Agenda launched as a small, streetwear-focused satellite show held in a Thai restaurant in Long Beach, created to give emerging brands a focused place to meet retailers and write orders outside the dominant action-sports trade-show circuit.
In its early years, Agenda positioned itself near (and in competition with) the Action Sports Retailer (ASR) convention, using a tighter brand edit and smaller-scale setting to attract specialty-store buyers seeking curated assortments.
Agenda expanded to New York City, creating a repeatable East Coast buying stop for streetwear and action-sports adjacent brands and allowing retailers to place seasonal orders without traveling to California.
Agenda’s January 2010 Huntington Beach show at the Hyatt Regency was widely covered as a competitive alternative to ASR, with industry voices emphasizing a shift toward order-writing and business outcomes—an appeal to buyers tired of “party-first” trade-show culture.
Agenda partnered with The Berrics to create The Berrics Agenda, a dedicated skate section designed to better serve core skate shops and brands—strengthening Agenda’s draw for specialty buyers looking for credible skate assortments alongside streetwear.
After logistical constraints in Huntington Beach, Agenda relocated to the Long Beach Convention Center, supporting larger exhibitor counts and higher buyer attendance while retaining a disciplined, order-focused booth format that reinforced its value to retailers.
Agenda’s Emerge conference programming—focused on major industry topics and featuring prominent creatives—formalized the show’s influence beyond transactions by shaping how buyers and brands discussed product, culture, and innovation.
Reed Exhibitions (via ReedPOP) acquired Agenda, bringing the show into a larger global trade-show operator. The deal signaled the maturation of streetwear trade into a major, professionally scaled buying platform while aiming to preserve the show’s cultural positioning.
Agenda introduced Agenda WMNS, a women’s-collection section that broadened the show’s merchandising scope for buyers and reflected growing demand for women’s streetwear and contemporary assortments within the same curated trade environment.
Agenda opened a Las Vegas edition at the Sands Expo, aligning with the city’s established fashion market calendar and making it easier for multi-store and department-store buyers to consolidate appointments—supporting higher-volume order writing.
Industry coverage described Agenda’s Long Beach and New York editions as posting their highest attendance in those markets, reinforcing the show’s role as a key order-writing moment and a discovery venue for retailers across streetwear, surf, skate, and footwear.
Agenda’s participation in the Modern Assembly alliance in Las Vegas (co-locating and cross-marketing with other shows) helped buyers access a wider set of curated brands in one trip, pressuring legacy Vegas trade events to adapt their value propositions.
Agenda expanded Emerge into a multimedia platform developed with The Berrics, extending the show’s storytelling and thought-leadership beyond the convention floor—useful for buyers tracking brand narratives and for labels building wholesale credibility year-round.
NuORDER promoted an “online trade show” capability positioned as a complement to physical events like Agenda, reflecting a shift in buyer expectations toward always-on discovery, digital line review, and order management alongside in-person market appointments.
Agenda canceled its January 2019 Long Beach show and later canceled the planned June 2019 Long Beach event, with local reporting citing insufficient brand participation—an inflection point highlighting pressures on traditional trade-show ROI for brands and buyers.
AZTQ Corporation acquired Agenda from Reed Exhibitions, with leadership continuity emphasized and future Las Vegas dates announced. The change marked another structural shift in how the show would be produced and positioned for retail buyers and exhibiting brands.
Agenda Show trade expo history and influence on buyers (2003–2019)
