As noted in last week’s first-day report about the ISPO Sport & Style Trade Show not quite capturing the marketplace, after another 2 days of the show our final assessment is that it missed the mark for truly reflecting what’s going on in the burgeoning scenes of streetwear, sports, and style. Show tallies indicated that ISPO, which ran from July 8-10 in Munich, Germany, and had the unfortunate timeslot of taking place 1 days after Bread & Butter in Barcelona which also features a strong Sport & Street component, attracted only 17,500 visitors, with a total of 810 exhibitors. Of these it’s hard to say what percentages also came from the International hall featuring textiles from China, Pakistan, and India.
We were hoping that the second and third days would improve for the show, but the reality was that the hall intended for Sportstyle, called B1, simply did not capture the lifestyle and vibe of streetwear today. While the area had a good graffiti wall, Parkour exhibitions, a lowrider bike scene, and couple of brands that represent such elements with Albin, Quiksilver/Roxy (albeit a much smaller booth than they usually have), RVCA, Asics, and O’Neill, the hall felt like an electronics trade show with big, wide, empty halls all done in white. Not only was there way too much room, but there was no ambiance that fit streetwear and style inspired by sports today. Oddly, the closest that came to being cool was the manmade Reef beach and wakeboarding and fashion show outside of the venue on the showground’s pond.
This was a stark contrast to what was by far the best area, Ispovision or the C1 hall that contained a circular theme, a Premium Design Tunnel with massive doors, and Global Sport & Style brand award gallery with various outfits on display, and ambiance from components such as deep purple wall hangings, disco balls, chandeliers, and various decorations that gave the area an upscale feel. Brands such as Bogner, Volvo (the show sponsors), Matador, Casall, and Clover fit in well in this area.
Both halls (and there were others) offered runway fashion shows but were so loaded with dance routines in-between collection sets, that it appeared as though there either weren’t enough brands represented so they had to fill space with dancing, or that the runway shows were more made-for-TV pieces than introductions of new collections.
ISPO is known for hosting competitions and recognizing the work of good designers and the Sport & Style show was no exception, with an entire area dedicated to Trends & Innovations (hall B2), winners of the Brand New Awards for design and composition, and a hall dedicated to performance wear such as Fila, Roces, Suunto, and MTS. In addition, the WT gallery for Wearable Technologies had unique displays of various brands that indicated where the future may be headed with products such as the SolarShopper bag that collects solar energy to re-charge iPods and cell phones, and various outwear pieces made of materials that are also used for space expeditions.
In a city and country and area of the world that has a growing streetwear scene and cool retail shops such as Blaze, Berlinerklamotten, Cramer & Co., andGlore, it was surprising that the show wasn’t yet able to capture the influence and vibe of this scene but stuck to more traditional roots of performance, technical wear, and an over-abundance of booths from sporting organizations. Many retailers that we talked to from streetwear and sports and style said they either went to Bread & Butter the week before or simply didn’t find the brands attending ISPO appealing enough to check out. In addition, the show did not feel international. One way to determine this is by how many things are in English vs. German. This was clearly a German show. Everything was in German including most of the announcers of the runways shows and exhibitions, and as a writer from WWD said disappointingly, even the Brand New Awards presentation.
Our suggestions for ISPO, which does a booming business with it’s winter show each January, is to completely re-design the B1 hall, among others, and bring in brands that can attract the right retailers—and we’re talking about brands from the underground--from the fastest and most exciting market of streetwear, or as some people in Europe call it, sportstyle. In addition, while there were some interesting shows, galleries, and on-site performances, there needs to be cohesion between them all to create the lifestyle atmosphere of what’s going in the marketplace. Change the music for one and bring in performances that match streetwear today. The show has potential given the wide-open vacuum within this market in this area of the world, but it’s hard to know if ISPO will be the organization that can accurately fill it.
