Victorious Long Beach
Stay Wild
Agenda & New Waves
by Justin “Scrappers” Morrison
Chapter 1: Agenda
The big black man humming soul music grabbed my neck as if to give me a deep massage, but instead he tilted my head the angle he wanted it at. He looked at me with his one blind eye and leaned into my head with clippers so rough it felt like an electric sander digging into raw wood. I just closed my eyes and thought about how this moment would pass. The barber just hummed his soulful tune. At random moments he would open his mouth and let the most tender song bellow out. I opened my eyes and saw him coming at me with a pair of scissors the way a mechanic would lean into an engine with a wrench. He snipped my beard hairs with short fast snips pulling his hand back with each cut to see how it was shaping up.
My fear turned to admiration. This man was a seasoned professional in the middle of his work. He was at the triumphant peak of his skill set. I've worked hard all my life, so I know the feeling when I see it. I was lucky to be so close to that magic moment when a person and their work come together so monumentally. I’ve never had such an excellent hair cut. He cut hairs I never had cut before (not pubic hairs, you perv). Afterwards I looked in the mirror and saw that I had become a man. The barber shop is named Victorious and that’s exactly how they made me feel.
I didn’t come to California’s port city of Long Beach to get in touch with my manly feelings though, I came here for the Agenda Trade Show. I’ve been to trade shows before, but this time I walked in with a victorious hair cut. So as I met with sales reps, surfboard shapers, graphic designers, even marketing managers I tried to see them in the same light as I did that one-eyed barber; professionals in the middle of their work. I lost myself in the glory of what they do. Here’s a little bit about the people I met with:
Sanuk: This is the first booth I visited. I heard about their new collab shoe with Coleman and wanted to see it in person. It’s pretty rad, not just in a fits-good-feels-good way, but in a marketing way. This collab shoe united the fun of the Sanuk brand with Coleman’s heritage camp vibes. Beyond that I was just stoked to talk to Sanuk’s in-house metaphysically-minded marketing director Ethan about micro-tripping before he had to fly out to the Outdoor Retailer trade show in Utah.
Volcom Womens: I’ll be honest, like more honest than I should be. I didn’t even look at their clothes. I simply talked and talked with the fun-loving Gina from their marketing dept. about how excited we are to make some more rad projects happen together (like this hot spring adventure). If you love music, road trips, looking and feeling good you’re going to love the stuff we’ve got planned for 2016.
Mowgli Surf: These brothers have so much fun it’s oozing out of their eyes. Their hand-colored goods are also oozing with fun. My favorite shirt from their collection just said “Southern California” in some airbrush-colored hand lettering.
Shaper Studios: Any maker can be a shaper, so to prove it these do-it-yourselfers rigged up a portable shaping bay and kicked some dust up. Surprisingly, they teach a lot of people to shape who don’t actually surf. Turns out the craft of making the boards is just as fun (that’s debatable). El Nino swells were in full effect, so I could tell these guys were kind of itchy to get back in the water.
Proof Eyewear: If you care about what you do there is proof. These fine folks from Boise Idaho make some of my favorite frames out of sustainable natural resources and they also have an amazing social responsibility program. They are a good company and they can prove it.
Forest and Waves: Two great tastes that taste great together. Forest & Waves brings a unique voice to the surf and camp conversation. The voice has Pacific Northwester breath. They make shirts, blankets and other goods that want to go have fun on your daily adventures.
Big Bud Press: The ladies of Big Bud were talking about how weird it is to use a convention center bathroom full of beautiful babes. Then they hooked me up with a shiny enameled button of a bubble-butted babe.
Matix: Ever heard of the Compton Surf Club? Me neither, but it's a real thing Matix helps make happen by bringing inner city kids surfing. Awesome! Like most of us Matix has deep roots in skateboarding, but they love surfing, hiking, and just being outsiders. Outsiders find their own path.
Element: As you can tell from their skate camp story in our Winter issue, these folks are all about getting into nature. Their men's and women’s stuff is unlike anything else I saw at the show. It’s the kind of apparel that fits best while skating around the hood and cooking with foraged fiddle-head ferns on an open campfire.
Landyachtz: Wooden skateboards come from trees, that’s why these sweet Canadians are planting a tree for every board that sells now. Looking over their huge new stock of boards I can tell they’re going to plant a lot of trees.
etnies: Skate to the hiking trail in these eco-friendly shoes.
Treats Skate Wax: It smelled and looked like a baked goods shop, but it was in the middle of the sweaty salty skate section. Even as I look at this photo I can’t believe these donuts and cinnamon rolls are actually skate wax designed to rub on city ledges.
Wet Paint: Michael C. Hsiung was there painting a mural for Society 6. He hooked me up with a zine full of his epic art called “Beasts & Bongs” (you can win it from the contest at the bottom of this post). There was also wet paint being slung by Ornamental Conifer in the Deus ex Machina booth and another sign painter whose name I don’t know at Von Dutch.
