An event record was obvious even before ispo winter 2006 took place on 160,000m2 at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre from January 29 to February 1. A total of 1,806 exhibitors from 49 countries, 81% from foreign countries, presented their product innovations and current fashion collections at the trade fair. This is the greatest number of exhibitors since ispo was inaugurated.

Extremely strong visitor participation was seen from the first trade fair day with a 10% increase, which continued over subsequent days. More than 60,000 trade visitors were counted on the four trade fair days, approximately 60% of them from overseas. Increases in the numbers of visitors from Eastern European countries as well as Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland and Spain were particularly significant.

The focus topics of ispo winter 06 were safety, product lines specifically for women, Nordic Fitness, technological innovations in the ski and snowboard areas, Mountain Lifestyle” with collections of top fashion designers as well as an increased integration of electronics and technology in equipment with systems for mobile phones, MP3 players and iPods.

We can look back on a very successful event, which attracted record numbers of exhibitors and visitors. But the extremely pleasant course of the trade fair reflected above all the correspondingly positive situation in the industry. Retailers and the industry agree at the beginning of the sports year 2006 that a reversal of trends has succeeded,” stated CEO of Messe München GmbH, Manfred Wutzlhofer.