Industry association the European Outdoor Group (EOG) has released the results of a market research exercise it has been conducting for several years. According to secretary general Mark Held, the figures offer a picture of the state of the market at the end of 2006 for companies selling outdoor apparel, footwear and equipment.

“This hasn’t been easy,” Mr Held said. “It’s been like tracking a moving animal. We take what data the brands make available, calculate what percentage of the total market those brands have and scale up from there.”

With a total retail spend on the three categories of outdoor product of €5.49 billion, the exercise shows that, overall, the industry achieved 2.6% turnover growth in 2006, compared the previous year, in the most developed European economies. Taking into account the continuing pressure on prices, Mr Held made it clear that growth in volume was even higher.

Apparel accounts for 42.7% of the total, footwear 29.1% and equipment the remaining 28.2%. The country making the biggest contribution to the total was Germany, with €1.28 billion, compared to €1.16 billion in the UK and €704 million in France. Per capita spend was highest in Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

“The market is healthy and is still growing,” Mr Held concluded. “In Germany, I would say the market was buoyant, in spite of a recent increase in VAT.”