sports trader october/november 2013

Southern Africa’s business-to-business magazine for the sport, outdoor and leisure industries • Vol 33 No 5 • October/November 2012

Ideas for xmas stockSell tents to suit the climateWhat customers prefer in hockey sticks

Publisher: Nic du ToitEditor: Carin HardistyManaging editor: Trudi du ToitProofreader: Liz MilburnFeatures: Brandon Gregory

Carin HardistyNelle du ToitTrudi du Toit

Design: Carin HardistyPhotography: Nic du Toit

Nelle du ToitAdvertising: Nic du ToitSubscriptions: Carin HardistyPrinting: ABC PressDistribution: Tunleys

Sports Trader is published bi-monthly by Rocklands Communications cc.Reg. No: 1997/057165/23.Members: N. J. & G. C. du Toit

Contact details:PO Box 12197 Mill Street 801022 Rocklands Avenue, Vredehoek, Cape Town 8001Tel: 021 461 2544 Fax: 021 461 2549Website: www.sportstrader.co.zaFacebook: SportsTraderMagazineTwitter: @SASportsTraderAdvertising: [email protected]: [email protected]: [email protected]

Publication information: The title and contents of Sports Trader are protected by copy-right. It is a business to busi-ness publication compiled to inform, entertain and educate retailers, distributors and man-ufacturers of sports and out-door equipment, footwear and clothing. It is available only to members of the sport, outdoor and activewear industries and is published bi-monthly.© Rocklands Communications.

On the cover

Vol 33 Nr 5October/November 2012

www.sportstrader.co.za

Highlights:What’s new in running shoes?

Do consumers prefer bright or black team boots?

Selling watersport equipment

Which qualities influence the sale of a hockey stick? p48

Sport

48 HockeyWhat sells a hockey stick?

58 Sport statsHockey stick and other equipment import statistics

59 Protective gearSuppliers tell us what protective gear they have for retailers to stock

Outdoor

63 Product knowledge: SnorkelsWhat makes up a snorkel?

67 Product knowledge: TentsSelling the right tent for the climate

71 CanoesSA’s canoeists are world class — will this help grow the market?

Trade shows

73 Trade showsNews from local and international trade shows

Regulars

2 People on the moveNews about people in the industry

6 Brands on the moveNews about brand activity in the industry

12 Companies on the moveNews about companies in the industry

Industry

15 Retail conceptsStores convey brand identities

16 Massmart-WalmartTyrone Vieira, merchandise director of Mass Discounters, talks to us about Massmart-Walmart

18 Xmas stockingTips for improving Christmas sales

26 Time FactorThe entrepreneur who introduced sports brand watches

28 adidasMD Winand Krawinkel explains adidas’ running plans for 2013

Running is big. What new products do suppliers have? p38

Make sure you sell the right tent for the right weather conditions p67

Kakiebos (as the Afrikaans name implies) is a true South African leisurewear brand, lo-cally available from Crown Footwear, consisting of t-shirts for men and women and shirts for men.

Their t-shirt designs have an old school edge, with designs taking strong inspiration from post-war style prints. Some of the ladies prints have a youth-ful quality with flowers and hearts appealing to their femi-nine senses.

The range is manufactured from top quality material.

For trade enquiries contact Crown Footwear on 031 700 1601, email [email protected] or visit www.kakiebos.co.za.

Clothing & footwear

30 Road runningWhat do road running suppliers have on offer?

36 Trail runningWhat’s hot in trail running?

40 Performance apparelRunning apparel is just as important as the footwear

44 Team bootsWhich aesthetics do consumers prefer?

Lyle & Scott Summer 2012 Golf stockists required.Please contact Customer Services

on 087 940 4664 or email [email protected]

www.skye-sa.co.za

DDB

SA

366

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p2 :: Industry

Sports Trader :: 2012 October/November

People on the move

De Wet Sports recently appointed Hayden Smith as part of their sales team. He will serve the Western Cape and Namibia as the company’s sales represent-ative. De Wet Sports is currently undergoing expan-sion thus employing Smith became necessary as a rep for the roads of the Western Cape and Namibia.

Derick Koen recently replaced Derik van Wyk, who joined Stuttafords, as marketing assistant at Foot-wear Trading. Koen’s relationship with Footwear Trading dates back six years, when he was art di-rector for their brands at the advertising agency he worked at. Following that, he worked in marketing for Audi for five years. Koen has a degree in Visual Com-munication from the University of Pretoria.