Patagonia: All their new wetsuits are neoprene-free. That means they’re better for the environment. I saw so many awesome things like a new poncho that I don’t even want to bore you with the details. Just look at the picture.
Worn Wear: Patagonia’s Worn Wear truck was set up at the front door of Agenda. I wanted to hug the person who decided to bring the “If it’s broke fix it” wagon to the "It's new buy it" show.
Poler: Tori & Benji were there. We talked about their new flagship store in Laguna Beach and how it used to be an overgrown nursery store. I can’t wait to see what they do with the green house!
Banks: This men’s wear is so nice and clean I feel kewl just looking at their stuff. Looks like they’re making wetsuits now too! Can I say “FAWK YES!” without loosing my kewl? Probably not.
MEI Ocean: I love the colorful patterns on the backpacks from this new Japanese brand.
Nomadic State of Mind: Simple.
Valley Cruise: Most of my favorite artists and illustrators have their work on patches and pins by these folks. For a second I was transported to all my favorite zine fests and artshows.
Weird Shit: I don’t understand a lot of what I saw, but I was happy to be around it.
I missed seeing some brands I normally would have because another trade show (Outdoor retailer) changed its date to happen at the same time as Agenda. Much like me, exhibitors had the problem of choosing between the two shows. If budget allowed, some exhibitors found a way to be in two places at the same time. There is really no comparing the two shows because only one of them happens in Long Beach. Long Beach is fucking awesome!
Chapter 2: New Waves in Long Beach
Strolling down the isles of Agenda I bumped into Kat and crew from Make Collectives. They reminded me how much I love their shop’s part of Long Beach (East Village Arts District), so I left the trade show and headed that way. Last time I was in town we had a release party at Make Collectives. Exhibitors from Agenda came, our readers came, and the wonderful community of friends that Make Collectives nurtures came too. You can read all about it here.
Sterling (fondling the board above) told me that the breakwater wall that keeps waves from forming in this part of Long Beach is coming down. Surfing is coming back to Long Beach! Seriously, think about that. Since the 1950’s Long Beach’s cultural identity has evolved to not have actual surfing down the street and now it will. Locals will be at the beach with tears rolling down their cheeks as new waves break. I’m tearing up just thinking about Sterling and what these new waves mean for him. Read more about it from Surfrider.
New waves in Long Beach will have some negative effect too. Its going to open the gates to some heavy gentrification. New people will move into the neighborhood. Rent will go up. Low-income creative people and families will be forced out. Shops that are there now will have to close. Change is natural, you can’t keep it from happening, but you can change with it and influence the outcome. It’s like we’re tied to a wagon going down hill. We can be sad and get dragged along, or rise up, get in front of it and guide its course.
The Academy is one of the shops along with Make and Seams that is going to keep this neck of the woods sweet and sincere in the face of gentrification. I had no idea what I was getting into when I walked through their door. I saw taxidermy, bike parts, an old globe, nice clothes, and vintage mechanical equipment. A guy named Sam was busy hammering away on some leather, but he stopped to tell me about these turquoise pants I was checking out. He said they used to be white, but he died them to be the color of a rock he dug out of the ground. Sam cut and sewed the pants to be my exact size and attached the buttons I picked out. Just like the barber at Victorious, Sam was a seasoned professional in the middle of his work. He was at the triumphant peak of his skill set. I was honored to watch him work.
Starting out as a repair shop the Academy learned to make clothes by repairing them. They learned what parts of the pants are most likely to break, so they made those parts stronger. It’s all about learning, that’s why they call it The Academy.
The Academy makes a World Peace Shirt that features the national flower from every country in the world. If you research the meaning behind each country's national flower you’ll see they all mean something optimistic. How could they not, flowers spread seeds.
Sam said this one thing that sums up the whole Agenda Long Beach experience, “you build a community when you care about what you sell.”
The next day before I flew back to Portland Oregon I found an unlocked door that lead to a rooftop. The sun was rising and we were all about to walk into the light of a new day.
All the makers, skaters, surfers, brand marketers… heck even the barber I met on this trip were all super inspiring to be around because they care about what they’re doing.
“All that exists is the seed of what will emerge from it.”
-Marcus Aurelius (some stoic ancient Roman dude)
Free Goods: When you go to a trade show you get free goods and boy-oh-boy did I get some goods! I’m keeping a lot of it, but I want to share this bag of goods with you. Win it from our Instagram later this week.
What's in the bag: Sanuk + Stone brewing collab sandals (size 10), Sanuk wallet, Big Bud Press enamel pin, Beast & Bongs zine from Michael C. Hsiung , Worn Wear: patch, MEI Ocean: hat, Brothers Marshall hat, Patagonia beer coozie, and other patches, stickers, and stuff. Oh, and the bag is a special Agenda + Herschel bag.