ispo Wrap Up

mike lewis

• February 13 2009
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Boardsport Fashion Show In Hall A3

Despite the current economy and a strike by Munich’s Transportation Authority, more than 60,000 industry members from over 100 countries made the voyage to Munich February 1-4 for the 69th anniversary of the world’s largest sporting goods tradeshow, ispo. This year’s show highlighted the latest gear from 1,950 exhibitors from 50 different countries.

While slightly off from 2008 numbers of 64,000 attendees and 2,026 exhibitors, the mood was upbeat and the traffic steady throughout the show. “We had a continuous stream of good, strong customers as well as a number of new inquiries,” says Sole Technology European Marketing Manager Jenny Ahnell. “It was a good decision to exhibit Etnies at ispo winter, and to see how our sales department wrote orders.”

Retailers made the trip from around the globe to check out brands’ offerings, in fact 66 percent of all attendees and 83 percent of the exhibitors came from abroad and there was a strong U.S. contingent on hand with nearly 100 buyers from shops large and small. “I was impressed, overwhelmed, and for once in a long time, excited to be at a trade show when I visited ispo for the first time ever this year,” says Skatepark of Tampa’s General Manager Barak Wiser. “For me, ispo offers an amazing vehicle to starting a private label or enhancing your already existing brand up to new levels of production.  My eyes were opened to a crazy world of almost limitless sources for growing a product line.”

Orage presenting lines to customers.

The scale of the show impressed many visitors, which is roughly three times the size of SIA. “The ispo trade show is the largest gathering of like-minded, action sport oriented retailers and manufacturers in the world,” says Board Retailers Association of America Executive Director Melissa Clary. “The opportunity the ispo show provides for retailers to network with European vendors and retailers is key to the sustainability and growth of the entire industry.” Mike DeLuca, owner of Georgia’s Progressive Skatepark seconds that emotion: “The sheer size of the ispo show was quite overwhelming. To see the vision and progression of today’s designers is absolutely amazing. When we thought it’s all been done, they’ve taken it to a whole new level.”

The aisles of board_ispo were packed.

Boardsports Community Manager David Badalec states,  ”The great snow year certainly helped create a very positive atmosphere at the show. The high quality of international buyers who come to Munich ensured very good business opportunities for all exhibitors at ispo. It was interesting to see exhibitors and visitors weren’t following the general economic mood and were looking positively at their opportunities for 2010. Attendance and exhibition stats at board_ispo continued to be very strong with the total visitors for the entire trade show on par with the figures of 2008. We regard this as a very positive sign for the industry’s recession resistance. From my point of view, the boardsports industry displayed grace under pressure. Everyone knows it’s a tough environment, but the creativity and energy coming out of the industry is amazing. There is true optimism in the European market.”
“Based on the current financial crisis I was very surprised by the underlying positive atmosphere,” says Amplid’s Anian Thrainer. “The mood was great, particularly for us, and we had very high quality contacts on all days.”

The next installment of ispo Winter and the show’s 70th anniversary will take place on February 7-10, 2010.

The Oakley booth in hall A2.