Irene Scholz is spreading her wings and will leave Super-Brands at the end of September to explore new opportunities in fitness and rugby coaching and working with sports teams — a long-time dream of hers. She joined Super-Brands in February 2011, where she worked on the Canterbury brand in the lead-up to the IRB World Cup. Prior to that she was part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup team at adidas SA.

Hi-Tec marketing manager Ian Little is leaving Hi-Tec SA at the end of November after he has been offered the mar-keting manager position at Hi-Tec in USA. “The experience I have gained at Capestorm and thereafter with Hi-Tec SA will prove invaluable in the ultra-competitive US mar-ket. Just as in SA, one of the challenges will be to change the public’s perception of the brand and show that we offer incredible products at real value for money. Social Media and more ground level marketing will be one of the key strategies in getting that message across.” Ian has been involved in growing Hi-Tec SA’s social media platforms to over 22 000 Facebook fans interacting with applications like their V-store, Connect and the new Donate Your Birthday campaign. He joined Hi-Tec in 2010 from Capestorm, where he had been working for six years after relo-cating to SA from the UK eight years ago.

Andre Naude, former marketing manager and prod-uct developer for Bushtec (Canvas and Tent), has joined Seagull Industries to develop new business and product. He has many years of experience in the industry — he started working in the outdoor market for CI Caravans in 1993 and subsequently marketed Cadac and Continental Weapons outdoor ranges to the retail trade. He also developed good contacts in China and Vietnam for sourcing products.

Kelly Ludski has been appointed New Balance’s Marketing and Promotions Coordinator and has taken over from Katherine Tromp, who is now brand manager for the Warrior brand. Ludski (24) has been working in the media/PR/marketing and retail in-dustry for the last 6 years. Prior to working at New Balance she was an account manager at Draft FCB Redline and Capeafrica Media, after obtaining her national diploma in public relations from CPUT.

Adolf Stoffberg has been appointed the new prod-uct manager for Hi-Tec after Jan van Rooyen left the company to start his own business. Stoffberg has been with Hi-Tec for four years and he was respon-sible for sales and relationships with Hi-Tec’s Key Accounts/chain stores. He was promoted to Product Manager in the beginning of September.

Paula Hemmings — previously owner of Raker Eye-wear, now incorporated into Brentoni Distributors — has joined Brentoni as their new Ballistic agent. “Hemmings is knowledgeable in the eyewear field and is a huge addition to the company. We are very excited about the new partnership,” says Sarah Beamish.

Ragna Nilssen has been ap-pointed senior sales and ac-count man-ager at Adven-ture Inc. Her experience in the retail and wholesale side of the indus-try will benefit the company in helping them service their growing brand portfolio and client base. Her first job after uni-versity was as footwear buyer for Cape Union Mart. In 2005 Nilssen joined adidas as Performance footwear category manager and was later appointed head of the performance ranges overall. Nilssen is an avid outdoor enthusiast with a passion for mountaineering, mountain biking, horse riding, hiking and travelling.

DES

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www.hi-tec.com

From City to Bush.

For sales enquiries contact the Hi-Tec Sales Office.

Johannesburg: (011) 704 9200 or Cape Town: (021) 555 0707

Perry

Fun Slide

Warthorn

CommanderLeather thong

Saracen

Regent

New Range

Hi-Tec citybush 210X297.pdf 1 2012/10/04 10:08 AM

p4 :: Industry


Brands, such as Nike and Trek Bicycles, has ended their long-term relationship with Lance Armstrong after the US anti-dop-ing agency (USADA) released their report about alleged drug use by Armstrong and members of his US Postal team. Armstrong has also resigned as chairman of the Lance Armstrong Founda-tion, which he created to serve cancer survivors.

Nike will continue to support the foundation.

USADA has sent their deci-sion and evidence against him to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Cycling Union (UCI) — who have the right to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. If no ap-peal is lodged, the USADA sanc-tions must be respected by UCI, a WADA code signatory, to strip Armstrong of his Tour de France titles. The UCI said in a state-ment that it will only comment after it received the USADA report. At the time of going to press they were yet to release their statement.

