ispo winter 06 took place on 160,000 sq. m. at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre from January 29 to February 1, 2006. A total of 1,806 exhibitors, compared to 1,600 last year, from 49 countries, compared to 44 last year, attended the fair. 81% of the attendees were from foreign countries versus 82% last year. This is the greatest number of exhibitors ever since ispo was inaugurated.
Werner Haizmann, President Verband Deutscher Sportfachhandel e.V. (Association of German Sports Retailers), VDS, and President of Fedas, Europäische Vereinigung der Sportfachhändlerverbände (Association of European Sports Retailers) said, “ispo was a great success for all of us. We were able to welcome more members than ever as Verband Deutscher Sportfachhandel at our trade fair booth this year. We and all of our members fervently hope that we can also transfer this excellent mood from winter into summer. Especially because we are convinced that specifically the global players in the shoe and outdoor sectors, who previously were not represented at our international trade fair, can draw the correct conclusions from this trade fair result. There can only be one, especially for the running shoe and outdoor sectors: the upcoming ispo summer, which German and European retailers are greatly looking forward to.”
Extremely strong visitor participation was already seen on the first trade fair day with a 10% increase, which continued over the next days. A total of more than 60,000 (54,433) trade visitors were counted on the four trade fair days, approximately 60% (59%) of them from foreign countries. Increases in the numbers of visitors from Eastern European countries as well as Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland and Spain were particularly significant.
Claude Benoit, President of the Swiss Retailers Association Asmas and General Secretary of Fedas, said,
“European retailers are really extremely satisfied with ispo winter. Such a great mood has not existed for years. Everything was just right. My colleagues from Switzerland and southern European countries, from France and Austria, felt that they were served optimally with this enormous range of offers. We as European retailers have to extend our compliments to our ispo here. All of us and I personally are especially pleased that this super ispo, which broke all records, was the greatest thanks to their man of action of long years, Jürgen Lohrberg, who took part in this trade fair for the last time. We are also very pleased that his successor, Tobias Gröber, has started with the biggest ispo ever.”
Manfred Wutzlhofer, Chief Executive Officer of Messe München GmbH, said, “We can look back on a very successful event, which attracted record numbers of exhibitors and visitors. But the extremely pleasant course of the trade fair reflected above all the correspondingly positive situation in the industry. Retailers and the industry agree at the beginning of the sports year 2006 that a reversal of trends has succeeded.”
The following topics were the focus of ispo winter 06: safety, product lines specifically for women, Nordic Fitness, technological innovations in the ski and snowboard areas, “Mountain Lifestyle” with collections of top fashion designers as well as increased integration of electronics and technology in equipment with systems for cellphones, MP3 players and iPods. The big sports events of 2006 with the upcoming Winter Olympic games in Turin and the FIFA World Cup, from which retailers and industry expect big increases in sales, were of course much-discussed topics during the four trade fair days.
The organizers of ispo have dedicated themselves intensively to the topic of promoting the next generation and innovation for many years. This is certainly one of the components contributing to the success of this years winter event. At ispo winter 06, 44 awards were presented to designers, fashion and footwear companies, producers of hardware, safety equipment and accessories as well as to newcomers. In addition, the organizers promoted 24 new brands within the framework of projects for the next generation; these are all very promising new brands, which are bringing new life into the industry and providing retailers with new options for their range of collections.
ispovision, International Trade Show for Sports Style Fashion Inspired by Sports, also recorded a record number of participants. A total of 86 brands were nominated for the Global Sportstyle Awards, and 60 retailers in a jury from seven countries selected the winner outfits. The highlight of ispovision was the GQ Style Night, at which all nominated outfits were presented in a large Sportstyle Fashion Show, among others by the two top models Eva Padberg and Marcus Schenkenberg. MTV legend Ray Cokes hosted the evening during which numerous prominent persons presented the awards.
Klaus Jost, Sales, Purchasing and Marketing Executive at INTERSPORT Deutschland eG, and Deputy Chairperson of IIC INTERSPORT International Corp. said, “The mood was fantastic. The framework conditions for this super ispo winter couldnt have been better. The fair was a resounding success with a great deal of enthusiasm on all days. Its a lot more fun to see smiling faces at an international trade fair than sad ones. This applies both to retailers and those from the industry. I believe that we from the industry deserved this fantastic mood due to our hard, enduring and constructive trade fair work.”
The VOLVO SportsDesign FORUM, which took place one day in advance of the trade fair in the International Congress Center, ICM, set another milestone in its only four-year history. Almost 900 participants discussed all aspects of “Active Safety”, to which the VOLVO SportsDesign AWARD is also dedicated. The objective of the forum is to establish a dialog between industry, graphic design and sports design and create new stimuli for design developments.
The ispo Sports Sponsoring Congress celebrated an anniversary this winter. The European sponsoring market St. Gallen held its industry meeting in ICM for the 10th time and set a new record with more than 1,000 participants for the first time appropriately for this special anniversary.
The ispo Group announced at ispo winter 06 that ispo china summer will premier in August 2006 as a supplement to ispo china. This will provide the international industry with a platform for its summer sports products and collections for the Asian-Pacific region.
Schedule:
- ispo Russia 06 February 20 23, 2006
- ispo china 06 March 13 16, 2006
- ispo & ispovision summer 06 July 16 18, 2006
- ispo china summer 06 August 21 24, 2006
- ispo Russia summer 06 September 20 23, 2006
- ispo winter 07: February 4 7, 2007
Final Report for ispo winter 06:
10% increase in visitors at ispo winter 06
Significant increase of visitor figures from all countries
Industry in a euphoric mood: Reversal of trend successful at beginning of the sports year 2006
Innovation in focus: 44 awards presented
Next generation: 24 new brands exhibit within the framework of promotion projects
ispovision presents those nominated for the Global Sports Style Awards 2006 in a large Sportstyle Show for the first time
VOLVO SportsDesign FORUM continued with a great deal of success
Successful anniversary: 10th ispo Sports Sponsoring Congress in ICM with record participation
New ispo china summer 06 will start in Shanghai on August 21 to 24, 2006
