In just a few weeks, the world’s most influential trade event for the sporting goods, outdoor, and winter sports industries, ISPO 2026 enters a bold new chapter, taking place at the world-class RAI Amsterdam from 4 to 5 November 2026 (preceded by the Leaders Summit on 3 November). This global meeting point is where new ideas are born, communities connect, and the future of the industry takes shape.
It is impossible to ignore the sweeping transformation currently reshaping the global sports, outdoor, and lifestyle retail sectors as they enter a defining new era. ISPO is not just a trade show, but a critical compass for navigating upcoming market shifts. For retailers looking to stay ahead, it is the ultimate playground for planning next season's inventory, locking in exclusive partnerships, and testing out the latest retail tech. Backed by a €3 million transformation, ISPO has been redesigned from the ground up to ensure global and independent buyers unlock ultimate value from every hour invested.
Retail challenges and resolutions
Sourcing friction
This is a frequent struggle, wasting valuable time navigating a fragmented global market to find and vet new brands. ISPO eliminates this constraint through its Hosted Buyer Programme and centralised meeting spaces, which seamlessly bridge the gap by connecting buyers directly with thousands of global brands. By consolidating this entire network into one curated environment, retailers maximise their procurement efficiency and compress what would normally take months of scattered meetings into a highly productive 72-hour window.
Inventory differentiation
To break free from the trap of inventory homogeneity, retailers must find their USP. ISPO provides the solution to this critical challenge by providing direct access to emerging challenger brands, exclusive international showcases, and award-winning products. By incorporating these unique discoveries, retailers can easily differentiate their product assortments, effectively shielding their retail margins from aggressive competitor discounting and building lasting customer loyalty.
Discover the future of the industry at ISPO BrandNew, presented by YKK. Located in its own dedicated hall, the innovation village is built for business with a strategic layout that ensures high-value foot traffic, connecting exhibitors with qualified retailers for serious commercial discussions.
Niche market disconnect
Many sports brands and retailers face a niche market disconnect, struggling to bridge specialised endurance sectors with the broader sports industry. To solve this, ISPO is co-locating with the International Running Expo (IRX) to provide single-venue, dual-access to hyper-focused running expertise and general sports gear. By bringing these markets together, retailers can minimise their travel spend and maximise efficiency while directly capitalising on the booming global running and activewear market.
Changing consumer values
As consumer values shift rapidly towards environmental responsibility, retail faces a growing challenge to keep pace with changing expectations. To help businesses navigate this transition, ISPO hosts the Ingredients & Components Impact Forum, a dedicated platform showcasing scalable sustainable materials and the latest advancements in material science. By participating, retailers can effectively minimise their supply-chain risks and future-proof their inventories against increasingly strict ESG compliance standards through targeted insights. Key sessions include "The Green Premium Myth: What Retailers Know About Sustainable Materials That the Industry Doesn't Want to Hear" and "Seaweed on the Big Stage: Redefining Sports and Stadium Packaging." Furthermore, presentations such as "What It Takes for a Sustainable Ingredient to Succeed in a Performance-Driven Category" offer critical advice for balancing ecological integrity with high-tier product function.
Featured sessions for retail success
The Fashion & Textiles Hub with industry-leading speakers will explore key areas of fashion and garment design, including current and emerging trends, innovative brand strategies, and insightful case studies. Attendees will dive into commercial realities through sessions like "Designing Responsibility Across Markets" and a live "Fashion Show" that places collections directly into a retail and buying context. The content will also delve into human-centric design within sports and other fast-developing innovations - highlighted by case studies like "How the BOA Fit System Has Reignited the Ski Boot Business" - while exploring how culture, diversity, and shifting global priorities are shaping the future of the industry.
Retailers will find significant value in a curated selection of sessions designed to tackle their most pressing operational, cultural, and growth challenges. They can gain first-hand, highly localised market insights during a deep dive into the European Retail Market Challenges Through the Lens of Europe's Specialist Sport Retailer Representatives, which explores how leading specialty brands navigate unique regulatory hurdles, shifting consumer behaviours, and supply chain pressures. To combat traditional loyalty programme fatigue, The Membership Revolution: How Fashion's Next Growth Engine Is Redefining Omnichannel Retail delivers concrete strategies for building modern subscription models that seamlessly blend digital and physical retail to drive recurring revenue.
