The Asia Outdoor is growing at the same pace as the market and is well on its way to becoming the worlds number three among the big outdoor trade shows, after the Outdoor Friedrichshafen, the leader, and Outdoor Retailer in the US, explained Kurt Jaeger, founder of the Asia Outdoor together with Messe Friedrichshafen.

The sixth edition of the industry trade show, which took place from July 27th to 30th in Nanjing, China, ended as a record-breaker, with 19,180 industry visitors (+17.5 percent), 452 exhibiting brands (+26 percent) and 405 media representatives coming together on 42,000 square meters (+31 percent, 452,000 square feet) were counted at this years Asia Outdoor.

Show management said visitors from all over China made their way to Nanjing over the course of the shows four days. They reported that, whereas in the past visitors from eastern China have been dominant, this year the organizers noticed strong increases in visitors from the north and the west of the country.

The outdoor industry has now caught on in all of the countrys provinces-every week new specialty stores are opening in the third- and fourth tier of the countrys largest cities, reported Knut Jaeger at the press conference. The newest market figures were also presented at the conference and for the first time included outdoor revenues outside of the core brands. Currently, sales in outdoor goods in China are around €1.8 billion to €2 billion, with a growth rate in 2011 of about 22 percent to 25 percent.

On the exhibitors side, it is above all the Chinese produces that are showing their increasing market strength. Toread, Chinas first publicly traded outdoor brand, is planning 950 stores by years end and will exceed Chinas previous market leaders, TNF and Columbia, in revenues and the number of retail outlets. In core brand sales, Chinese brands already have a market share of 40 percent to 50 percent. Management said observers are watching with anticipation to see how the 320 import brands perform in the next few years.

Kailas (Brands: Kailas-Vaude-Meindl), the number one in terms of specialty stores, presented at the Asia Outdoor with 870 square meters (9300 square feet) of exhibition space. Kailas hopes to grow an additional 40 to 50 percent this year. Other local big names like Northland, with Lowa and Mobi Garden, are also rising fast.

Big Sports and Textile Brands Go Outdoor
For the first time, textile firms with a strong market presence were present at the show, including Londsdale/London, Telent, Beaume, Royalway and Succpard, a development which outdoor experts are watching closely. This led Toread, Kailas, Northland, Mobi Garden and Beijing German Messe to found the Zijin Asia Outdoor Forum in Nanjing on July 4th. They will be joined by several other strong core brands.

The press conference was also an occasion for the management to present the goals of the new industry association. These are: developing the Asia Outdoor into one of the worlds most important industry trade shows; promotion of a healthy outdoor market, the support for serious market research, the development of standards to distinguish functional outdoor clothing from less serious fashion trends, the development of quality standards, creating a positive image for the outdoor industry while respecting registered patents, designs and trademarks, as well as initiatives against bribery and corruption.

Success for the Second Asia Outdoor Award
Show management said 155 companies participated in the Asia Outdoor Award 2011. The 21 winners of the Silver Awards came from around the world. Vaude took home the Eco Award with its Green Shape tent, the Women Award went to Petzl for a womens helmet. Gold Awards were won by Vaude for its Challenger backpack and Leki for its Carbonlite XL Antishock.

How Big are the Synergies Between the Outdoor Industry and Sports Bikes?

That was question in advance of the experiment that was the coordination of an Outdoor trade show with a bike trade show. For the premiere of the asia bike, 138 brands (94 of which came from outside China) took residence in their own 12,000 square meter (130,000 square feet) exhibition hall. The asia bike is Chinas first trade show for sports and luxury bikes in China.  Management said 93 percent of the 11,957 industry visitors to the first asia bike were very satisfied with the quality of the show and intend to return to the trade show in 2012. Exhibitors at both shows happily report that they were able to establish new retailer relationships because of the parallel events.

Strong Events Program
Asia Outdoors events program was also well received and visited, which this year included a fashion show, a mountain village, a bouldering wall, a climbing wall and competitions, a tent city and forum programs.

88 percent of industry visitors to the Asia Outdoor rated the show as highly professional and intend to visit again in 2012. The seventh Asia Outdoor will take place from July 26th to 29th 2012, again in cooperation with the second asia bike.