The ISPO sporting goods and outdoor trade fair is leaving its home after more than 50 years. From 2026, it will no longer be held in Munich but in Amsterdam, Messe München has announced. The upcoming ISPO at the end of November will therefore be the last in the Bavarian capital.
Impressions from the December 2024 edition – ISPO MUNICH
The move comes as Messe München is contributing ISPO which it owns, to a new joint venture with the British events company Raccoon Media Group. The aim is to give the long-established trade fair a fresh start under Raccoon Media Group’s operational responsibility. Visitor and exhibitor numbers in Munich have recently declined. While there were 3,307 exhibitors in 2018, there were only 1,937 in 2024. Visitor numbers stood at 80,000 in 2019 – the last year before the pandemic – and just 55,000 in 2024.
Difficult times for sports trade fairs
Sports trade fairs have been struggling for some time, as customer purchasing behaviour and the organisation of retail have changed. Manufacturers’ direct-to-consumer business has also increased significantly.
ISPO has traditionally focused on winter sports and other outdoor activities. However, Adidas, Nike, and Puma had already withdrawn before the pandemic. The outdoor industry – excluding skiing and winter equipment – benefited during the pandemic, which, among other things, led to a hiking boom. More recently, however, it too has declined.
In Amsterdam, at the industry’s request, ISPO will in future be held a few weeks earlier – at the beginning rather than the end of November. This was not possible in Munich. It is also set to be more globally oriented.
A new start
“The joint venture with Raccoon Media Group is a genuine fresh start and brings opportunities for the continuation of our traditional event,” said Messe München’s co-CEOs, Stefan Rummel and Reinhard Pfeiffer, in a joint statement. The trade fair did not disclose the financial details of the transaction. The overseas editions, ISPO Shanghai and ISPO Beijing, are not part of the joint venture and will remain with Messe München.
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Next has won the bidding race to take over the Russell & Bromley premium footwear business, ending almost a century-and-a-half of family ownership.
Russell & Bromley
Working with bidding partner and stock clearance specialist Retail Realisation, it’s set to takeover the 147-year-old retailer under a pre-pack administration deal.
Crucially, it means 33 of the company’s standalone stores/outlets and nine concessions (many of them in Fenwicks branches) are likely to eventually close.
The extent of the challenges Russell & Bromley faced can be seen from the fact that this is only a £2.5 million cash deal. Next is also paying £1.3 million for some of the retailer’s current stock with Retail Realisation handling the clearance of the rest.
Assuming the deal gets court approval on Wednesday afternoon, Next will own the intellectual property and just three of the stores.
Those stores are in London’s Chelsea and Mayfair, as well as the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent. Interestingly, that Bluewater store is just a stone’s throw away from the former House of Fraser branch that this year will reopen as a Next megastore.
The remaining stores and concessions will continue to trade for “as long as [they] can” as Interpath’s Will Wright and Chris Pole “assess options for them”. Russell & Bromley currently has around 440 employees.
A source close to another bidder, Auralis, told The Times it was disappointing that its offer, which aimed to safeguard jobs and stores, wasn’t given greater priority by those running the sale.
Russell & Bromley CEO Andrew Bromley called the sale decision a “difficult” one but insisted it’s “the best route to secure the future for the brand… we would like to thank our staff, suppliers, partners and customers for their support throughout our history”.
So what are Next’s plans now. That’s not clear. There had been a lot of attention focused on its likelihood of closing the store chain in the run-up to the sale but on Wednesday, Next said that it will “build on the legacy” of the business and “provide the operational stability and expertise to support Russell & Bromley’s next chapter”.
Next had also been reported to be eyeing a similar deal for LK Bennett, but Sky News reported that it has stepped away from this.
It remains one of the most acquisitive retailers on the UK high street, however, and in recent years has bought brands such as Cath Kidston, Joules, FatFace, Made and Seraphine. It also has deals to handle other key brands in the UK market such as Gap, Victoria’s Secret and Laura Ashley.
