides modern utilitarian equipment for dynamic sport and weather conditions, and that practical approach extended to its booth design. Bright yellow wood beams created the outline of the bare-bones booth structure, and if the color didn’t immediately signal caution, hanging red triangular flags added to the hazardous feel. Shorts were hung directly from stainless-steel clotheslines, while shirts on hangers were displayed on a suspended bar. Three torso mannequins were positioned opposite a large piece of corrugated metal with an ocean wave pattern that served as the booth’s only solid wall.
PURA VIDA
While similar to Florence’s open wood beam structure, jewelry brand Pura Vida’s booth took a much softer approach with a white, teal and light wood color palette accented by potted succulents, colorful pineapples, draped vines and beach artwork. White tables and stools lined the edge of the booth’s interior, with each featuring stacks of bracelets, ring trays and earring stands, leaving the center open for meandering and sitting down to watch the WSL Finals on TV. Brand ambassadors encouraged passersby to take a jewelry item off its tabletop spinning racks—one of the few booths we encountered that offered product giveaways.
BAJA LLAMA
The founders of Baja Llama took the apparel brand’s slogans of “seek excitement” and “fight against boring” to a whole new level by bringing a fully branded former prison bus turned showroom onto the Surf Expo show floor. Covered in a wrap of wild, bright patterns, animal outlines, plants and desert landscapes, the huge bus opened up from the middle to reveal button-downs, shorts and hats on display on racks and shelves. Attendees tentatively asked if they could go inside, to which the Baja Llama team replied, “Absolutely.”
Up a removable set of metal steps, they were surprised to find the bus seats had been totally cleared out to create a mini shop illuminated by strips of LED lights, neon signs and décor that reflects the brand’s California roots. Put together in six weeks, the bus was an in-house project undertaken by co-founders Jeff Anderlite and Sean Kolina and marketing director Bianca Nash, and they’ve perfected the setup to fit the trade show’s needs, pulling out tables, sticker giveaways, clothing racks, retractable banners and a futon out to extend its exterior footprint, while also prepping the bus to drive to beach events and pop-ups around the country.
LITTLE BOX GUY
With cartoony sunglasses-wearing animals sticking out over the top of its booth walls, Little Box Guy was one of our favorite exhibits on the show floor. The featured manatee, giraffe and pelican were all taken from the brand’s clothing, pin, keychain and sticker designs on display around the booth, in addition to countless more colorful creations. Every aspect of the under-the-sea booth with a 3D animated look was fully developed and built by founder Nick Ortiz, with help from family and friends, in his father’s garage. The whimsical booth drew quite the crowd—not so little now.
M&W DESIGN
Sustainability permeated the M&W Design booth, from its products to its freestanding boxy walls to its rotating displays. The footprint gave new meaning to open concept, as its only boundaries were delineated by just seven tall monolithic wooden boxes that stood next to each other with generous space between each. The backs of the makeshift rectangular walls were decorated with its brand story and nature-themed art like lighthouses, volcanos and grassy plains, while the customer-facing sides featured rods for hanging clothes and souvenir products. Besides the rented tables and chairs, all of the display boxes, racks and desks were fabricated in-house and made of wood and 3D-printed clips to hold the pieces together, said Alec Carr, director-business development, adding that the booth components have traveled to more than 40 trade shows.
HURLEY
Contrasting the many open footprints on the show floor, Hurley opted for a completely enclosed booth space. Upon approaching the tall black walls that extended all the way around the perimeter, the only brand clues were a large embedded logo and backlit images of surfers and models in Hurley apparel. Illuminated glass walls with an opaque triangular design flanked the booth’s singular entrance blocked by a front desk. From there, attendees had to go around the desk and the backdrop wall behind it that prevented passersby from seeing into the booth.
Inside one of the largest footprints at Surf Expo was almost a recreation of a Hurley store with different sections showcasing different product categories, like swimsuits, hats, drinkware, wetsuits, shoes, towels and beach chairs. What set the space apart from a store environment were the small round and long rectangular tables and chairs dispersed throughout to give brand reps and buyers room to chat, in addition to a private meeting room in the back, closed off by a sliding barn door. Like several other booths, Hurley offered a viewing area of the live surf competition, next to a water and coffee bar under large “Enjoy!” lettering on the wall above.
VOLCOM
On a much smaller scale, Volcom also offered an enclosed booth, but with pony walls. The half-height walls allowed passersby to see into space that displayed apparel and accessories for skating, surfing and snowboarding on minimalist metal racks and shelves, but graffiti-style art was central to the booth design, covering the exterior walls in colorful skull, moon, star and animal imagery. Attendees looking to get inside had to push through white, vintage saloon doors.
SHORE
With a name like Shore, you have to bring the beach into your exhibit space, and the apparel and accessories brand delivered. Four wooden surf boards were perched above the long, rectangular, three-sided booth, with the same wood tone across the boards, walls and shelving. The lower half of the tall walls was full of racks of clothing, ranging from dresses and blouses to pants and swimsuits. Shore used the shelves above the rails to display photos of beaches and models in tropical locations, as well as seashells, starfish and netting.