Operational sustainability is also addressed head-on in Circularity without illusions: why most programs fail and what works, a session that strips away corporate buzzwords to provide an honest, data-driven blueprint for building profitable, scalable circular economy models. Finally, retail executives looking to cultivate a workplace culture that attracts top-tier talent will benefit from Bold Allyship: Transforming Perspectives into Action, which offers actionable frameworks for fostering genuine diversity, equity, and inclusion from the shop floor to the corporate office.
The epicentre of enterprise
ISPO 2026 is a pivotal event for retail purchasing and industry networking. Attendees include retail market leaders, large global e-commerce platforms, and traditional high-street chains.
Attendees will share the floor with digital leaders like Amazon, Europe’s prominent fashion platform Zalando, and the Benelux region’s top e-commerce site Bol, alongside multi-category retailer Tchibo and fashion anchor Next. This extensive digital presence is paired with physical retail strength, featuring Europe's largest footwear retailer, Deichmann, and New Zealand’s major listed retailer, The Warehouse Group, bringing global scale and operational excellence to the event.
The sporting and outdoor sectors are equally well-represented by companies that lead the global market. Major international names including Decathlon and Intersport will be present alongside leading national retailers like the UK’s Frasers Group (Sports Direct), Germany’s Engelhorn Sports, and US market leader Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Completing this impressive roster is a strong concentration of Europe's top outdoor specialists, including regional leaders A.S.Adventure and Bever, alongside premium mountain-sports e-tailers Bergfreunde and Bergzeit. Together, they ensure the event serves as a premier destination for retail leadership, networking, and future industry collaboration.
Networking
At ISPO 2026, networking seamlessly bridges business and community across several curated spaces and events. Procurement teams looking for authentic stories and verified certifications head straight to the Sustainability Hub, while brands looking to amplify their major news and product launches can leverage the dedicated support of the onsite Press Office. Innovation takes centre stage at the BrandNew Awards presented by YKK, which spotlights emerging suppliers right in front of retailers hunting for the next big trend.
Beyond individual showcases, visitors can immerse themselves in dynamic interactive activations that bring the broader industry to life or use their ticket to step into the International Running Expo (IRX). Finally, when business hours wrap up, the connection continues at the ISPO after-party, where Raccoon hosts legendary evening gatherings designed to unite the community in a more relaxed, human, and memorable way.
Registering for ISPO 2026 allows professionals to build a custom event schedule. Instead of navigating the landmark event alone, they get a curated roadmap pointing them directly to the brands, speakers, and networking opportunities that matter most to their business.
Discover new outdoor products and innovations from Scandinavia, meet the people behind the brands, and stop by the Scandinavian Bar for a coffee, a chat and a chance to connect with the Scandinavian outdoor community.
Warm welcome to visit us in the Scandinavian Village, a little piece of Scandinavia in the heart of ISPO Amsterdam.
WHEN: 4-5 November
WHERE: Hall 1
Wednesday 4 November in the Scandinavian Village, 17.00 CET
For 25 years, Scandinavian Outdoor Group has brought Scandinavian outdoor brands together to strengthen their international presence, share knowledge and keep the industry moving forward.
Now it’s time to celebrate – and we’d love to celebrate together with you!
Be among the first
The first 30 guests to join our Scandinavian After Work will receive a special woolly gift from Ivanhoe of Sweden, made in Sweden from wool production offcuts.
First come, first served!
>> JOIN EVENT ON LinkedIn
Join the LinkedIn event to see who else is coming!
Brands exhibiting in the Scandinavian Village:
YKK Corporation (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Koichi Matsushima; hereinafter “YKK”) has been selected for top honors by the international environmental non-profit organization CDP (*1) as a Supplier Engagement Leader in their FY2025 Supplier Engagement Assessment (*2) for the fourth year running.
This recognition shows YKK has been assessed as a global leader through its establishment of an effective framework for reducing GHG emissions across the entire supply chain through the clarification of its governance structure and targets, as well as initiatives to reduce GHG emissions in collaboration with suppliers.
