Showtime - Munich Summer 05
The summer trade season has played itself out again, and in between the hype, the hangovers and the hoopla, there’s little doubt that the void left by ASR Europe is still open to be filled.
That’s right, despite ISPO’s own reports of 23,000 trade visitors to its 2005 summer fair, those that made the journey hoping to see a turn-around after ISPO summer’s last few sparse years would have jumped back on the QANTAS jumbo disappointed: the Munich show is still struggling to attract match both the appeal of its winter counterpart and the buzz of Bread and Butter Barcelona.
As one Munich industry executive put it: “ISPO Summer has been left looking a little ‘German.’ Compared to winter, it (the summer show) is not important.”
Clarifies another, “Internationally, Summer ISPO was quiet. But for the Germans, Austrians and Swiss its still regarded as an important part of the season.”
Still, those non-Germanic retailers and sport industry somebody’s that went for a drink and a good time won’t have been too disappointed. Among the racket, Nordic ski and fitness halls, the board sports village attracted the crowds with a little B&B-style inspiration: beach chairs, sand, a bar and two-hourly fashion parades created enough buzz to keep retailers and industry execs crowding around.
Though the centrally located bar proved a great spot to experiment with the German beer market while still keeping an eye on upcoming surf trends, ISPO’s insistence on standardizing booth design did cause some minor confusion for those struggling to distinguish brand from brand (well, maybe the beer goggles also had something to do with it).
Positives meant product was clearly visible. But it’s hard to dispute that blocking a company’s leeway to experiment with booth design curbed creativity in a show that’s already struggling to be perceived by part of the industry as a viable, creative forum. “You couldn’t see where Quik ended and Billabong started,” complained one exhibitor. “You could see in, but everything just looked the same. Brands weren’t able to separate themselves.”
In the absence of any hot, new brands (B&B Barcelona was pretty clearly the summer show of choice for break-through brands keen to have their presence felt) stalwarts Quik, Billabong and O’Neill took over the big booths, and with them the opportunity to stamp their authority on next season’s summer styling.
Muted brights were present across the board with nudes also making an appearance for women alongside skirts, some stripes and polos. The vintage-look has also been carried through, and street-art inspired board short prints look strong in to spring 07. Raw edges were there, along with denim (distressed, embellished, light and used) and mixed-fabric garments.
But trends aside, the difficulties in ISPO’s timing - and in quantifying the effectiveness of showing there – remain. “As a PR tool or from the point of building social relationships it’s valuable,” says a French industry no-show, “but commercially it is not worthwhile. Few customers go there and every year more and more people say they will not be attending the following year.”
Where else to show summer is the difficulty for surf and lifestyle brands.
The inaugural B&B Barcelona hit exactly the right note, attendees raising the ante with highly styled, funked-out booths that sustained Bread & Butter’s reputation as an incubator for directional street fashion.
But board sport or surf brands hoping to make an impact there could be in for a shock. “Bread & Butter is not the platform for sport,” says one German production manager. “It is much more inspirational and fashion focused. Even Quicksilver failed to attract too many visitors.”
Of course all this makes for a major headache when it comes to planning the round of summer trade show trips for 2007, particularly for those wanting to come out of it with more than just an expensive hangover. Unless ISPO can work on ridding the July fair of its slightly stale air, Catalan sangria, not German beer, will fast become the after-show drink of choice.
Bread & Butter
Ok, so its definitely more fashion and street than sport, but even hardcore surf brands will find it difficult to ignore the huge influence of B&B’s highly successful trade fairs in Barcelona and Berlin.
In the last three years the German-born show has stamped its unrivalled authority upon the summer scene (the hardcore technicality of ISPO winter has assured its position as the place to show for sports brands in Europe). B&B’s own PR speak calls it “simplicity by quality…a tradeshow for selected brands.”
While maybe not the forum for surf and sport – among the edgy fashion/street names, surf and sport can find it hard to generate interest – it is unarguably the definitive barometer for gauging future market trends.
Who To Watch
You won’t have found them at ISPO Summer (do we sense an established trend?), but the word is out that Insight is building momentum among surf/sport industry watchers across Europe. Knowledgably combining street with surf, Insight appears to understand the fashion influence that underlies the European surf market.
“They’ve positioned themselves as a fashion/street/lifestyle, as opposed to just a surf brand,” says one keen watcher. “They’re not attacking the ‘surf’ market. They see that in Europe it’s about style, not labels.”