ispo china winter 07 - Beijing Welcomes the International Sporting Goods Industry on March 14th

ispo china winter 07 - Beijing Welcomes the International Sporting Goods Industry on March 14th

March 12, 2007

    -- New location - ispo china winter 07 moves to the
National Agricultural 
       Exhibition Center in Beijing
    -- ispo china winter 07 fully booked: 13,500 square
meters interior and 
       2,000 square meters exterior exhibition and event
space
    -- Online visitor registration considerably higher than
last year
    -- Multi-faceted congress and event program; return of
the Asian Pacific 
       Snow Conference, and launch of the first newcomer 
       project "Interconnected Sportstyle
Talents"

    BEIJING, March 12 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The National
Agricultural Exhibition Center in Beijing will open its
doors on Wednesday, March 14th, to host the ispo china
winter 07 for the first time. No other city is currently
featured more prominently in the spotlight of the
international sporting goods industry than China's
economic, winter sports, and tourism metropolis. The move
of ispo china from Shanghai to the Olympic city of Beijing
was certainly worth it: several weeks prior to the official
opening the trade show was fully booked. This is further
validation of the ispo china's leading position in the
sector of sports, fashion, and lifestyle throughout Asia.

    From March 14th through 17th, 2007, more than 300
well-known brands will present their latest innovations and
trends for outdoor, snow sports, board sports, team sports,
sportstyle, as well as fabrics & fibres; among them 3M,
Asolo, Atomic, Black Yak, Brugi, Burton, Buff, Colmar,
Dakine, Elan, Exel, Fischer, Gabel, Garmont, Gore, Halti,
Jako, K2, Laken, Lowa, Lowe Alpine, Marmot, Merrell,
Northland, Ozark, Reichmann, Roces, Schoeller, Spyder,
Symaptex, Tecnica Group, Ternua, The North Face, Toray,
Trekstar, Shehe, Uvex, Vasque, Vibram, and Wintersteiger.

    Not only did the number of exhibitors experience a
boost, the booth size for a number of renowned industry
members and repeat exhibitors has also increased
substantially. In addition to the interior space the trade
show will also make use of an additional 2,000 square
meters of exterior space for a number of events. The number
of online visitor registrations also increased by a
considerable factor compared to the ispo china 06. This is
most likely a result of the Ambassador Tour held prior to
the trade show, which included personal visits by ispo
china representatives to retailers in 16 cities, providing
them with comprehensive information on the trade show.

    In cooperation with the Chinese Outdoor Retailer
Association (CORA) the ispo china presents a model shop
demonstrating the best ways for retailers to arrange and
organize their stores, in order to maximize customer
satisfaction and economic efficiency. Well-informed CORA
members will be on location to answer any questions.
Companies such as Patagonia, Jack Wolfskin, and Coleman use
this platform for their first launch on the Chinese market,
thus selecting the ispo china as a primary means for market
entry.

    In light of the high-caliber congress and event program
the ispo china winter 07 has all bases covered. A true
highlight is the return of the Asia Pacific Snow Conference
in cooperation with Toray and Volvo. On March 16th,
retailers, industry representatives, ski resort managers,
and the media will get together to discuss the development
of the Asian winter sports industry.  Appropriate for the
primary topic "Safety & Education" the
conference will be held at Beijing's indoor ski center
"Qiaobo Ice & Snow World."

    An already established event, the China Outdoor
Retailing Conference, will be held for the third time on
March 17th, in cooperation with Gore-Tex. The conference,
enjoying a unique status within the industry, will feature
the topic of "Enjoy & Respect," focusing on
outdoor sports and environmental protection.

    A new addition to the event program is the project
"Interconnected Sportstyle Talents," initiated by
ispo china, Toray, and the fashion academy esmod. Young,
talented, up-and-coming designers from Germany and China
will work on a task with the same criteria, and the
creations will be presented on the competing continent. The
German design projects on the topic "Future meets
Tradition" will be shown at the ispo china opening
party; 4 months later the ispo SPORTS & STYLE in
Munich, will host the creations by the Chinese design
hopefuls from July 8th through 10th, 2007. An international
jury consisting of fashion, sports, and media
representatives, among them WGSN, Promostyl, Bergans, and
Marinepool, will select the two winning outfits, to be
honored with a trip to meet their counterparts in China or
Germany, respectively.

    Of particular interest will be how each contestant
interprets the topic depending on his or her cultural
background. The plan calls for a future expansion of the
project to include Russia and Japan as well. The ispo china
will feature even more of tomorrow's fashions and trends
with the help of the WGSN (Worth Global Style Network)
Seminar and the trend barometer by Promostyl Paris.

    The Outdoor Experiencing Park sponsored by ispo china,
Gore-Tex, and the leading Chinese industry magazine Outdoor
Exploration is a complimentary product test area. The return
of the outdoor footwear test area from last year's event
allows manufacturers to present their latest technologies
and functional materials without being constrained to the
footwear area. New features include an apparel test area, a
test track, a special test room, a conference space, and a
number of additional highlights.

    Athletic action is provided by the National Bouldering
Cup 2007 -- or to be exact -- at the ispo china / Ozark
Bouldering Contest. Held in cooperation with CMA (China
Mountaineering Association), the event will pit top speed
and difficulty climbers against each other. The m-cro
International Slalom Open, the first World Freestyle Slalom
Circuit in Beijing, will be just as exciting. More than 100
pros from France, Korea, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, and
Taiwan will celebrate the best of the best of inline
skating at the National Agricultural Exhibition Center.

    The ispo china winter 07 will be held from March 14th -
17th, 2007 at the National Agricultural Center in Beijing.
For more information, please visit http://www.ispochina.com
.


    For more information, contact:

     Messe Muenchen GmbH, 
     Marketing & Communications ispo Group,
     Messegelande, 81823 Muenchen
     Tel:   [phone]
     Fax:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]
     Web:   http://www.ispochina.com