Friday, September 26, 2008

interbike 08- last booth surfing for me

Yesterday I managed to see a fare amount of booth's and talk apparel and sponsors with a few vendors and product lines. I have a great bucket of images... that at this time I cannot upload from my camera to my laptop at Mcarren Airport. Yes... I'm packed up with a very heavy bag full of brochures and publications relating to anything bike or commute and transportation.

Some of my cool finds are listed below:

REFLECTOR "dots".
Small stretchy silvery dots, which you can put on your clothing or bike for commuting. They stay through a remarkable number of washes. Put on your spokes, helmet, where-ever.

(Primal Wear) Custom JERSEYS.
I really liked the product line of customizable kits from Primal wear, and the available designs they have now are super pretty, creative, but made overseas. Only downfall. I'll speak to 2 other jersey makers I chatted with, one that manufactured in the Czech Republic, the other in Mexico. Can't remember their names - but they were serious contendors along with Sugoi - for a custom cycling kit next year!

New Zealand Merino WOOL fabric/jerseys.
Doesn't hurt to have the adorable accent, but we stopped at this booth to chat with the kiwi for data on custom and semi-custom designs from New Zealand, made of this fab fabric. Wicks, is natural, or combined w/ a lycra for the sublimation customization process. Nice designs, nice fabric - soft, more sustainable. Not from China!

53x11 COFFEE:
Super cool coffee roasters with environment, advocacy, and cycling community in mind. SLaB may try to get sponsored by them for 09, we connected well.

HELMET and BIKE GRAPHICS
Some interesting helmets nad helmet graphics, some very cool women's bike graphics, and some lame ones.

OIWC:
Luncheon was a smashing busting out the doors event. A fantastic turnout - and fantastic panel of inspirational women from all aspects of our industry. Take-aways from the panel discussion were: Be true to yourself, integrity in business, make goals, and get better at public speaking!

iZIP bikes and eBikes (Schwinn)
Electric bikes were the big trend. Get folks out of their cars any way you can! I took a shuttle to a "Bikes to commute" event at the Springs Preserve. An amazing natural preserve I didn't have time to tour, but was landscaped beautifully with native plants and desert scapes. Ed Begley Jr. Spoke, and folks tested the bikes. Mostly it was dealers asking about carrying the iZip product. My friends Larry Pizzi and Rob Kaplan were hosting the iZip event. I had met Ed Begley Jr. before at the Silicon Valley Green Fair, and was hoping to get another chance to converse. He may have remembered me - but I told him for sure I wanted to go for a bike ride with him and his wife! I also asked him for connections at Whole Foods... regarding the bike rack blogging and activism I'm trying to affect. He seemed sincere to get back in touch with us, to help on that matter!

I'll add photos later for these comments. Thanks for following along my interbike journey!

1 comment:

girl wonder said...

my, my lady... You have been quite busy while I have been drinking beer! Ha. Sounds like you worked your butt off networking in vegas. Hope you found some time (and energy!) to have a little fun as well!

I am back next week... Can't wait to catch up. :)