On Wednesday, the European Outdoor Week came to an end in Riva del Garda, Italy, with the new OutDoor trade fair. The unanimous feedback from the industry: If you weren’t there, you missed something.
Over 8,000 trade visitors, 250 exhibitors with more than 400 brands and 2,700 buyers from 59 countries – this is the official balance of the OutDoor trade fair, which took place for the first time on the northern shore of Lake Garda from May 17th to 19th, 2026. What many had hoped came true: the premiere was a success. Although the trade fair was nowhere near the size of past events from the boom years of the outdoor industry, in contrast to the past, there was a consistently positive atmosphere and downright relief that the new concept seemed to be working.
“When we presented the concept for the European Outdoor Week, we were confident that the format we presented would meet the requirements of our industry colleagues,” explains Christian Schneidermeier, Managing Director of the European Outdoor Group (EOG) and therefore the organizer of the trade fair. “But the decisive success factor was always whether they would come,” continued Schneidermeier.
They have come. Exhibiting brands included Gore-Tex, Columbia, Salomon, Patagonia, Merrell, The North Face, Picture Organic Clothing, Mammut, Vaude, Lowa, Meindl, UYN, Devold, Fjällräven, Hanwag, Houdini, Maloja, La Sportiva, La Munt, Salewa, Klättermusen, Mountain Equipment, Rab, Millet and many more.
The new date for 2027
“All of this confirms our clear understanding at the European Outdoor Group that the industry wants – and needs – face-to-face events like this,” adds Schneidermeier. Therefore, the secret of next year’s follow-up event was revealed at the trade fair: it will take place again in Riva from May 8th to 13th, 2027 and will then offer an even “bigger and better presentation for the outdoor sector”. The concept of the European Outdoor Week, which was intended to complement the trade fair with numerous events for the industry and consumers, was also well received by brands and consumers alike.
The industry supports the new location, such as Stefan Stütler, who represents the sports and lifestyle brand Maloja in Austria. “It was clear to me in advance that the industry would like the new location, which is why it was clear that we would exhibit here.” Helder Maurao, Sales Director Europe from the young Italian outdoor label Roa, is also more than satisfied: “I find the trade fair to be very positive. It feels like a real outdoor event.” The business perspective also seems to be right: “Many retailers don’t know us yet and are seeing us here for the first time. The feedback is very positive.”
Trail running as a clear industry trend
In terms of content, the trade fair showed one thing above all: trail running remains the big trend topic in the outdoor industry. Numerous brands presented new, particularly light and performance-oriented products. Lowa not only presented its new brand concept, but also an extremely light trail running shoe. Maloja will also focus more on this segment in the future, while the Italian label Roa has reduced the next generation of its trail running shoe from the original 351 to just 218 grams. The Swedish outdoor label Houdini presented its own shoe for the first time. Ortovox, on the other hand, presented its own bike capsule collection for the first time.
Innovations in materials and the European Outdoor Award
There were also innovations in materials and production: The Notape company developed a zipper whose teeth are welded directly to the fabric – without any classic backing tape. The company also offers the corresponding machine for processing. The European Outdoor Award also focused on material innovations, such as a sleeping bag from Nordisk made from bio-based materials with a natural coloring from onions. Peak Performance was also recognized for a modular, four-piece anniversary skiing outfit. However, the surprise winner was Decathlon. The retailer has developed a device that can be used to locate holes in sleeping pads within seconds. Sleeping pads are one of the most common complaints at Decathlon, but repairs have so far not been cost-effective due to the difficulty in detecting leaks. “With the device we can take our service offerings such as repair, second-hand and rental to a new level,” said Mattias Schul, Service Center Director Decathlon Germany.
Challenges: internationality and logistics
Despite the overall positive mood, there was also a certain degree of caution on the part of the brands, at least when it came to staffing the stands. Mainly the regional sales teams from Italy and the DACH region were to be found here, with fewer representatives from the company headquarters. The exhibition halls – which are currently being renovated – also presented challenges due to confusing signage and thus sometimes difficult orientation.
However, the question that generated the most conversation was how to get to Riva – a city that cannot be reached directly by train or plane, but only by bus, for example from Rovereto, or by car. This situation had an almost nostalgic character and was not only reminiscent of earlier times in Friedrichshafen, where the trade fair took place until 2018, but also awakened the ambition of the outdoor industry. Some visitors consequently traveled by train and bicycle. Trade fair boss Christian Schneidermeier also traveled exclusively by bike in Riva. The management consultant and outdoor expert Sebastien Willefert therefore attests on LinkedIn that the industry has an “irrational need” to “get together in some of the most remote places you can imagine to organize a trade fair”.
Review and initial situation of OutDoor
In recent years there has been intensive discussion about the location and exact orientation of the OutDoor trade fair. After many successful (and recently less successful) years in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance, the trade fair was held in Munich for the first time in 2019 under the title “OutDoor by Ispo”. Two Corona years followed in which the young trade fair plant had to take a forced break. In 2022 and 2023 it took place on a much smaller scale at the MOC in Munich. In 2024 it finally returned to the Munich exhibition center on a larger scale, but only for a short time: in 2025 it had to be canceled at short notice due to a lack of interest.
That was the starting point from which the European Outdoor Group (EOG) wanted to try to restart the format in cooperation with the trade fair company MagNet.
