An ISPO Award is considered to be THE gold standard in the sports industry – the award not only serves as a guide for the media and retailers, but also provides consumers in particular with valuable information that they can use to make decisions. The ISPO Award was restructured at the end of 2021. As part of these modifications, the jury now meets quarterly, a change that enables the award to be more attuned to seasonal trends. This provides competitors with more opportunities to participate and enables the winner to be showcased for a year.
Future trends in the sports industry
Sustainability, digitalization, health and easy entry – these are the major trends driving the sports industry! To see why, you have to look no farther than the products that were submitted to the ISPO Award competition. “Two dominant trends crystallized among the winners of the latest ISPO Award,” said Andi Spies, a juror and editor at large on the ISPO.com news staff. “First: The weight of gear and the product is playing an increasingly major role among many manufacturers, things like extremely lightweight headlamps and trail-running shoes that are light as a feather. Lightweight products create added value for all athletes and enhance user-friendliness in virtually every type of sport. At the same time, product developers are focusing more and more on the issue of sustainability. This trend is continuing. The benchmark here is mono-material textiles and functional clothing that is completely biodegradable. Product durability is another aspect of sustainability. Modern products last longer thanks to the extremely tough materials and robust components that are used to make them. A supposedly higher price is justified in these terms.”
The winners of the ISPO Award include:
- Silva: Terra Scout headlamp
- Merrell: Rogue backpacking shoe
- Schöffel: Circ Pants Looop pants
- adidas Terrex: Free hiker XPL Gore-Tex Parley hiking shoe
- BN3TH Apparel: North Shore chamois bike pants
- Tropicfeel: Shell travel bag
All winning products will be gradually added to ISPO.com along with a review of the individual product itself. The award-winning companies can select the date on which the award is presented. As a result, some winners have not been announced yet.
An overview of the winners can be found here.
The ISPO Award
Companies from the entire sports industry – both those that are exhibitors at an ISPO trade fair and those that are not – are welcome to nominate their unique product or their exceptional service for the ISPO Award at any time throughout the year! The winners will profit from a comprehensive package of attractive benefits:
- The award-winning product or service will be presented in a review that will be written in three languages (DE, EN, FR) and posted on ISPO.com. The winner may decide when the product or service is announced.
- All reviews will be distributed on various media channels to reach specific target groups identified in coordination with the winners’ wishes – including B2B and B2C target groups.
- The product or service will be showcased at one of the two ISPO trade fairs scheduled for 2022 (ISPO Munich or OutDoor by ISPO).
- Information about the product or service will be included in the new ISPO Award magazine that is handed to every trade-fair visitor.
- Every award winner is eligible to take part in the Public Choice Award, a prize presented by end consumers of the ISPO Collaborators Club, free of charge.
- Both the three-level system of winners (gold, silver and bronze) and individual categories are no longer being used.
- Registration is free of charge. Award winners will be asked to pay only a fairly calculated price for the comprehensive communication package.
Nominations may be submitted throughout the year. The award-winning brands may select the launch date for communications and precisely define the target group to be reached – B2B or B2C. You will find additional information about the ISPO Award at https://www.ispo.com/award
The jury
Since the ISPO Award concept was expanded last year, the award jury now meets four times a year. The aim is to provide nominees with the highest degree of flexibility in these days of supply bottlenecks and delayed sell-in times. The second round of judging for the highly coveted ISPO Award, a process covered by clear rules and high standards, was held shortly before the opening of OutDoor by ISPO. An independent jury of experts met for two days, on May 13-14, 2022, to judge all nominations on the basis of such criteria as design, functionality, sustainability and innovativeness in the SportScheck Allwetteranlage in Munich (Unterföhring).
The jurors, a group made up of three highly respected editors on the ISPO.com news staff and three carefully selected consumer experts from the ISPO Collaborators Club, had the very best facilities where they could extensively test all products under realistic conditions.
You will find the article here.
