Agenda is the stepchild show that takes place across the street from the Action Sports Retailer Trade Show each season that, with little hype, tends to create big waves with its low-brow booth styles, new talent, interesting artwork, designers, and fashionistas cruising the aisles. Engineered to introduce the next wave of designers, Agenda tends to have the effect of redefining the way we look at fashion: basically from inside an artist's head without the walls of pre-established trade show mentalities. Today, Agenda is a must-see show for anyone who wants to know about the latest subcultures bubbling from the street and art worlds coming out of North America.

This Fall, new concepts in men’s and women’s progressive lifestyle apparel included an incredible boutique of brands such as Exodus, MacBeth, Atticus, tokidoki, SoundGirl, LOW, Upper Playground, and some big brands showcasing their boutique lines such as Pony and adidas.

The show consists of three rows of racks and make-shift booths of bars and tables, plus cardboard recycled furniture courtesy of Cardboard Robot (who showcased his clothing in the GoldBox Mission area at ASR), graffiti art panels, and DJ’s.

Here are some highlights:

Monarchy’s denim particularly the pocket designs attracted street fashionistas and boutique buyers for most of the show. Their high-end denim, products and designs were among the most original we’ve seen and we cover denim a lot. Eride1@yahoo.com

MacBeth is probably most known for their skate-inspired sneakers, but owner Tom DeLong from Blink 182, plays an extremely low-key role in his brand and lets the designers do the talking. Found in places as broad as Fred Segals to Journeys, MacBeth has a new line that includes sunglasses, T-shirts, and couture sneakers mixed with a progressive marketing plan of moving into fashion with distribution in niche and couture, to mainstream locations. www.macbethshoes.com

tokidoki, which means “sometimes” in Japanese, is created by Italian artist Simone Legno but his work is an array of Japanese-inspired naughty girls, animals, and caricatures doing any number of funny things. tokidoki has expanded from T-shirt graphics this year to also including skateboard deck designs, and couture purses and bags in a new partnership with LeSportSac coming out Spring, 06. Another hot item from tokidoki is their new urban vinyl dolls of the prickly cactus girl, which are already collector’s items. www.tokidoki.it

Exodus showcased an expanded T-shirt and button-down shirt line at Agenda including unique graphics of people and landscapes on the softest ring-spun cotton. New artwork included Sister Savier--a beautiful goth girl with wings, Industry bird long-sleeved with seagulls over urban landscapes, plus military tanks, ‘50’s girls, and men’s shirts and hoodies including floral patterns and urban landscapes. Seen originally on the Vans Warped Tour this past summer, the viral hype of Exodus is multiplying across America. www.exodusclothes.com

Upper Playground out of San Francisco always mixes up artists and apparel and did it again this time with a fresh line of graphic T-shirt designs, lids, and books that showcased top artists, including one of our favorite’s Sam Flores. www.upperplayground.com

Future show dates for Agenda are Tokyo September 21-22, OsakaSeptember 28-29, 02005 and San Diego, CA, January 20-21, 02006.