Getting Gear Geeky in Germany!

• Tweet
• Pin It

I’m just back from my first ever ISPO in Munich and what an event it was! I ate far too many pretzels, drank far too much beer and probably had a few too many wursts and schnitzels, but hey, what’s January for if you can’t dramatically fail at a detox?!!

ISPO is a huge event and the place to be for anyone involved in the winter sports industry. Every year more than 2,400 ski, outdoor, action and performance sports brands descend upon Munich to present the latest products to over 81,000 visitors.

It’s the biggest ski/outdoor trade show on the planet and if you want to find out what the latest trends and innovations are, get a first hand glimpse of upcoming products and technologies, and pick up some free stickers – well to be honest with you, you can’t miss it.

This year I was at ISPO with Maloja – a German born mountain sports clothing brand that I’m working with in a marketing/communications capacity for the UK.

It’s a seriously cool brand that makes eye catching yet technical clothing for mountain and road bikers, freeride skiers and snowboarders, climbers and trail runners – you name it. If you like being outside, Maloja make clothes for you.

The brand has gained a fantastic reputation within the outdoor industry for producing clothing that doesn’t follow any other trends, does it’s own thing and does it incredibly well. Each year the clothing is designed with a new theme and over the course of four days, the stand at ISPO was packed with outdoor professionals checking out the 2014/2015 Moroccan inspired range – The Mountain Nomads.

Keep an eye on the Maloja UK website over the next couple of weeks to see the new range for yourself but if you can’t wait that long, this year’s South American inspired designs are available at Snow+Rock now.

We were super busy throughout the show but when I did manage to escape the Maloja stand, it was great to take a look at some really interesting new products and innovations. Personally I’m most interested in ski touring products so it was great to be able to take a first hand look at a new avalanche airbag system from Black Diamond – ‘Jetforce’.

Traditionally airbags have used compressed gas canisters to inflate the bags but the Jetforce is a battery operated system. The benefits of this are many but perhaps the most significant will be that any hassles of flying with your airbag will be substantially reduced. Elsewhere in the backcountry sector, we can look forward to a new pin binding system from Diamir Fritschi known as the Vipec and a new splitboard touring binding from Plum.

Other developments that caught my eye in Munich were Haglofs new Vojd range for both men and women that has been developed in association with the legendary Swedish extreme skier Andreas Fransson.

Some other innovations of note included Faction Skis new women’s specific apparel, the continued expansion of La Sportiva’s ski mountaineering range, a new 3-in-one climbing, skiing and biking helmet from Cebe and some great winter running hats and gloves from Nathan Performance Gear using LED technology.

It was also good to see funky climbing brand Chillaz weaving in more lifestyle products into their range –not quite as cool as Maloja yet but definitely one to watch!

All this gear perusal can build up quite a thirst but thankfully that’s not a problem at ISPO! Loads of the brands have cafes and bars integrated into their stands and you can spend many hours supping on free beers and wines and getting your groove on at the after show parties before returning the following day to take advantage of a much needed caffeine hit! It’s a seriously fun way to work and I’m already looking forward to seeing everyone again next year.

If you are looking for more info on what went on, feel free to drop me an email. I’m more than happy to talk gear until the cows come home! For now it’s time to stop looking at gear and start using it – anyone fancy a ski tour tomorrow?!!!

For more information on ISPO visit munich.ispo.com

• Tweet
• Pin It

You may like

• 

  #TakeonNATURE challenge details released
  #TakeonNATURE challenge details released
• 

  View from the red tee: Going clubbing
  View from the red tee: Going clubbing
• 

  Mountain Girl blog: Winter Works of Art
  Mountain Girl blog: Winter Works of Art

You must be logged in to post a comment Login