Marcel Herrig (aka Lao Ma), an outdoor awards judge, seasoned enthusiast, and dynamic sports designer, is cheering for the Asia-Pacific Outdoor Show...

When you close your eyes,

everything goes pitch black,

how do you feel?

When my eyes adjust to the darkness, things invisible to the eye begin to emerge before me:

the majestic sky, peaks I’ve never reached, beautiful nature, and breathtaking scenery.

And also, brave people coming together to pursue their dreams, encouraging everyone to embrace the outdoors, protect the environment, gradually open their hearts, and observe nature...

——Marcel Herrig

Marcel Herrig (Lao Ma) is a renowned German professional sports designer. Since 2011, Nanjing Ningfei has shared a deep bond with Lao Ma in the outdoor community. For many consecutive years, Ningfei has invited him to participate in outdoor award judging and joined him in activities with the Happy Ski Team. Regarding the 2019 Asia-Pacific Outdoor Show, he also expressed strong support and sent his best wishes—“The Ningfei team is living out the outdoor motto: never give up. Let’s look forward to a wonderful future together.”

Through long-term interactions, our editor has found that he is truly a masterful player who embodies rigor, freedom, and humor all in one.

Feel with your heart, stick to what you love

Do you think design is his only passion? No, no, no—he is a total sports enthusiast, or more precisely, a die-hard fan of extreme sports, as well as a professional instructor in snowboarding carve riding.

Indoor sports like squash and fencing are a piece of cake for Lao Ma. As for extreme sports such as windsurfing, skiing, and skateboarding, he has reached coaching-level proficiency. But what fun is there in just playing alone? As one of the earliest European players in windsurfing and snowboard carving, he has actively collaborated with several leading domestic ski clubs to promote carve snowboarding and personally instructed others, even attracting coverage from CCTV5—the national sports channel.

Our editor has witnessed Lao Ma’s skiing skills during the “Happy Skiing” events—his ground-skimming moves often replay in our minds, and we dream of one day mastering such cool techniques ourselves.

A judge who doesn’t love extreme sports isn’t a good designer

For such an adventurous and passionate player, it’s no exaggeration to describe Lao Ma as “a judge who doesn’t love extreme sports isn’t a good designer.”

Extreme sports have given Lao Ma endless inspiration for designing dynamic sportswear, constantly pursuing the perfect fusion of function and fashion. With his solid expertise, he has won multiple international and European design awards and became a lifelong judge for the European Fashion Award FASH, as well as serving as Executive Director of the IDEAS International Dynamic Sports Designers Association. In 2008, he founded his own dynamic sports brand, mh8.

The brand name mh8 stands for the balance between mind and spirit. Lao Ma believes that everything should have balance—the balance of movement, between stillness and motion, between the thrill of extreme sports and life itself. We should feel the limit, not necessarily push beyond it—that is the art of sports. Only when the mind and spirit are truly balanced can we truly enjoy the meaning of dynamic (extreme) sports.

Heading outdoors, enjoying life, feeling within, and seeking balance—these are also the pursuits of outdoor enthusiasts. From June 20–23, 2019, at the Nanjing International Expo Center, come explore the outdoors with us at the Asia-Pacific Outdoor Show...