Adidas recently supported Bryan Habana’s development initiative when he handed out 100 pairs of adidas Gorletto III rugby boots to members of disadvantaged clubs in Bonteheuwel and Khayelit-sha. This followed Habana’s milestone of 100 Super Rugby ap-pearances in the Stormers’ match against the Cheetahs in May. At the end of the year the Player of the Year from both clubs will receive an adidas rugby hamper.

People on the move

Adidas honoured Louis Massyn, a South African running legend, for his loyalty to the brand during the 40 Comrades marathons and 37 Two Oceans marathons he has run. Massyn has kept every pair of the 59 adidas running shoes he used during every race and in training. Adidas recently presented Massyn with a display to contain the shoes and a customised adidas shoe. Massyn has run more than 180 000km in over 150 different marathons, including the one named after him that takes place in the Northern Cape. Massyn says the adidas brand appeals to him because “adidas is the Mercedes Benz in running shoes.”

Everlast has announced their latest sponsored Pro Athletes: Juan-dre Kruger (Springbok and Bulls lock, pictured here with Jannie Smal), JP Joubert (light heavyweight champion), Ricky Misholas (EFC Heavyweight fighter), Amy Tara Bridger (EFC Ring Girl), San-rie Steenkamp (IFBB athlete and amateur MMA fighter/kickboxer), Hekkie Budler (IBO minimum weight champion) and Colin Nathan and his Hotbox gym (home of superstars Hekkie Budler, Adam de Moor, Zack Mkwessa, Ryno Liebenberg and Jason Bedeman.

Puma has signed a partnership deal with French national Gael Clichy (pictured here), the Man-chester City left back defender, and Rui Patricio, the Portuguese national goalkeeper. Clichy will be endorsing Puma’s Speed silo, wearing the cur-rent evoSPEED 1FG boots. Patricio will wear Puma PowerCat gloves and evoSPEED 1 FG boots in all matches he plays as first choice goalkeeper for Sporting Lisbon.

Wilson ambassadors have been perform-ing on the world tennis stage. Kei Nishikori (photo) became the 1st Japanese man in history to win the Rakuten Japan Open in Tokyo, using a Wilson Steam racket, when he defeated Milos Raonic (Wilson Blade 98). Victoria Azarenka won the China Open in Beijing with a Wilson Juice 100 tennis racket.

Adidas ambassador Greame Smith gave a cricket coaching clinic to the children of Khayelitsha in conjunction with the celebration of his 100th Test match. Smith also handed over 100 pairs of adi-das cricket boots to the club. Pictured are Zobuzwe Ngobese (PR manager for Adidas), David Ramsy (secre-tary of the Khayelitsha Cricket Club), Bulelani Libazi (coordinator for the Cricket Centre of Exellence) and Graeme Smith during the handover of a 100 pairs of Adidas cricket shoes in celebration of his 100 test caps.

997274_V3_Blazr_SPORTTRADER 297x210 fa.indd 1 10/5/12 3:39 PM

p6 :: Industry


Brands on the move

Puma’s Formula One challengePUMA’S Formula One Star Nico Rosberg of team Mercedes AMG Petronas challenged some of the world’s best sporting stars to try their hand at Formula One at the Puma Race Off. Sergio Aguero, Cesc Fabregas, Bacary Sagna, Micheal Carrick and many more sport-ing greats tested their skills to test in a high-performance Mercedes Benz car around a real racing circuit. Puma launched two videos per week, showcasing individual player perfor-mances on the famous Monza race track.

LYLE & SCOTT, traditionally a golf brand known for its knitwear, is now available in SA through Skye Distribution. The range is split into two main collections — the Vintage col-lection with its distinctive golden eagle and the Heritage collection, distinguished by a red eagle aimed at slightly more subtle and dis-cerning gentlemen. The Club collection was launched in 2009 and is aimed at the fashion conscious young golfer featuring the famous green eagle. The Club range is endorsed by Pablo Larrazabal and Chris Wood, who are wearing the range this year. The golden eagle logo has been seen sported by musicians like the Arctic Monkeys, Pete Doherty, Kasabian as well as several TV presenters.

Lyle & Scott now from Skye

OUTDOOR brand Rocky SA is a partner of the Le Seur Cheetah Project that is working to re-duce the impact of one of the major causes of the rapidly declining cheetah population: a too small gene pool. There are less than 10 000 cheetahs in the world, and the number is drop-ping by an estimated 2 000 every four years.

