Looking good at 40 – ispo celebrates a big birthday

21 Nov '09

4 min read

2010 is a real jubilee year for ispo. Not only does it boast the 70th edition of the world´s largest sports equipment fair, it also marks the event´s 40th year since launch. Back in 1970 the first international sports fair was held in Munich, at the old exhibition centre, on a total of 45,000 square meters of exhibition space. 11,000 trade buyers from 34 countries made their way to the city for that event, and in doing so they set the ball rolling for ispo´s successful future.

In 2010, too, Messe München is looking forward to a well booked ispo, with around 2,000 exhibitors presenting their products on 175,000 square meters of space at this well established platform for trends and innovations. Visitors seeking out information, new contacts and new products in the exhibition halls might also like to cast their eyes upwards to the ispo Gallery at the intersections between the exhibition halls. Displayed here, to celebrate the event´s anniversary, will be impressions from ispo´s 40-year history!

Much has happened in the winter sports sector since the 1970s. Like the advent of the snowboard and the carving ski, for example. Developments are of course still continuing today, and ispo 2010 is as ever reacting by showcasing the latest trends in the sports sector: An entire hall (Hall A3) at ispo 2010 is being dedicated to 'freeriding', and there will be more coverage of running and endurance sports with the addition of a performance_ispo display area in Hall B4. Also, the content of ispovision and sportstyle_ispo is being revised to give them a clearer positioning within ispo. sportstyle_ispo in Halls B3 and B2 will be linked also spatially to ispovision in Hall B1.

Of course all the old familiar segments will be there: board_ispo will be taking up Halls A1 and A2 as usual, the classic ski_ispo is in Hall A4 and exhibited in Hall A5 will be the crossover segment made up of ski_ispo and outdoor_ispo. The home of outdoor_ispo is traditionally Halls A6, B6 and B5, the home fitness equipment manufacturers are in C1 and Sports Source Europe is taking up
Halls C2 and C3. The halls are reachable via all of the entrances at the exhibition centre, including the new North-West Entrance.

Marveling at the new innovations, discovering the new trends, engaging in talks, testing materials, contacting the athletes, making decisions – for all this and more ispo is the number one communications platform in the sports equipment sector. Retailers, trade visitors and media representatives alike enjoy this easy-going atmosphere in which to review the highlights for the coming season. One of the main themes at ispo 2010 will be sustainability.

Following its introduction in 2009, the Eco Responsibility Award has established itself as an important award for innovative products, alongside the ispo Outdoor Award, the ispo Boardsports Award, the European Ski Award and the BrandNew Award. In addition, efforts are being stepped up in the cooperations between ispo and the Association for Conservation and the Technical University of Munich on ecological projects and sustainable research. The cooperation with bluesign technologies ag is also sending a strong signal in terms of sustainable textile manufacturing.

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