Ispo Munich full up with 2,645 exhibitors

By

Bruno Joly

Published
Jan 21, 2016

Like every year, Ispo Munich appears to have reached its capacity for exhibitors. However, for the latest edition, which opens its doors this Sunday, January 24, Messe München, the organizers behind the exhibition, announced precisely 2,645 exhibitors, compared to 2,585 seen last year.

This indicates high stability. Foreign exhibitors, coming from 50 countries, represent 87 percent of presenters. Above all, 2015 was a relatively good year. At the pre-exhibition conference, Werner Haizmann reminded audience members that 2016 would be a sporty year, characterized among other things by the Rio Olympic Games in Brazil and the 2016 UEFA European Championship to take place in France.

The FEDAS and German organization president also reminded listeners that sales for sporting articles and clothes went up by 2.5 percent in Europe, in 2015, and racked in over 36.6 billion euros. An increase that can be attributed to the performance of winter sports, which jumped 25 percent during the first quarter of 2015, compared to the previous year.

And for ISPO, despite the growing wellness and fitness industry, winter and outdoor sports are still at the center of the exhibition.

On the exhibition floor, visitors won’t have any surprises while going through the 16 halls and over 180,000 square feet of exhibition space in the Bavarian capital. Outdoor & Action Sports will each take up three halls. The other segments will be taken up by Sportstyle, Ski, Ispo Vision, Sourcing, Textrends, and Health and fitness.

All industry heavyweights will be present, including, among others, The North Face, Columbia, Jack Wolfskin, Schöffel, Odlo, Icebreaker, Keen, Scott, Salomon, Look, Rossignol… In Ispo Vision, the area dedicated to fashion brands routed in sports, visitors will find Fusalp, Bogner, Peak Performance or again, Kjus and EA7 of Armani.

Messe München’s other mission is to have Ispo live all through the year. So, a couple of seasons ago, the organizer developed Ispo Open Innovation, which allows brands to call on consumers to test and comment on their products and provide thoughtful feedback. About 6000 consumers are already participating. Not to mention, the Ispo Community.

For sports retailers, one of the challenges is also digital. For Messe München, it’s also a challenge facing OutDoor, Friedrichshafen July trade fair, and who at the time managed to compete with Ispo so much so that the summer session stopped in Munich.

On January 25, at the request of the European Outdoor Group, Ispo will present their vision as the organizers of OutDoor 2020. The president of Messe München is sending out a reminder that he is ready to accompany the players of OutDoor, 365 days a year.