ispo winter 07 took place in 17 halls on 180,000 sq. meters and recorded approximately 64,000 trade visitors compared to 61,087 last year, roughly 5% more than in the previous year. For the first time, the show covered the entire area available on the grounds of the New Munich Trade Fair Center.
International participation was high as usual with a 65% share of foreign visitors and an 84% share of foreign exhibitors. The visitor share from Eastern Europe and Russia increased above average, more than 20% more visitors were counted from the Netherlands and Great Britain, 14% more came from Switzerland, 11% more from the Czech Republic, 7% more from Italy and 6% more from Austria.
Increasing visitor and purchasing interest was especially registered from textile and shoe retailers, which confirmed the sportstyle orientation of ispo. While the share was approx. 40% in 2006, more than 50% of the visitors indicated this winter that they wanted to obtain information about the current range of offers for textiles from functional clothing to sport-oriented fashion for leisure time. About 22% of the trade visitors cited interest in the ski sector, 10% board, 9% outdoor hardware and 9% fitness and running.
Manfred Wutzlhofer, Chief Executive Officer of Messe München GmbH said, “ispo winter 07 will go down as a record trade fair in ispo history. In addition to increased amount of area and number of exhibitors, we can now also report a visitor record. The increasing participation and the growing interest from the textile and shoe retail sectors confirm the continued development of ispo as a unique platform for the range of offers for sport-oriented leisurewear in addition to functional clothes and clothes with technical features. The mood at the trade fair was positive despite the difficult winter season. Manufacturers presented a lot of novelties at the trade fair, and trade visitors were very interested in the new trends, products and collections.”
A total of 1,970 exhibitors (2006: 1,633) presented their product innovations and current fashion collections of the coming winter season 2007/2008 in Munich. For the first time, there was a separate innovation area in Hall A2 to provide retailers with a concise overview. New concepts of Wearable Technologies and ispo Best Ager as well as the ispo Award winners and next generation projects were very popular. The ispo organizers have been involved in brand and trend scouting for years, and 50 awards were also presented for the product innovations of fashion, hardware and footwear suppliers as well as to designers this winter.
In addition, ispovision and the new devised sportstyle_ispo halls with their stylish design were especially big favorites. Morgan Boeri, Purchaser, Galerie Lafayette Paris: “ispo has developed very well, and the atmosphere in the halls is full of positive energy. I especially liked ispovision, which has beautiful brands and products. Last winter, I discovered Orage for the first time, and this winter I really like the collections from Luis Trenker and Hell is for Heroes.” This sportstyle focus will be expanded further in the wake of the new ispo SPORT & STYLE, which will take place on the grounds of the New Munich Trade Fair.
