German sporting goods exhibition ispo summer 06, which took place in Munich from July 16 to 18, 2006, had slightly lower participation with approximately 19,000 (20,722*) trade visitors.
A total of 1,015 exhibitors (915) exhibitors from 47 countries presented their latest production innovations and collections of the summer season 2007 to purchasers from approximately 100 countries. The foreign share of exhibitors was 76 percent (78%), and it was again about 46 percent on the visitor side.
The German trade visitors were especially reserved following the very demanding World Cup weeks and due to the hot summer temperatures.
In addition to the traditionally strong participation from EU countries and Switzerland, there was positive development in numbers of visitors especially from Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, Turkey, India, North and South America, from the Balkans to China and Japan and all the way to Australia and New Zealand.
A number of new platforms were the focus of the trade fair offers, which provided visitors with an advance overview of upcoming trends and which were also strong points of attraction for the media as reports. The new Kids' Zone, Golfwear Village and Boardsports Village attracted a lot of interest.
Ortwin Dellevoet, Crocs Sales Manager, said, We are really happy to be back at ispo. We were able to meet many new customers here, many from Eastern European countries, Russia, Pakistan and Iran in addition to Germany and Austria. It is again a very successful trade fair for us, and you can see that our booth is always full from mornings to evenings every day.
ispovision, which worked out and staked a claim on the high growth topic of Sportstyle four years ago as the first trade fair to do so, received very positive feedback from exhibitors and trade visitors, and it was a visitor magnet for fashion and sporting goods retailers.
Mario Banken, Northland M nster, said, ispovision was presented in the customary good light. The Global Sportstyle Award booth provides a good overview of the Sportstyle segment and makes it easier to detect trends of the upcoming season. Although a strong brand name is primarily a guarantee for good sales, you also see real Sportstyle products at the booth, which unite function and fashion. I found really interesting brands there, which will certainly sell well."
In addition to the sportswear offers, new platforms were also created in other Special Communities of ispo summer 06.
The new 'Triathlon Transition Area' within running_ispo in Hall B1 presented the topic Triathlon for the first time. Everything dealt with current trends and information about the three disciplines swimming, bicycling and running in discussion panels and product presentations, neoprene tests and fashion shows.
The new project 'Wearable Technology' depicted the integration of high-tech products in sports products, collections and accessories within outdoor_ispo in Hall B2. The product range extends from backpacks with solar cells and helmets with cameras to functional jackets with GPS navigation and T-shirts with iPod control all the way to gloves with integrated MP3 player.
Manfred Wutzlhofer, Chief Executive Officer of Messe M nchen GmbH, stated,
Despite all changes in the market, the positive reaction was significant, especially from exhibitors who sell sportswear. We see the future role of ispo summer especially in this sector. We are going to develop our concepts and marketing strategies further to this end. We are especially going to expand ispovision and the new platforms in the sportswear sector Kids, Golf, Surf, Beach and integrate Outdoor, Running, Triathlon und Nordic correspondingly.
ispo summer 07 will take place on the grounds of the New Munich Trade Fair Centre from Sunday to Tuesday, July 8 to 10, 2007.
