As Europe’s most important outdoor sports industry organization and the owner of the OutDoor Show (OutDoor), the European Outdoor Group (hereinafter referred to as EOG) announced to the industry this July: ISPO SHANGHAI is EOG’s only partner in the Chinese summer market. This means that in addition to the ISPO BEIJING winter exhibition platform, EOG will also exclusively support the ISPO SHANGHAI summer show and inject extensive resources into it.
At the European Outdoor Summit (EOS) held this October, around 150 European outdoor brands and retailers gathered to discuss emerging industry trends centered on themes such as “urban outdoor.” Taking this opportunity, Mr. Mark Held, Secretary General of EOG, and Mr. Rolf Schmid, Chairman of EOG and Global CEO of Mammut, gave exclusive media interviews, providing authoritative responses to topics of interest to their Chinese counterparts.
Q1: What is your view on the development trend of summer sports in Europe?
Mark Held: Nowadays, outdoor sports have become a mainstream lifestyle. Outdoor products are no longer just about rock climbing or other relatively extreme activities—they encompass a more diverse range of sports. Today, outdoor sports have penetrated more deeply into everyday life and are embraced and enjoyed by a larger public. I believe the previous understanding of outdoor sports has gradually changed. Yesterday at the summit, I heard that urban sports will be a major future trend, and outdoor sports will undoubtedly be a key part of that.
Rolf Schmid: I think the most important trend for the future is urbanized outdoor sports, especially for young people who don’t have the time or money to leave the city to engage in more specialized outdoor activities. As a result, they prefer to participate in outdoor sports they’re interested in within the city. This also gives us new inspiration—whether we can develop more outdoor activities in urban areas. I am confident that this will be a mainstream trend in the summer sports industry going forward.
Q2: How does EOG view Chinese outdoor sports brands?
Mark HeldGlobally speaking, outdoor sports are growing very rapidly in some countries, but the Asian market is still relatively young compared to the European market. In Asia, there are also many excellent emerging outdoor brands that want to enter the European market, so EOG can help them access it. We can help them understand how the outdoor market operates and give them the opportunity to better grasp the differences between the European and Chinese markets, which will help them formulate more accurate market strategies.
Rolf Schmid:For EOG, we are not only committed to helping our members explore emerging markets, especially the Chinese market, but we also actively try to provide opportunities and platforms for more Chinese retailers or brands to enter the European market. Based on this, we will offer more assistance to Chinese retailers and brands to help them better understand the European market, enabling them to enter it more quickly and conveniently.
Q3: What benefits will the cooperation between EOG and ISPO bring to China’s outdoor sports industry?
Mark Held: ISPO provides an opportunity for mutual understanding between us and Chinese retailers and brands, while EOG members can also leverage the ISPO platform to better develop in the Chinese market and enhance their brand visibility in China’s outdoor industry. We have every reason to believe that ISPO is a very important partner, and the expansion of our cooperation from winter to summer will be of great significance and value to EOG.
Rolf Schmid:I believe the cooperation between EOG and ISPO creates a win-win effect and enables more efficient and multi-directional communication. The greatest strength of EOG is its ability to unite individual brands and integrate them into a voice that represents the entire industry. In addition, EOG represents overall industry trends—we do our utmost to represent the interests of all our members and fight for greater benefits for them, so there’s no doubt we will provide them with better services.
Q4: What new opportunities do you think ISPO SHANGHAI will bring to the industry?
Mark Held: ISPO SHANGHAI brings more new opportunities to EOG, such as providing more chances to interact with outdoor professionals. At the same time, we also believe that the Chinese market is still very large. In addition to the excellent outdoor industry platform in Beijing, we also hope Shanghai can become a summer hub for the industry.
Rolf Schmid:Like ISPO BEIJING, ISPO SHANGHAI will definitely be a professional and high-quality platform for the entire outdoor industry. Summer and winter exhibitions organized by the same organizer carry significant meaning for the outdoor industry. In the past, everyone might only gather together at the winter ISPO BEIJING to communicate with the whole industry, but that didn’t fully meet our needs. Now, we can also meet up in Shanghai in the summer, which will further promote communication with professionals in China’s outdoor sports industry. EOG believes that participating in the ISPO summer show is a great opportunity for those in the outdoor sports industry, helping outdoor brands or retailers anticipate trends in the next two to three years while also offering chances to network and share insights with others in the field.
Background on EOG:
The European Outdoor Group (EOG) was founded in 2003 by 19 internationally renowned outdoor companies and now has over 70 members. Its members form a cross-border alliance with strong cohesion. Before 2003, most European outdoor companies focused more on the needs of their domestic consumers and were not aware of global outdoor sports market trends. The mission of EOG is to represent the common interests of the entire European outdoor market—this was also the original intention behind its establishment, aiming to create an opportunity and platform for outdoor industry peers to exchange ideas and discuss industry trends, not only focusing on trends in the European market but also on future developments in the global outdoor industry. The OutDoor Show, held annually in the small German town of Friedrichshafen, is EOG’s own professional exhibition. In addition, EOG and ISPO have also launched exclusive strategic collaborations in the global market.
The following is a list of EOG members:
At the July meeting this year, EOG members collectively agreed to amend the association’s charter to allow retailers to join the organization. At the same time, EOG presents an annual market research and analysis report, with over 100 brands participating in the survey. This reliable data provides a more comprehensive reflection of the European market’s development trends, meeting the data needs of EOG’s member organizations and supporting them in making sound business decisions.