In December 2025, YKK was recognized with the top “A” rating in the 2025 Climate Change Survey, which was also conducted by CDP, for the third consecutive year. Going forward, YKK will continue to work on climate change initiatives and transparent disclosure of information, based on the net-zero target outlined by the Science Based Targets (SBT) initiative.
Comment from Takayuki Aoki Vice President, Procurement & Logistics Department, YKK Corporation
“Since the YKK Sustainability Vision 2050 was formulated in October 2020, we have engaged in various initiatives to achieve our targets. We are guided by the YKK Philosophy of the CYCLE OF GOODNESS®, which states that “No one prospers without rendering benefit to others.” In addition to our own activities to reduce GHG emissions, we also collaborate with our suppliers via engagement activities to promote initiatives to contribute to reducing emissions globally. Specifically, we are engaging in discussions with strategic partners who share our vision regarding the expansion of production capacity and global supply, with the aim of further expanding the impact of reducing emissions. We are also working to develop an effective structure for reducing GHG emissions through dialogue regarding the presentation of LCA values (*3) verified by third parties. We will continue to enhance our collaboration with our suppliers to help reduce our environmental impact and contribute to bringing about a sustainable society.”
YKK Corporation’s sustainability goal is to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. YKK is working on five themes – Climate Change, Material Resources, Water Resources, Chemical Management, Respect People – and ten SDG goals related to each of these, and each year reports on its state of progress in the YKK Integrated Report, “This is YKK.”
https://www.ykk.com/english/csr/eco/report/
YKK is constantly pursuing the creation and realization of a sustainable society through our business. At the core of all our corporate activities is the philosophy of YKK founder Tadao Yoshida, the CYCLE OF GOODNESS®. The idea that “no one prospers without rendering benefit to others” clearly expresses the YKK Group’s corporate spirit of continuing to prosper together with society, customers, related industries, and employees, and is highly compatible with sustainability.
Tadao Yoshida repeatedly shared the essence of this corporate spirit with employees in a variety of ways. His words “business is like building a bridge,” which are connected to the CYCLE OF GOODNESS®, can be understood in terms of the SDGs, as he believed that unless we benefit society as a whole, we will not be able to prosper ourselves. The words “manufacturing like clear spring water” and “trash can be a great resource if it is utilized with ingenuity” are linked to environmental consideration, and the words “the strength of a forest is better than a big tree” are linked to respect for human rights and individuality. Today’s circumstances and context differ significantly from the time when our founding president spoke these words, but a philosophy that is highly compatible with sustainability has nevertheless been at the core of YKK’s management since those early days. It continues to be inherited at the company even today, more than 80 years later.
Some events you attend. Others you feel part of. From 3-5 November, the sport and outdoor world comes together at RAI Amsterdam for ISPO, co-located with The International Running Expo, and we genuinely can't wait to welcome you.
This is where sport, culture and commerce collide. It's where old friends reconnect over coffee, where new connections turn into partnerships, and where the ideas shaping what's next get their first proper outing. Whether you live for the trail, the slopes, the pitch or the water, there's a space here for you.
Here's what's coming together
Across three days and one venue, we're expecting:
Brands you'll want to meet
The halls will be full of names you know and love, alongside plenty you'll be glad you discovered.
The Outdoor, hike and adventure community can look forward to the likes of Rab, Vango, Berghaus, Montane, Mountain Equipment and Craghoppers. Running and performance brings in Suunto, Coros, Skechers Running and SiS, while active lifestyle and apparel features Fabletics, Sweaty Betty, 4F and many more. From padel and racket sports to water sports, winter and camping, you'll find everything from established favourites to exciting newcomers ready to show off what they've been working on.
Retailers are engaging
ISPO has always been built for business, and this year is no exception. Our €1M Hosted Buyer Programme will welcome 500+ key buyers to Amsterdam, and we're expecting more than 4,000 scheduled meetings between buyers and exhibitors across the three days. Buying groups are already confirmed from retailers including Intersport, GO Outdoors, REI Co-op, Ellis Brigham and Cape Union Mart, travelling from across Europe, the UK, the US, South Africa and beyond.
