On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Ispo Munich, the sporting
goods fair presented a new message for the coming seasons: More
sustainability and expansion of the platform concept.
A 50th anniversary would be a reason for many to spend a long time
looking at the past – with nostalgic pictures and all that goes with it.
This was not the case with Ispo Munich, which ended after four days on 29th
January. In view of the great challenges of our time, instead of looking
back, the fair is looking forward: The goals are to link topics like
sustainability and corporate responsibility even more closely to the Ispo;
the fair wants to promote cooperation within the industry and in the
future, the activity itself, i.e. sports, should play an even greater role.
Away from being a pure product show and towards more movement – pun
intended.
Cooperation with the conference programme of Neonyt
Visitors already got an idea of how such a cooperation could look like
on the first day of the show. As a surprise, sustainable fair Neonyt showed
up in Ispo’s conference programme. In the Ispo Sustainability Hub,
sustainability experts from the world of fashion discussed different topics
together with Thimo Schwenzfeier, Neonyt’s director and head of marketing
communication textiles & textile technologies at Messe Frankfurt.
“Sustainability efforts have led to numerous new cooperations between
brands; between trade fairs it is still a rarity,” said Schwenzfeier.
New event in 2020: Ispo SDG Summit
In the next few years, Messe München intends to increase the
cooperation between all stakeholders and the expansion of the fair as a
think tank. “The world is going through a great social upheaval.
Developments such as climate change, globalisation and the division of
societies have a major impact that are triggering discussions worldwide,”
said Klaus Dittrich, chairman of the management board of Messe München.
“Solutions must be found before it’s too late.” Therefore, the fair will
organise the first Ispo SDG Summit on 29th June 2020, parallel to the
OutDoor by Ispo. The abbreviation ‘SDG’ stands for the 17 Social
Development Goals of the United Nations, which are dedicated to ensuring a
sustainable development on an economic, social and ecological level. The
aim is to develop solutions and joint projects for the different
sustainability goals.
Sustainability is the overriding theme of the fair
It is already hard to overlook the change in the industry: The issue of
sustainability is being taken up by more and more brands. While earlier,
competition between brands used to focus on classic functional issues such
as waterproofing or lightness, today the focus is on sustainable
innovations. Numerous new ideas were presented from new fibres, membranes
and processing technologies to the development of new business solutions.
Outdoor brand Bergans of Norway presented the latter with a new
backpack project. The pilot project “Collection of tomorrow” is about
circularity. Using a co-owner approach, Bergans integrates consumers and
gives them the right to have a backpack recycled after its use and to have
a new product made from its material. The product consists of the fibre
Spinnova and is completely recyclable. A technical innovation was presented
by French action sports brand Picture Organic Clothing: It developed a
triple-layer, waterproof jacket made with the novel, bio-based membrane
Xpore from BenQ, which is extracted from the castor plant. The outer fabric
consists of a bio-based polyester made from sugar cane waste, which can
also be recycled again.
Investment in longevity
While some use innovative, sustainable materials, others want to
achieve sustainability through better quality or a longer durability of
each product. “We want our products to be used longer,” says Nikolai Rabaek
Christensen from shoe manufacturer Ecco Outdoor, for instance, “even if
this means that consumers will buy fewer pairs of shoes.” Nevertheless,
Ecco is working on new tanning processes such as DriTan, which consumes
considerably less water. “Next year, we will switch the entire collection
to DriTan.” With the durability aspect, the correct care of the product
moves also more in the foreground. At Fjällräven’s booth, one could learn
how to wax the robust G1000 material – for which the brand is known – and
make it last for a long time. Versatility also manifests itself as a new
sustainable trend and thus questions the development of recent years that
everything has to become more and more specialised.
Conclusion: Sustainability is a process
There is no such thing as 100 percent sustainability, it’s always about
becoming more sustainable compared to existing processes or models. That is
why supporting tree planting projects is already better than no sustainable
commitment at all, even if product improvement still leaves much to be
desired. Greenwashing is omnipresent, but only if sustainability is
understood as a final state and not as a process. The future will show who
is willing to continuously improve. What is clear is that in the future,
designers will be increasingly involved in responsibility. They set the
course already during the development process for the durability,
versatility and disposal of the product.
Photos: FashionUnited / Regina Henkel
This article was originally published on FashionUnited DE. Edited
and translated by Simone Preuss.
