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 ispo SPORT & STYLE
Jun 29-Jul 1, 2008, Munich, Germany |
Final Report: ispo SPORT & STYLE Starts with Admirable Success – Further Refining of Profile Expected
• Approximately 17,500 trade visitors obtained information at the international trade fair for sports and fashion in Munich
• Share of domestic and foreign visitors about equal
• Further refining of the profile of the new orientation in the next two years
• Positive assessment of trend forums and trend shows
• ispovision gets positive exhibitor and visitor feedback
• Lots of interest in the offers for new sales potential in areas such as Wearable Technologies, Best Ager and Floorball Village
• Record number of visitors at the GQ Style Night with more than 1,300 guests (including more than 400 journalists) despite the sudden cold spell – top model Naomi Campbell presents the winning collections of the Global Sport Style Awards
 A trade fair was held for the first time with ispo SPORT & STYLE, which was clearly oriented to the sportstyle segment. It took place in Munich from July 8 to 10, 2007. Approximately 17,500 trade visitors came to the premier of the new trade fair concept. Due to the new concept and the changed composition of trade visitors from the sports, fashion and shoe industries, it was not possible to record figures comparable to the previous year.
A total of 821 exhibitors from 35 countries presented their latest production innovations and collections of the summer season 2008 to purchasers from approx. 89 countries. The foreign share of exhibitors was 80%, and it was about 48% on the visitor side. In addition to Germany, the highest number of visitors came from Italy, the USA, Switzerland, Austria, France, China, India, Pakistan and Taiwan. The quality of the trade visitors was proven by the conspicuously high number of decision-makers, who were mainly interested in the segments sportstyle, fitness, beach and running. The areas of team sports, surf & skate, trekking and golf also recorded high numbers of visitors.
Liselotte Stuut, Crocs: "The concept is convincing. The retailer portfolio is just right for us with the sportstyle orientation. We had a lot of visitors at our booth and were able to meet many international customers.”
 Almost all the exhibitors welcomed the new concept, but consider some improvements necessary, especially with respect to the arrangement of product groups and the trade fair categories. The opinion was unanimous that a SPORT & STYLE trade fair is indispensable for the industry. From the viewpoint of trade visitors, especially the large distribution organizations and fashion retailers rated the trade fair positively with the desire to see even more brands in line with the new orientation of the trade fair. Traditional sports retailers are still not fully at ease with the new concept and in part would like a greater range of hardware offers.
Manfred Wutzlhofer, Chief Executive Officer of Messe München GmbH, announced further improvements of the trade fair concept: The response to the trade fair has strengthened our resolve to take a new path in the area of lifestyle with ispo SPORT & STYLE. ispo SPORT & STYLE is the only trade fair that provides an appropriate professional platform for this. In close collaboration with the industry and our partners, we have to work further on refining the trade fair profile. We have planned the next two years to accomplish this. We are very pleased that we are getting encouragement and support from all in sides in this endeavor."
Roland Danner, Lafuma. "In principle, we welcome the decision to try something new, but the new concept still has to prove its worth. I would have liked the halls to be structured more uniformly. But the quality of visitors was very positive overall. The implementation of the trade fair and the support was also very praiseworthy. ispovision and trends & innovations were absolute highlights. Both halls are very appealing thanks to their clear concept and the interesting exhibitors in the halls.”
New platforms, trend forums and trend shows provided visitors with an advance overview of upcoming trends and were also strong points of attraction for the media as the article and live reports by ZDF, N24, PRO7, SAT1, RTL, Vox and Bavarian television as well as the international TV news agencies Reuters and EBU, European Broadcasting Union, demonstrated.
The premium concept ispovision won a high degree of approval among trade visitors with respect to the range of exhibitors, hall ambience and the extraordinary trend product presentation in the lavishly planned Design Tunnel. Exhibitors praised the high-quality atmosphere and the presence of the most important retailers.
René Harnischmacher, Converse: "Messe München is filling a vacuum with the concept, especially for the German market. The new orientation of ispo SPORT & STYLE is a promising market of the future for us, which has fulfilled our expectations. Our booth placement in the ispovision Hall was very satisfactory, we had a lot of visitors and the quality of customers was outstanding. Collaboration with Messe München was very professional. We can easily imagine being at the next ispo SPORT & STYLE again.”
There was a lot of interest in the offers of Wearable Technologies, Best Ager and Floorball Village, which promise new sales potential. The Wearable Technologies Congress with top-rate participants attracted a great deal of attention. All seats were filled at all speeches, e.g., on the topic High-Tech Meets Low-Tech – Value-Added Selling.
At the GQ Style Night, which took place at ispo SPORT & STYLE on Monday evening, the companies Nike, Converse, Canterbury of New Zealand, Philipp Plein, Ben Sherman, Peuterey, Golfino, George Gina & Lucy and Coogi were distinguished with the Global Sport & Style Awards. The winner collections were presented by Naomi Campbell as well as the two winners of the Pro 7 TV show "Germany´s Next Top Model“, among others. In spite of the sudden cold spell, a record of more than 1,300 guests (including more than 400 journalists) was recorded.
Tobias Gröber, Manager of the ispo Group: "We have mastered an important next step with the first ispo SPORT & STYLE. I think we have reached 65%, next year we want to be at 85% and then take 100% advantage of the great potential on the market, which the concept of ispo SPORT & STYLE has, after three years. To achieve this, we are going to continue to work closely with the market and integrate constructive suggestions in our concept.”
ispo SPORT & STYLE will take place on the grounds of the New Munich Trade Fair Centre from June 29 to July 1, 2007.
ispo SPORT & STYLE
www.ispo-sportstyle.com |
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