After the recently announced cancellation of the Sportitaly fair in Bolzano and Swisspo in Zurich, it’s now the turn of the SGMA Spring Market. This generalist American trade show, held in Las Vegas, had likewise failed to attract many visitors last June. The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association and DMG World Media said they have decided to postpone the SGMA Team Sports Show and the SGMA Sports Licensing Show scheduled for next June, adding that they are checking whether a date in mid- to late-winter would be a more acceptable option. A streetwear and casual show in London, To Be Confirmed (sic), has also been cancelled.

Other shows in Australia and Turkey have been cancelled or postponed, as indicated at the bottom of our calendar of international trade shows (sent out to our e-mail subscribers last week and to our print subscribers with this issue). We put out the calendar relatively late because some organizers hesitated to confirm their events. One of the remaining question marks concerns the In-Sports fair in Moscow, which has replaced the former ISPO Russia. The Russian economy continues to grow but it’s not booming as before. The consumer-oriented MISS show in Moscow has been cancelled.

The economic crisis is evidently leading more and more companies to curtail their investments in trade shows, especially the purely national ones, although some are still surviving and a new one is being prepared for the Spanish market. The companies seem to be concentrating their investments on ISPO Winter in Munich, consolidating the event as the major multi-sport fair in the world.

Denying a rumor that about 40 Italian companies had pulled out of the fair – the number of Italian firms will remain about the same - officials of Messe München report that they will again host around 2,000 exhibitors at the next four-day show starting on Feb. 1, compared with the record of 2,026 reached last February, although a few companies have decided to cut back the space rented at the Munich show.

Some companies, such as Jansport, have actually decided to return to ISPO and others are showing there for the first time. The list includes Aicad, Bailo, Bench, Carite, Cloudveil, Cross Sportswear, Eagle Creek, Etnies, Gotcha, Hunter, Munich, Skins, Timex International and Völkl snowboards.

There have been a few more departures than new entries, however. The most important one is that of Quiksilver, which confirmed its pull-out a few days ago. Apparently, its departure was not due to its financial problems. The company, which already has a solid distribution and some 60 showrooms all over Europe, decided instead to invite 400 key retailers to its European head office on the Basque coast of France last September, in connection with the annual Waterman’s Ball organized by EuroSIMA.

Anyhow, many of the trade operators who visited the recently cancelled national shows are expected to make the trip to Munich to see the new products and industry officials. To make up for the demise of Swisspo, ISPO has invited more than 700 Swiss sporting goods retailers to come to Munich through a new program organized with their trade association, ASMAS. About 100 have already accepted the invitation.

Messe München has officially confirmed that Markus Hefter will be the new exhibition group director for the Winter ISPO. The 38-year-old manager was previously described as the man in charge of European operations for the Munich fair. He takes over the position briefly held by Stefan Reschke, who has moved to Vienna to take care of Messe München’s business in Central and Eastern Europe.

Hefter started off with the organization in 2004-2007 as project and sales manager for its sports and footwear order center, M,O,C,, which he led to full occupancy. He subsequently became project director for ISPO’s outdoor sector, which he continues to run.