Afydad, Spain's association of sporting-goods suppliers, has signed its first collaboration agreement with a retail association by joining forces with Atebi, which specializes in the cycling market. The agreement was signed at Festbike – the international cycling fair in Madrid, held this year on Sept. 13-15 – where Atebi was holding its second technical conference. The move reflects the philosophy of Afydad's new leadership, which took control in March 2018 and laid out its transversal strategy called “DAST” – a Spanish acronym for “sports, nutrition, health, tourism.” In line with this, Afydad has appointed a head of retail, Lluís Pruñonosa. The inspiration here is the French Union Sport & Cycle, whose membership of some 1,400 companies, 500 brands and 3,000 points of sale covers the entire sector. Andrés de la Dehesa, Afydad's chairman and former head of international relations, said it is the example that he hopes to follow in Spain to develop a more transversal model. Atebi is not joining Afydad, however. Rather, the agreement is a framework for synergies. Afydad's membership currently consists of about 100 companies and their 250 or so sporting brands. Some of these companies sell products on the cycling market, but none do so exclusively. Spain's cycling sector has a separate association, called Ambe, which has never established a collaboration with Afydad.

Topics