Global asset management firm GoldenTree will buy a chunk of a $1 billion bankruptcy financing for luxury retailer Saks Global, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
A Neiman Marcus store, part of the Saks business – Neiman Marcus
GoldenTree, which is founded by billionaire Steve Tananbaum, has committed to buy a roughly $200 million portion of the so-called debtor-in-possession financing, according to the report.
Saks Global and GoldenTree did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The high-end US department store conglomerate filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on January 13, after a debt-laden takeover.
Warped, a proudly Australian menswear brand, made its debut at the recent Pitti Uomo 109, unveiling its first-ever collection for Autumn–Winter 2026/27. Warped channels a strong, functional and authentic masculinity, free of artifice: a man capable of moving with equal ease through the Australian outback or a metropolis, without ever betraying himself. This vision translates into a collection that combines ready-to-wear, streetwear and active-functional pieces, underpinned by rigorous material research, responsible production, and a strong connection to Australia’s history and identity.
Jack Cassidy Williams, right, wearing Warped alongside one of his sons
The brand is so steeped in the free-spirited, authentic ethos of Mitch “Crocodile” Dundee, a cult figure of 1980s cinema who helped shape the image abroad of the no-nonsense Australian, that even the founder- who arrived in Milan with his two sons, aged 18 and 15, already active in the company- looks like the very character created by Paul Hogan.
“Crocodile Dundee is not just a film to us; it’s a way of being in the world. It’s about a man who hunts crocodiles with his bare hands in the outback and stays true to himself even under the dazzling lights of the metropolis,” Warped founder Jack Cassidy Williams explained to FashionNetwork.com. “It’s the story of a man who enters a sophisticated system without changing who he is. Functional, direct, honest. This is who we are. We’re not here to bend to fashion’s unwritten rules, but to bring our own way of doing things: less artifice, more reality.”
Warped
“Everything in the collection is handmade by my family. We design it, select the fabrics, create the patterns, and develop everything together- my children and I- in Australia. Traditional garments with modern finishes, in terms of handle and functionality; we even offer waterproof clothing, such as GOTS-certified waterproof cotton. Then there’s denim. All the fabrics are 100% made in Italy,” Cassidy Williams continues. At the heart of the collection is extensive fabric research: 100% RWS wool; high-stretch scuba fabrics and bi-stretch wool; cotton denim with a 3D weave effect; water-repellent cottons, viscose and viscose/linen blends for suits, jackets and trousers; high-performance, ultra-comfortable fabrics; and kangaroo-leather laces- a material five times as strong as cowhide- hand-finished with raw edges and authentic details.
“The collection is, in a way, a tribute to America, because the theme is the so-called ramblin’ man, or the free man; it’s basically about my whole life,” says the Australian entrepreneur. “All those people who decided to forge their own journey, to walk the path of life without following someone else. Like Hank Williams, Jack Kerouac, Duke Ellington, Bird, Muddy Waters, Pinetop, or Woody Guthrie- men who honoured life. Nowadays it’s so difficult to be free that freedom really is a state of mind. It’s our first collection through and through; we practically finished it before boarding the plane,” Cassidy Williams laughs heartily, then slips on a floppy wide-brimmed hat, slings a kangaroo hide over his shoulder and, as he pretends to crack a whip in the air, looks even more like Mitch Dundee- all after letting us taste a kangaroo salami and crocodile snacks…
Warped
“Our family has a textile tradition of great depth- more than sixty years- so Warped also works with the best global manufacturers in the mid-luxury segment: lace from France, fabrics from Italy, and other high-quality materials sourced from factories in Turkey, Japan and Korea,” Jack Cassidy Williams continues. “These factories were chosen not for trend’s sake, but because they’re unique- each one different from the next.”
Warped’s menswear collection for Autumn–Winter 2026/27 comprises around 40 looks spanning ready-to-wear, streetwear, and active-functional pieces. Jackets, suits, trousers, shorts, shirts, and T-shirts sit alongside a street and sportswear offer that includes hoodies, joggers and technical garments, all designed to be comfortable, durable, easy to care for, and genuinely wearable day to day.
Alongside the Warped men’s line, the company presented the Golden Age Sportswear (G.A.S) label in Milan, while the Warped Woman, and G.A.S Woman’s Street collections will debut in Italy from next Spring/Summer.
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