Green Is Good : Eco Expo--an Environmentally Friendly Trade Show--Blossoms in Its Third Year

At an environmental conference in Los Angeles four years ago, Marc Merson got a bright idea.

During a long day of bad news about vanishing rain forests and other planetary ills, he heard a word of hope: Amory Lovins, an energy conservation expert, was explaining the virtues of compact fluorescent light bulbs, an energy-saving device that lets ordinary people help solve global problems.

“After about eight speakers from around the world brilliantly outlined the scope of our environmental problems,” Merson recalled, “here was Amory Lovins ambling along about this strange little bulb. And I thought, ‘If there’s this, what else is there that everybody ought to be using?’ ”

Quite a bit, Merson discovered. One thing led to another, and soon Merson was organizing a trade show called Eco Expo, which features products and exhibits that are environmentally friendly. The show, now in its third year, will run March 12-14 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

To mount the first Eco Expo, Merson set up a corporation with 15 stockholders, many of whom came from the entertainment industry. Merson is a longtime movie and television producer (“The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,” “Leadbelly” and “Full House”). Actor Alan Alda, an old friend and colleague, was one of the original investors.

The first Eco Expo lost about $350,000, but last year’s show posted break-even results. This year, Merson has shows planned for the East and West coasts, a lineup of mainstream exhibitors ranging from Chrysler Corp. to Home Depot, and he expects more than 1,000 products to be on display. The 1993 shows should actually turn a profit, he noted, adding with a smile: “We’re not intentionally nonprofit.”

Eco Expo’s success has overcome hurdles that most trade show entrepreneurs seldom face, especially the relative youth of the environmental, or “green products,” industry.

“We’re dealing with a fast-growing but new industry,” Merson said. “I’ve seen a figure that 85% of all new businesses fail. And to a certain extent, these are all new businesses.”

But the influence of Eco Expo has spread, and several small companies credit the show for giving them the exposure they needed to sell their wares to big-name retailers.

O wear, a manufacturer of toxics-free cotton clothing that has exhibited at Eco Expo every year, now has its products on display at Bullock’s and other stores.

“I learned my trade right there at Eco Expo,” said George Akers, O wear’s executive vice president and founder. “I learned a lot about my market, about a lot of things I needed to do.”

Last year, Akers, seeking financial support to expand O wear, sold his company to VF Corp., the Pennsylvania-based maker of Lee jeans and other apparel. Akers joined VF as an executive.

The first day of this year’s Eco Expo will be devoted to a green business conference, sponsored in Los Angeles by Xerox, Southern California Gas, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, South Coast Air Quality Management District, Chrysler and the Los Angeles Times.

Topics will range from future transportation to urban environmental landscaping.