https://sfstandard.com/2024/08/13/sf-businesses-burning-man-outfits-
potential-sales-slump/

For a certain type of San Francisco retailer, the frenzied weeks leading
up to Burning Man can make or break an entire year.

Kimono Dave earns up to 40% of its sales leading up to the weeklong
festival in the Nevada desert, which kicks off Aug. 25. The owner of the
Mission�s Five and Diamond describes Burning Man as �our Christmas.� The
merchandiser of Ceiba SF calls August �31 days of Black Friday,� adding,
�This is when we make the majority of our budget.�

However, unusually slow ticket sales for this year�s gathering are fueling
concern from shop owners about whether they�ll see their typical bounty.

�We�re about 20%, maybe 25% below normal,� said Uti, the mononymous woman
who has run Piedmont Boutique at 1452 Haight St. for 52 years, stating
proudly that she has �dressed Burners since the beginning.� She blames an
overall economic crunch for both the slow sales of Burning Man tickets and
her shop�s assortment of dazzling outfits.

�It�s not the spirit, it�s the pocketbook,� that�s waning, Uti said,
watching visitors flip through racks of neon short-shorts and shiny
bralettes. The shop�s seamstresses produce about 90% of its inventory of
jewelry and clothing, Uti estimates, noting that her stockpile of 1980s-
era fabrics allows her team to create unique looks.

While she hasn�t seen this kind of dip in decades, she and other
shopkeepers are taking heart in the fact that the biggest surge in sales
typically comes 10 days before the festival, when out-of-towners fly to
San Francisco to stock up ahead of their departure for the desert.

�The store is running every single day, with longer hours, up �til the
Burn,� said Dave Carr, who founded the fuzzy-coat purveyor Kimono Dave at
1681 Haight St. He and his team plan to hustle over the next few weeks to
take advantage of what they hope is a rush, amid what has been a slower
festival season overall.

Marquee events like Coachella also grappled with slower sales, while
Lucidity Festival and several musicians� tours were canceled altogether.

�This whole year has been a struggle,� Carr said. The lower festival
attendance has affected sales for artists and designers who sell at or for
them. �I�ve just seen a massive slip, personally, but also from the people
around me.�

Carr plans to attend Burning Man this year for the 15th time and said he�s
optimistic that fewer attendees will create a more intimate experience.
He�s also excited to encounter many of the people he has sold clothing to
this year and before.

�The most rewarding thing in my entire life is seeing my work on the
Playa,� he said.

�Low expectations� mix with hope
Aside from his shop, which peddles brightly colored faux fur, Carr shouts
out other independent Haight Street designers, including Kayo and Tamo,
that offer Burning Man-ready gear, from catsuits and hooded vests to
pasties and crowns. Ceiba and Five and Diamond, meanwhile, trade heavily
in leather and black or white options, either loose and flowing or
extremely form-fitting �cage� wear. Dust masks and steampunk-style goggles
make appearances across the board.

For Burners who want to hand-craft their own outfits, Haight Street art
store Mendels offers faux fur, rainbow nylon and festive trim. Owner Naomi
Silverman said that the shop typically sees a bump in sales in the last
few weeks of August, but that she�s not planning for it this year. �This
summer hasn�t been as strong as some others,� she said. �That combined
with low ticket sales for Burning Man leaves me with pretty low
expectations.�

Like Kimono Dave and Mendels, Ceiba at 1364 Haight St. has seen diminished
foot traffic all year, according to Anat, who has worked at the store for
two decades and asked to withhold her last name for privacy reasons.
Despite the slowdown, she believes the store�s loyal shoppers, who have
been �religiously coming in for years,� will stop in before they leave for
the Burn.

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�It comes in waves,� she said, noting that many international Burners will
be landing in San Francisco in the coming week. �That�s what keeps us
afloat.�

The shop sells one-of-a-kind and handmade pieces by independent designers,
attracting a clientele willing to shell out in order to look and feel
special. �We can have one person who comes in and spends $10,000 within
two hours,� she said.

Anat has been to Burning Man five times, and while she�s staying home this
year, she loves that her interactions with Burners leading up to the event
act as a portal to that world. A highlight for her this year was helping
style the woman who designed the Temple, a structure known as �the soul of
Burning Man.�

While Five and Diamond closed its permanent location on Valencia Street
this year, the Burning Man buying spree is so important for the company
that it�s popping up in the Mission for the month.

Owner Haley Lynn said she realized how atypical the ticketing situation
was when the Burning Man organization asked to sell tickets out of her
shop. Last weekend was the first time since 2011 that the event has
expanded beyond online ticketing to brick-and-mortar outlets in San
Francisco and Reno, Nev.

�We thought we�d have a line around the corner,� Lynn said, before she
realized that tickets hadn�t sold out online. She estimates that the
organization�s booth at the back of her store sold only a handful of $500+
tickets over the weekend.

Five and Diamond has seen a steady stream of customers, but Lynn is
crossing her fingers for a big surge over the weekend and early next week.

She misses having a permanent anchor in San Francisco, which has also lost
Burning Man mainstays Costumes on Haight and Distractions in recent years,
and hopes people will show up to support local designers.

�If you want to be in the true spirit of Burning Man, you should be
supporting artists and shopping small, slow fashion, not on Amazon,� she
said. �We�re all Burners � you�re supporting the community.�

--
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