ispo Livens Up the Outdoor Sector with New Brands

Held for the first time at ispo winter 05, the Greenhouse Project is going to take place for already the second time and will be found in the center of Hall B5 in a presentation platform of outdoor_ispo created especially for it. The participating brands, which will exhibit for the first time at ispo, are Bradshaw Taylor, Garra Climbing Shoes, Mion Europa, Nanok of Norway, Solarmio and Mufflon. ispo winter 06 will take place in Munich Trade from January 29 to February 1, 2006.

The following criteria are prerequisites for applying for promotion within the framework of the Greenhouse Project: the brand has previously only been active nationally, stands for a good product with functioning distribution, and the product has potential to be marketed internationally, for example, due to the product’s own qualities or a singular innovation or with a new strategy and marketing campaign. The participants will receive support during three successive trade fairs and be given a complete package with trade fair booth, retailer programs, PR and publicity.

ispo has selected the following outdoor brands for the Greenhouse Project:

Garra Climbing Shoes (Spain)
Gara is a dynamic outdoor brand, which specializes in the manufacture of climbing boots. Already founded in 1972, this Spanish company wants to cultivate new markets with its long years of experience and appreciation of quality. The products are all hand-made and appeal thanks to their great value for money, which makes them highly competitive. www.garra.info

Mufflon (Germany)
The northern German specialist for outdoor clothing employs one of the oldest techniques in the world in manufacturing its products: felting or fulling wool. Only biologically degradable soap is used in this special fulling process. The yarn used for the manufacture of textiles is from the Schoeller Company, which is known for environmentally compatible fabrics. The wool employed, which comes from South America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, also ensures high quality. www.mufflon.com

Nanok of Norway (Norway)
The cold days and nights at the Artic Circle are numbered with Nanok products. The Norwegian outdoor brand specializes in manufacturing sleeping bags and insulation technology for clothing. The site in Norway provides the ideal test laboratory directly at their doorstep. The company focuses especially on a more intelligent use of existing production and processing methods. This means concretely, for example, giving sleeping bags improved performance and insulation without increasing the weight or restricting handling with additional fill material. www.nanok.no

Solarmio (Netherlands)
En route in the mountains and no battery charger for the GPS device or laptop with you? These times are past. The Atomtech Engineering Company has proved how solar products can be used profitably in many areas. The solar cells can be attached to a backpack conveniently and without restricting carrying comfort. With a weight of 38 grams/watt, they are rust-free, attached to one-millimeter thick steel carrier mats and consequently very flexible. In addition, the cells do not contain any glass anymore and are extremely resistant to fracture and durable. The tendency to develop faults at temperatures above 25 degrees Celsius and during longer periods in the shade have also been improved upon substantially. www.solarmio.com

Bradshaw Taylor (USA)
The brothers Bert and John Jacobs founded a textile company with a budget of only 78 dollars on the East Coast of the USA. They design their fabrics completely in line with their company philosophy “Life is good”: sassy and colorful. The brothers’ range of products has long since provided women, men and children not just with T-shirts, but also bags and caps in addition to comprehensive collections. www.lifeisgood.com

Mion Europa (USA)
The world-class sailor Martin Keen is also the man behind Mion. He produces shoes for his sport with the same enthusiasm, with which he sails boats. He has worked untiringly on the ultimate sandals with the maximum possibilities of use for this sport over the past years. Mion sells water-performance shoes of a special type and stands for “my own shoes”, because the shoes can be adapted perfectly to every foot thanks to a special lacing system. Mion sandals are extremely light, provide maximum grip and are very sturdy. Environmental compatibility is an important factor for Martin Keen, who pays a lot of attention to this in selecting his materials. www.mionfootwear.com