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 – some of them live – by ZDF, N24, PRO7, SAT1, RTL and Bavarian television as well as the international TV news agencies Reuters and EBU, European Broadcasting Union, demonstrated. The new Kids’ Zone, Golfwear Village and Boardsports Village attracted a lot of interest.

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. The Global Sportstyle Awards were presented within the framework of the ispovision Style Night in Hall A2 with an audience of approx. 1,000 enthusiastic participants on Monday evening. As at ispo winter 06, the host of the evening was the former MTV star Ray Cokes. The super models Alek Wek and Omahyra Mota Garcia as well as the two winners of the Pro 7-TV show “Germany’s Next Top Model” presented the winning collections from Adidas, Bodytalk, Chiemsee, Craft, Deha, 2964 Garmisch, Luis Trenker, Marinepool and Medico.

Mario Banken, Northland Münster: “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.

Hubert Schmitt, PR & Marketing HI-TEC Sport Germany GmbH: “As an internationally active sporting goods brand represented in more than 100 countries, I believe that it is an absolute must to be at the worlds largest sporting goods trade fair. Two years ago, we got the chance to exhibit at ispovision in addition to ispo, and we have the perfect platform there to create excitement about our brand in a very interesting brand environment both with respect to competitors in the same product segment and in related product areas such as textiles and hardware. This year was especially good for us, because we had a great increase in the number of visitors at ispovision, something that we did not really expect. We even have the impression that more people were in the aisles of ispovision than was the case in the winter.”

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.

The next generation – the winners and finalists of the ispo BrandNew contest – was very enthusiastic about the course of the trade fair. Matthias Kleiter from BBQ Donut was able to record 400 orders for his product BBQ Donut during the trade fair – at a price of 1,500 EUR per piece. “The second ispo day was especially a complete success. Good preparation and the visitor magnet of ispo BrandNew were the keys to success at ispo summer 2006”

Jonas Povel, Bombolsa (Finalist): “The presentation chance with the considerate support was sensational. We were able to establish many good contacts during ispo summer 06, and the attention we received from the media was enormous.”

Manfred Wutzlhofer, Chief Executive Officer of Messe München 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.

*) in parentheses: comparative figures for ispo summer 05

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