Apart from natural predators and mankind, the biggest threat to cheetahs is in-breeding.

Columbia’s new Omni-Freeze Zero sweat acti-vated cooling technology for Spring 2013 has won several awards since it was introduced in June. At the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market in Salt Lake City it won the Outside Magazine Gear of the Show award, Gear Junkie’s Best in Show award and was the OR Daily’s Editor’s Pick. At the ICAST fishing tackle show the Air Gill Chill Zero shirt won the apparel Best of Show award.

Adventure Inc’s new pack rangeAdventure Inc has added Osprey Packs, an in-novative range of packs and bags with features suitable for an array of activities, to the num-ber of top outdoor brands they distribute. In 2009 Osprey launched the All Mighty Guaran-tee that pledges to repair any damage or de-fect in its product, whether purchased in 1974 or yesterday, free of charge.

This causes 35% of males to be born sterile and many cubs to die when born with heart, lung and kidney defects.

The Le Seur cheetah breeding project aims to get new genes back into the various Afri-can Reserves. The long-term goal is to get the cheetahs to breed and release their cubs into the wild. One of their cheetahs gave birth to four cubs earlier this year.

Rocky helps cheetah conservation

The Cricket School of Excellence, run by Ryan Maron, is looking for a new clothing and footwear sponsor-ship after their 10 year sponsorship with New Bal-ance has come to an end. They have equipment sponsorships in the form of Gunn & Moore cricket bats and Hatrick Sports balls. The cricket school of-fers holiday clinics for ages 4-13 at various venues in the Western Cape and Johannesburg.

Columbia technology wins more awards

Benefit from Bronx campaignBronx, locally distributed by Jordan & Co,

will be running a SMS competition that could benefit retailers between 1 December 2012 and 28 February 2013.

Consumers who buy a pair of Bronx shoes will be asked to SMS the style number to a specific number. Two winners will each re-ceive R10 000 to be used for education - firstly for school fees and then, if anything is left over, for school clothes, etc.

The competition offers retailers the oppor-tunity to draw more consumers to their stores and Bronx will help them by providing in-store posters, advertising the competition and the SMS number. These posters are available to place in-store from November.

Adidas has partnered with the new Prime Human Per-formance Institute in Durban where the brand’s run-ning gear are displayed in a product showroom. Adi-das technical representatives are on site to assist the institute staff in recommending the correct footwear and apparel to members of this training institute for top athletes.

p8 :: Industry

Brands on the moveRykä. Love yourself.RYKÄ, the footwear brand exclusively for women, is back in SA, imported by Tekkie Town. To celebrate, Tekkie Town recently held a women’s event where ladies were invited to spend the morning trying on the shoes and talking to sales staff about which pair would suit their needs the best.

The morning was fitted out with things a woman might enjoy. Female company, relaxing massages, huge pink cupcakes — and SHOES! The shoes offer a narrower heel, roomier fore-foot and a more secure footbed — all designed to better fit a woman’s foot.

Rykä is designed by women, for women and aims to create products for women that want to look great and feel great while being dedicated to enhancing women’s physical, mental and emotional health and fitness. The range covers footwear for a wide variety of activities, from training to walking to trail running.

The brand also believes in giving back. Here in SA, Tekkie Town are donating R5 from every pair of Rykä shoes sold to Journey of Hope, an organisation of breast cancer survivors (both male and female) spreading the awareness of breast cancer. As part of their efforts, Jour-ney of Hope are hosting a motorcycle ride that took place 5-14 October. They departed from

Jo-ané Paulsen and Tania Rossouw, brand ambassa-dors, were at the launch.

Ficksburg in the Free State, travelling to Kwa-Zulu Natal, Mpumulanga and finished in Sowe-to. Their full route can be found on their website: www.journeyofhope.co.za/journey.html.

The launch event itself contributed to the Light from Africa foundation, whose venue ART in the FOREST was hired to host Rykä’s reintroduction to the SA market and consumer. The foundation provides children affected by HIV/AIDS in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, and their care workers with therapeutic creative heal-ing through clay.

UWS Reebok CrossFit GamesREEBOK recently hosted the 2012 United We Stand Crossfit Games in Durban. Spectators and athletes were treated to a phenomenal display of CrossFit movements and team ca-maraderie. The United We Stand (UWS) games went well, says Andy Craig from Reebok Cross-Fit in Durban. “What a weekend for the Cross-Fit community! Some incredible performances and in true CrossFit style we had CrossFitters new and old up against each other. UWS has exploded since last year and we look forward to running an even greater event next year.”

