ISPO to focus on social issues next summer

By

Olivier Guyot

Published
Jan 28, 2020

The sports trade show in Munich has announced that a Nobel Peace Prize will be featured during the next ISPO Outdoor event, which will take place between June 28 and July 1, and whose focus will be on social issues.

In Munich, parallel to the ongoing celebration of sports, there is the Super Happyyness festival going on, along with the tenth edition of the Day for Social Economy (Journées de l’économie sociale), taking place on June 28 and 29. With the presence of Professor Muhammad Yunus, champion of microcredits, the Klaus Dittrich team and the leader of Messe München, ISPO intends to broaden its horizons: “This collaboration falls within our role: we would like to help transform sports with regard to social issues.”

A large part of this field is coming to realize the impact that climate change will have on the summer event and many participants are highlighting their sustainability initiatives. During the winter session, a particular emphasis on recycled and bio-sourced materials in collections has been observed, where, a couple years ago, breathable and waterproof fabrics would have been the selling points.

“It’s only the beginning,” claims Mark Heidi, who is at the head of the European Outdoor Group cluster. “We expect that there will be an increase of 200 million euros in the cumulative investments raised by the association’s members. However, that is only the visible part of this change, since we cannot account for when a new policy is implemented by the company or when sourcing requirements evolve ... Two years ago, we put into effect a sustainability division. If we want businesses to move forward, they need to be encouraged. It is for this reason that we have put in place several levels of involvement. About 95% of companies comply with the first level. They’ve begun the process and we are here to guide them. In order to accelerate this change, however, there must be more European legislation.”

Beyond the environmental side of things, ISPO Outdoor will be a chance to create awareness for social issues within the industry, for headquarters as well as for subsidiaries, production partners and sub-contractors.

Dittrich has incidentally announced some changes. He wishes to transform the event into a platform that is more accessible to other players. It’s not a matter of inviting the greater public, but rather an attempt to welcome others from within the professional sports industry: “We will go from being the best worldwide platform for sporting goods to the best worldwide platform for all facets of sporting. Since the very start, ISPO has played an active role in the evolution of this industry. It remains a source of inspiration and continues to answer to the current demands. We are currently working on answers for how to manage the social challenges of our time. How to approach the urgencies of climate change and which path is best in order to achieve more sustainability and greater social equality.”

The organization’s next meeting will take place in March at ISPO Shanghai. However, with the current coronavirus outbreak, the health and sanitation issue is posing a problem.