The RAT Show

Third time’s a charm, so they say - ’they’ being some sort of superstitious freaks from back in the day who needed to justify a bet gone bad I imagine. Waffling on from that, the Third RAT show has come and gone. Held again in the warm surroundings of Twin Towns, a short walk to the supper banks, pokies or massage parlours, Coolangatta is a town dripping in surf right now and it’s a great location to host what is becoming the ‘need to attend’ show for brands and retailers in our little surf/active outdoor world. A quick de-brief first - The Rat Show is a cooperatively operated tradeshow event that connects Australian and New Zealand retailers with the best boardsports/lifestyle brands in our region. This time round it was held across two days at Twin Towns, Gold Coast. Three shows in you can see how much improvement they’ve made beyond the first one, and more importantly, the vision for what it will look like in another 12-24 months. The celebration of surf culture was very much in effect again, with more retailers and brands participating in round three and while the first show felt more like a branding/industry building exercise, given it was the first time everyone was together post Covid - this time round definitely leant itself towards more ‘getting business done’ vibes, talking about future plans and ultimately trying to pull together what the surf world might look like moving forward. While Twin Towns is an iconic location around the area, I would love to see the show shift locations to somewhere that is a little more tradeshow friendly - in the sense of more space to allow better booth planning/allocation, some space for food trucks and even some art installations or chats. Am going off some positive things I found when doing the global tradeshow run a few years back. Space is key. Once you got your map down pat and you knew where to go, to see who, for selling what, the day was easy. Cut a circle to get lay of the land, chat and catch up, then circle back (buzzword!) for photos and anything that captured my interest the first time. Booth set up, again, was equal among all challengers - brands got a single booth or double booth depending on their booking, and from that you got booth displays (banners) that could divide your booth or highlight the space. Creativity in the show for booths isn’t the dick swinging comp it used to be, it’s now more just about being identifiably and having access to the product. Some brands stood out, some sat quiet. Big brands like Quik or Bong have a challenge of not being able to show their entire range, so they marketed/showed key capsules instead - which makes sense, as there’s no one who could sit through a full range showing from those brands and still be sharp enough for more showings. Smaller brands could show their collections, but the smart ones would also ensure they were highlighting key pieces or collections. The biggest challenge with the limited booth design, it seemed, was for brands to utilise their space effectively. A lot of brands missed their shot with their layout, showing set up and booth look/feel to ensure it aligned with their brand vibe/feel. Bottom line, brands who didn’t over crowd their booth with product, or have it empty, ended up having more interest than others. Having the Industry together always buoys the energy in the right direction. There was more retailers and more brands. The biggest increase was around the number of women brands turning up (Rhythm, Roxy, Inner Relm, Afends, Sand Cloud and Made By Fressko), which was awesome to see. If you’re an emerging brand it’s a great place to showcase what you have going on and meet new retailers. If you’re an established brand, it’s great to be there to support the industry and also re-connect/freshen up relationships (and show off anything new). If I was a retailer it would have been a hard decision to attend the show, rising costs, declining spending in retail land and a rocky economic outlook could excuse you for staying home to count your money instead. Those that did attend got a lot of work done from seeing collections to writing orders, or even becoming familiar with some newer brands. Overall, this iteration of the RAT show was their best one yet - solid planning, smarter booth planning by the organisers compared to previous shows and two days vs three, all seemed to contribute to a very smooth running show. And if you needed things to do post show, then the RAT team had you covered there too. First night was Rat Reels - Former (Reels of Jay Davies gold!), Quiksilver (showed off a clip celebrating 50 years of Tom Carroll and Quiksilver partnership. Although I didn’t see Peter Mansted anywhere… ;) ) and Project Prago clip about fresh water, etc night at Balter. And the second night has Surfer Honours Award for Shane Stedman, RIP - such a character, great fella and personality of the surf world.*The new Crosby Colapinto Collection from FCS - one of their better looking capsule designs of recent (yes, I think it’s better than Yago). Futures got to finally release a new fin from JJF that was 3 years in the making - the Scimitar Vapor Core. *Rivvia doubling down on their buzz from the last shot. Saw more than a few retailers kicking it at their booth, taking notes and seeing their range. *The addition of Stan Ray was nice newish brand (to me) that showed up and had something a little different from everyone else’s plaid trunks with cut’n’sew panels on them. *Rippy’s elasto return! This was a neat highlight. Suit looks mental, and while we’re on suits, O’neill’s stitchless suit is impressive as is some of the product options from C-Skins (first time seeing that brand in person). *Patagonia and their water based collection of wetsuits (with U-Zip integration!) and safety/impact range is very impressive. *Roark is back on its travel run again and the collection that had looked amazing. My 2c here is biased as I’m a big fan of the travel component and how they set up Roark in the early days with it all. Loved where I’m seeing them at right now. *The booths that caught me the most were Roark, Creatures (the hanging of Ethan’s SITD boards was like lights to a moth) and SunBum. *Surfboards! JS was there with some models, including the new Monsta. Peak highlight was the Mayhem x Andy Irons boards that …lost are about to produce. Crazy grom flashbacks holding that thing under my arm. Odds on I’ve missed something, or someone, so feel free to let me know. But I think it’s a pretty good wrap up of the show, and everyone should be looking forward, and feeling excited, at what the future is going to be for surf. Overall, a lot of the brands I’ve spoken to post-show have said it was worthwhile and wrote up some business. Tim and I were both amped on it, and are excited for the next one - 12/10 would recommend attending. Check the RAT Show site for more details…