There are so many reasons to pick Fruit...

www.fruitoftheloom.co.za

#REASON

#2 We’re one of the world’s largest vertically integrated manufacturers#3 Our strict ethical and environmental policies#4 We only use the finest cotton to make the best quality garments#5 Excellent service with stocks available locally Visit our website www.fruitoftheloom.co.za for more reasons to make us your number one choice for promotional clothing.

Contact our local distributor for more information: Bertuzzi S. A. Tel: +27 21 552 2948 [email protected]

Fruit of the Loom is one of the world’s most recognised clothing brands.A brand people all over the world know, love and trust. A brand with over 160 years’ experience and a long history of manufacturing quality textiles.

There are so many reasons to pick Fruit...

www.fruitoftheloom.co.za

#REASON

#2 We’re one of the world’s largest vertically integrated manufacturers#3 Our strict ethical and environmental policies#4 We only use the finest cotton to make the best quality garments#5 Excellent service with stocks available locally Visit our website www.fruitoftheloom.co.za for more reasons to make us your number one choice for promotional clothing.

Contact our local distributor for more information: Bertuzzi S. A. Tel: +27 21 552 2948 [email protected]

Fruit of the Loom is one of the world’s most recognised clothing brands.A brand people all over the world know, love and trust. A brand with over 160 years’ experience and a long history of manufacturing quality textiles.

p10 :: Industry

Brands on the move

NIKE launched the Mamelodi Sundowns FC away kit for the 2012-2013 season at the new Nike Factory store in Mamelodi, Pretoria East, with a special appearance by footballers from the club. Clayton Dan-iels, Edward Manqele, Teko Modise, Nya-sha Mushekwe, Siyabonga Ngubane and Eleazar Rodgers presented the kit innova-tion and their plans for the season ahead to their biggest fans who turned out to meet and greet their football heroes.

Mille and Golden Arrows plan grassroots coaching clinicsMILLE, locally distributed by Skye Dis-tribution, has renewed their three-year sponsorship agreement with the PSL soc-cer team Golden Arrows. The sponsorship includes soccer kits (travel, game and training) and boots for the players and coaching staff.

In addition to the sponsorship, Mille is planning a series of coaching sessions with key Golden Arrows players in schools and underprivileged areas to promote soccer at grassroots level. These sessions will be-gin in March 2013 and will be run in part-nership with Sporting Chance.

Gilbert partnershipsGILBERT has signed new partnerships with the Auckland Rugby Football Union (ARFU) and the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), formerly sponsored by Webb Ellis. The 6-year spon-sorship deal with the WRU will mean that international rugby balls will carry gold markings to symbolize the fact that Wales are the current RBS 6 Nations Grand Slam Champions. All WRU member clubs will receive an allocation of balls per season, depending on the number of sides they run covering the whole club. The ARFU part-nership will see Gilbert become the official ball supplier for rugby across the union — including representative, club and school for the next 3 years.

Goalkeeper’s top and shortsAvailable in grey/black

Everest Sports Apparel Range 2012/2013Everest Sports Apparel Range 2012/2013

Volleyball shirt and shortsAvailable in white/black, red/white, gold/

royal, royal/white and black/whiteBasketball shirt and shortsAvailable in emerald/white/black,

red/white/black, royal/white/black, white/black/red, royal/gold/black, gold/black/

white and emerald/gold/black

Referee shirt and shortsAvailable in charcoal/neon green

Goalkeeper’s top and shortsAvailable in black/neon green

Netball top and skirt

Available in white/emerald, red/white, royal/white, gold/

royal, maroon/white, emerald/white and

black/gold.

Soccer shirt and shortsAvailable in red/white, royal/white, emerald/white, black/white, royal/gold, emerald/gold, gold/black,

white/royal and charcoal/neon green.

Soccer shirt and shortsAvailable in red/white, royal/white, emerald/white, black/white, royal/gold, emerald/gold, gold/black

and charcoal/green.

Knee-high sockAvailable in white/red, red/white, royal/white,

white/royal, white/white, emerald/white, white/emerald, white/black, black/black,

royal/gold, emerald/gold and gold/black.

