Press Release

Halls at ispo Summer 2003

ispo summer 03 is placing its bets on early information on trends and product innovations

• ispo with a new date: Sunday, June 29th to Tuesday, July 1st, 2003

• Brand leaders such as adidas, Arena, Asics, Billabong, Chiemsee, Columbia, Converse, Fila, Fischer, Haglöfs, Head, Lotto, Lowa, Meindl, Merrell, New Balance, Nike Inline, O'Neill, Quiksilver, Reebok, Rossignol, Tecnica, Salomon, Speedo, Venice Beach, Wilson and others have confirmed they will be there

• Shortening the duration to three fair days will create an intensive working atmosphere

• The focus is on specialty retailers: full-range treatment of focus topics by hosting live demonstrations and discussion forums

• Key-account programs for European and North American specialty retailers

• "Nordic Fitness Sports Park" links the outdoor_ispo to the running_ispo

• All about stamina sports with Runner's World and the 10,000 meter "ispo_run"

• "ispo sound squat" and "board_ispo skate summit" dish up the goods on board-sports

• From mass-appeal to extreme sports: the new special community at inline_ispo will acknowledge the strong development in this segment of the market

• The Bavarian Minister President Dr. Edmund Stoiber will bestow the Sport Award at the International Congress Center Munich, ICM

The ispo summer 03 at the end of June/beginning of July will be giving a complete market overview at the start of the season and in the run-up to a number of national and international events. So, the ispo will be living up to its core competency of information and underlining its leadership in trends and innovations. Such companies as adidas, Amer, Arena, Asics, Billabong, Champion, Chiemsee, Columbia, Converse, Dunlop, Ecco, Fila, Fischer, Gore, Haglöfs, Head, Helly Hansen, K2, Kappa, Kaipa, Killtec, L-Fashion-Group, Lotto, Lowa, Meindl, Merrell, New Balance, Nike Inline, Odlo, O'Neill, Quiksilver, Reebok, Rossignol, Rusty, Tecnica, Salomon, Solar, Speedo Venice Beach and Wilson, among others, have confirmed their participation.

With a new date and a shorter duration of only three fair days, the ispo summer 03 will be hosting a denser concentration of suppliers and thus also a more intensive working environment with a clear focus on product innovation and trend information. And while we are talking time, the opening hours on all three fair days will be extended to 7 p.m.

Around 1,100 international sporting goods and sportswear industry exhibitors from more than 40 countries will be taking over the 1000,000 square meters of the New Trade Fair Center in Munich from Sunday, June 29th to Tuesday, July 1st, 2003 to present their innovations in hardware and accessories as well as their fashion collections to an international industry audience.

The focus of the ispo summer 03 will be on specialist retailers featuring product innovations from the "ispo DuPont BrandNew"start-up contest, the "ispo_trainee_project" to foster young talent, the ispocard membership program for total ease and cost-effective trade fair attendance and the latest information on all the trends such as those you will see at the VOLVO SportsDesign FORUM, the Colour Forum from Worth Global Style Network (WGSN), the International Designer's Exhibition of Active Sport (IDEAS), the Promostyl Trend Barometer and all the fashion shows. In brief: all the information and ideas specialist retailers need for a successful season to come.

In cooperation with the European Federation of Sport Retailers Associations, FEDAS, a key-account program will be organized at the ispo for outdoor retailers from the USA. The top managers from REI, EMS and Galyan's, representatives from the Quest Outdoor, Adventure 16 and Nantahala Outdoor chains as well as from ROI, Retailers of the Outdoor Industry, are said to be interested mostly in the crossover areas at the ispo such as the running_ispo and the board_ispo. A further key-account project for leading European outdoor dealers will be carried out by Columbia Sportswear.

The international offerings at the ispo summer 03 will be presented within specified sector platforms, in special communities. The full-range of topics will be brought together and presented in the form of seminars, workshops, discussion forums, live demonstrations and other overarching program items targeting specialist retailers.

On Sunday evening, June 29th, The Sports Award of the Bavarian Minister President Dr. Edmund Stoiber will be presented in the International Congress Center Munich, ICM. It is already the second time, though the first time within an ispo framework, that awards will be given in a total of eight categories including, among others, high performance and talented young sportspeople, sports innovations and sports promoters for outstanding merit and exemplary initiatives in the area of Bavarian sports. The awards will be presented by Dr. Edmund Stoiber and Monika Hohlmeier, State Minister for Education and Cultural Affairs, as well as the Chairperson of the Jury together with celebrity sponsors from sports, business and politics.