Fashion wanting Action Sports

Yesterday I asked the question, “Why are action sports brands so hungry to be seen as boutique brands?”, but today, I’m thinking about the other side of the coin—high fashion brands coming into our industry. I was flipping through ASR’s the LineUp, familiarizing myself with who will be at the show tomorrow when I noticed there are quite a few exhibitors that one wouldn’t consider to be “action sports”. ASR’s Goldbox—a distinguished venue within the tradeshow which has smaller, or start-up, companies—has some of these, such as Toms Shoes, and then there are big companies, such as Perry Ellis who have a traditional booth. Why do these companies want “in”? Do they see our industry striving to get the mass audience, and they want to do the opposite? They’ve already captured the mainstream, now they want the surf – skate –snow – moto niche? It seems odd. For example, Toms Shoes is always getting play in the fashion magazines—celebrities are always shown wearing them, what difference would it make if our target audience wore them? Something to ponder. . .