Calf-high sockAvailable in white/red, red/white, royal/white, white/royal, white/white, emerald/white, white/emerald, white/black, black/black, royal/gold, emerald/gold, gold/black and charcoal/charcoal.

Ankle sock Available in white/red, red/white, royal/white, white/royal,

white/white, emerald/white, royal/gold, emerald/gold, black/gold and maroon/white.

For trade enquiries contact Everest SportsTel: 011 262 6089/3738 or 011 444 2014Fax: 011 444 [email protected] [email protected]

Nike showcases Sundowns kit

p12 :: Industry


De Wet Sports is in the process of consolidat-ing all their products under the four brands they own, which will give them much more control over availability, quality, and price.

All sports products will be distributed under the well-established Medalist brand. Apart from the balls, rackets, sticks and many other sports products they supply under the brand name, they are also expanding their exercise equipment range to include bar bells, kettle bells, plates etc. These are selling very well, especially with the good prices they offer, says Kevin de Wet. “The heart of fitness at retail is still basics like dumbbells, bar bells, gym mats etc. — not the machines, which break and need to be serviced and take up a lot of space.”

Tanga includes fun products for the beach (beach cricket and beach games), pool (pool noodles etc.), surf (bodyboards) and air (kites), he says.

Surge is the skate, cycling and extreme sport brand. They recently added some longboards — which are flying, says De Wet — and protec-tion like skate helmets, knee pads etc. They also do cycling helmets.

Aqualine is the snorkelling and swimming equipment brand, while swimming aids for young children come from a sub-brand, Aqua Pups. All their swim aids have been approved by NRCS (National Regulator of Compulsory

New outdoor distributorship TOGRAM MOUNTAINEERING has founded a new distributorship, Traverse Outdoor Gear (TOG), that will distribute two new footwear brands, Boreal and Zamberlan. TOG is separately financed but will run from the Ram Mountaineering premises.

Boreal, Spain’s top mountaineering footwear brand, had been in SA intermit-tently, but their rock climbing boots, especially the classic Fire Rock, were mainly brought in by retailers, explains Simon Larsen. Now, for the first time, the brand will be handled by a distributor in SA, who will be concentrating on the high-end products within the range. Boreal caters for the high performance mountaineering market seeking top quality and provides a range equipped to tackle the likes of Mount Everest, scale rock faces, trek in the Drakensberg mountains or along the Otter Trail. TOG will be focusing on a range starting at boots suitable for 8 000m peaks, through rock climbing and into quality back packing boots.

Zamberlan is an Italian brand founded 80 years ago that is now distributed in more than 40 countries, including in SA for the first time. TOG will be introduc-ing products that will be more focused on the main stream portion of the out-door market, like backpacking boots, lightweight trail lifestyle leisure and Simon Larsebtravel footwear. They will also launch a speed hiking range, which will be a new category in our market.

Dino Hadjipaschalis, executive chairman of SNT Sports, Christian Andrews and Hans de Bruyn of SNT Sport after signing the sales agreement.

SNT Sport is the new Sportsmode ownerThE SPORTSMODE sporting goods agency, established by Christian Andrews in 1999 to distribute specialised sporting codes like ice, in-line and field hockey, baseball and softball, has been sold to SNT Sports. Andrews decided to sell the distributorship in order to focus on Andrews College, a Cambridge interna-tional college he opened with his wife, Caryn Andrews in 2006. Before establishing Sports-mode, Andrews was GM of Flame Marketing, a wholesale sports company established by his father, Eric Andrews, in 1980. After his father retired in 1995, Flame was sold to the Math-omo Group, where his brother John was MD.

Companies on

Donations to SAGDBLEGACY SPORT & LEISURE, distributors of US Kids Golf equipment in South Afri-ca, and the Sports Trust recently made a major donation to the SA Golf Develop-ment Board (SAGDB) for correctly-sized junior equipment. The Sports Trust fundedR600 000 worth of new equipment, while Legacy Sport & Leisure added 140 clubs to the project. Cobra Puma Golf donated obsolete drivers, hybrids, woods and irons worth R800 000 to the SAGDB, which will enable young golfers across the country to compete in tournaments.

SAGDB learners receive the US Kids Golf Equipment from (back row). Steve Wasserman (DCB Logistics, who will distribute the equipment), Andy Ostle (SAGDB), Grant Stephen (Legacy Sport & Leisure) and Tshepo Mokoena (SAGDB).