Our Retail Advisory Council, including senior representatives from Sport 2000 Group International, Sportler and Yonderland, has also helped shape the show so it works hard for everyone in the room.
Voices worth hearing
Across six stages, you'll hear from the people leading, disrupting and reimagining our industry.
The ISPO Leaders Summit brings together inspirational names such as Olympic champion Allyson Felix, adventurer and filmmaker Jimmy Chin, and The North Face founder Hap Klopp, joined by leaders from organisations including UEFA, New Balance, Decathlon and Amazon Sports.
At the Expo, The Brand & Retail Horizons stage explores where retail is heading next. The Fashion & Textiles Hub dives into design, repair and sustainability. The Ingredients & Components Impact Forum looks at the materials of the future, the Podcast Studio keeps things conversational, and the Brandnew Launchpad is where you'll spot tomorrow's big names first.
More than a trade show
Between the meetings and the talks, there's plenty to get stuck into. Watch pro riders take on the Rock A Rail Snowfest, test your skills in Skill.Lab The Cube, or race a friend up the climbing wall at the Peak Challenge. Catch Eco Age's lunchtime Fashion Show, explore circular thinking at The Loop, or join the International Running Expo programme for a speed session with Olympic sprinter Dafne Schippers.
See you in Amsterdam
ISPO 2026 is the base for a global industry, join us at RAI Amsterdam, 3-5 November. Register today.
Accio, Alibaba.com’s agentic AI platform for businesses, announced it has been appointed as the Official Agentic AI Partner for ISPO organised by Raccoon Media Group.
Accio is Alibaba.com’s agentic AI platform for SMEs and solo founders providing a pre-configured agentic business team that manages the entire SME lifecycle end to end, from market analysis, design and sourcing to store optimisation and inventory monitoring. Globally, more than 10+ million SMEs already use Accio to run their businesses. It requires no code or setup and automates complex tasks such as sourcing, supplier research, procurement and marketing that would otherwise consume hours of manual effort. By embedding this capability directly into official exhibitor directories and floor plans, the Exhibition Agent transforms raw supplier lists into actionable visit plans, ranked matches and post-event procurement workflows, all within a single conversation thread.
From Navigation to Negotiation
The Exhibition Agent acts as an active sourcing partner. Using natural language, buyers can find booths, compare suppliers against their criteria, then hand off to negotiation or logistics agents to draft RFQs and calculate landed costs.
“Partnering with Alibaba’s Accio on the Exhibition Agent marks a genuinely new chapter for ISPO in Amsterdam”, said Soraya Gadelrab, Joint MD, ISPO. “Bringing this kind of AI-powered navigation and real-time supplier matching to the show floor is exactly the kind of innovation our exhibitors and buyers need as sourcing gets more complex. We believe this sets a new benchmark for what a modern trade fair experience can look like.”
The solution addresses the cognitive overload faced by buyers at major events. With thousands of SKUs and hundreds of exhibitors, the Agent compresses weeks of pre-event research into minutes, ensuring every booth visit is pre-validated and relevant.
Seamless Integration for Exhibitors and Buyers
The partnership leverages Accio’s newly launched native mobile app. Designed for on-the-go utility, it allows buyers to invoke the Exhibition Agent via voice or image search directly from the show floor.
Key capabilities include:
· Exhibitor-First Sourcing: Searches official directories first, returning ranked matches with booth locations and relevance explanations
· Intelligent Route Planning: Groups matched exhibitors by zone to optimise walking routes and maximise time on the floor
· Visual Sourcing: Allows buyers to upload product photos on the spot to find exact matches among exhibiting suppliers
· End-to-End Workflow: Seamlessly hands off from discovery to negotiation, compliance checks and logistics coordination without leaving the app
· Master Agenda at a Glance: Lets visitors preview all key forums and events ahead of the show, and lock in must-attend sessions so they never miss a key industry insight or networking opportunity
For exhibitors, the integration offers enhanced discoverability, surfacing their profiles to qualified buyers who are actively searching for their specific product categories.
The Accio app will be available to download soon on the iOS App Store and Google Play. Attendees of ISPO can access the Exhibition Agent features immediately upon registration or via on-site QR codes.