SIA Show Hits 6-Year Attendance High

..... McLean, Va. (Ski Press)-SnowSports Industries America (SIA) is reporting a six-year attendance high for the inaugural Snow Show recently held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado from January 28-31, 2010.The sold-out Snow Show attracted 18,932 attendees and featured over 3,100 booths representing 845 snow sports brands, including 125 new exhibitors. Throughout the four-day trade show, numerous television camera crews, photographers and reporters could be seen roaming the Show aisles to report on next season's hottest fashions, gear and accessories. Snow Show exhibitors were kept busy with appointments and interviews with 875 journalists in-attendance. "Participating in the Snow Show exceeded our expectations. We were overwhelmed by the interest from retailers, distributors and the public. As a result of being featured in a local FOX 31 television report on the Snow Show a distributor came to us with a great opportunity," commented Brett Curtis of Manic Snow. The 2010 Snow Show buying power index, measured by Leisure Trends Group, totaled 74.9% for the U.S. retail buying power. Total buyer attendance was up 9.6% from last year's Show with 4,561 buyers from 1,309 buying managements. The buying power is a measurement of U.S. retail sales from specialty ski and snowboard shops in attendance at the Show. An early stat from the Buyer Survey indicates that 95% of the buyers felt that the SIA Snow met their objectives and more than 50% of the buyers said the economy still has an effect on their business. Snow Show audited retail attendance numbers indicated a notable increase in the number of retailers from the Rocky Mountain and Midwest regions compared to the previous year. On the flip side, there was a drop in West Coast and Northeast retailers. "For the first year in Denver, in the middle of a recession, we're very happy with the attendance numbers. We were lighter in some regions but we hope they'll come back next year after hearing all the positive experiences people had this year," said David Ingemie, president of SIA. "The Show wound up great this year. The Never Summer booth was constantly busy with both local and out of town buyers and Denver had enough options to keep it interesting," commented Mike "Gags" Gagliardi, Never Summer Snowboards. The Snow Show officially kicked off on the evening of January 27th, when 1,600+ attendees and a select group of consumers previewed the hottest on/off slope fashions for next season at SIA's Snow Fashion Show. The music was loud, the lights were bright and the fashions were anything but demure with bright colors, prints and lots of style. New product buzz on the Show floor included cutting edge technology heading to the Olympics and the continuing story of rocker or reverse camber technology for both skis and snowboards. Outerwear fashion could hardly be pinned down at the Show ? with as many styles and color schemes to match the diverse personalities that love snow sports. There was plenty of bright (even neon) colors, plaids, geometric shapes and creative prints bringing to life outerwear and apparel collections.

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