Specification).They also still distribute some international

brands.Bestway’s inflatable mattresses and portable

pools are good quality products that are an excellent fit with their company’s sport and leisure focus, which is wider than just sport, says De Wet.

“Elkadart is one of the top dart brands in the world and they offer premium quality at com-petitive prices,” he says.

Dita is a top international hockey brand, and Tramontina is a top knife brand from Brazil.

De Wet Sports consolidates own brands

Simon Larsen with some samples of the Boreal and Zamberlan foot-wear ranges that will be distributed in SA by Traverse Outdoor Gear.

Charl and Kevin de Wet of De Wet Sports.

Industry :: p13

2012 October/November :: Sports Trader

the moveThE SPRINGBOK is SA’s biggest brand. Glob-ally, the Springbok is a massive brand, much bigger than what most South Africans realise.

So says Wayne Mumford, MD of Tri Distribu-tion, who have been granted the license to produce a Springbok branded lifestyle clothing range. As a Welshman, he has always been a passionate supporter of the Springboks — like so many of his compatriots — and he considers it a massive honour to be associated with the brand.

While Canterbury is the official Springbok apparel licensee and supplier of replica, they have been awarded the license to supply second-tier, more affordable, Springbok mer-chandise and a lifestyle clothing range in SA and the rest of the world.

“We respect our on-field partner,” says Mum-ford, who strongly emphasises that they are not competing with Canterbury, but see their role as growing the Springbok brand by sup-plying an additional garment range that will make it more accessible to more people.

“We’ve taken the Springbok culture into consideration and designed a lifestyle brand around it.” They are offering men’s and ladies clothing ranges consisting of t-shirts, hoodies, bush shirts, vests, etc. sporting the Springbok logo or brand name. This gives fans the option to wear their Springbok clothing for everyday work- or leisurewear, just like they would wear any other brand.

He says that by offering fans more affordable Springbok apparel, they will help to combat counterfeiting, because the fans who cannot afford the official replica, now have a legal option. There is therefore no excuse to buy counterfeits.

Tri Distribution has a fifteen year track re-

cord of producing li-censed sports, leisure and lifestyle clothing.

Sports injuries, which ended the promising professional football careers of Coventry school mates Wayne Mumford and Steven Chapman, indi-rectly led to the found-ing of the company. Mumford, who secured an apprenticeship with Manchester City as a 16-year old and then played for Birmingham City, started selling branded clothing when his soc-cer career ended when he was 22.

He realised that there was an untapped niche market for lifestyle clothing ranges for established sports brands, like Penfold Golf — a brand leader in golf balls, whose name was sufficiently well-known outside the golf-ing fraternity to successfully attract buyers of non-golf lifestyle clothing.

In the late 1990’s Mumford and his friend Chapman joined forces with another friend, rugby player Simon Skene, to form Tri Merchan-dise. Within the first year the Coventry firm won the rights to develop a second-tier Eng-land supporters range for the 2003 IRB World Cup — and the successful completion of the contract placed them firmly on the map. Since then, they have also produced second-tier supporter’s ranges for England, Wales and the Springboks for the 2007 and 2011 World Cup’s.

They have been active in SA since 2007, when they got the license to supply support-ers’ jerseys for the Springboks for the IRB World Cup. In 2010 the international compa-ny changed their name to Tri Distribution, and

Springbok becomes a global brand

The Tri Distribution directors Steven Chapman, Wayne Mumford and David Skene with some samples from their clothing range.

Refresh gear with adidasADIDAS launched their new Refresh your gear campaign into selected stores across South Af-rica in October.

Adidas is offering a R400 discount on new running shoes for every pair of old ones, of any brand, donated and will distribute the second-hand gear to disadvantaged runners through SCORE, a non-profit organisation spe-cialising in community development in sport and recreation and the Two Oceans Marathon Initiative (TOMI).

Local adidas ambassadors Graeme Smith, Lucas Radebe, Bryan Habana and Jean de Vil-liers refreshed their gear at selected stores across South Africa in support of the charities involved in the new adidas Refresh your gear campaign.

The SCORE initiative works at training com-munity members to become sport and life skills coaches in disadvantaged communities and so change lives through sport. Stefan

Howells, director of SCORE, says they are de-lighted to receive running shoes from South Africans as these will go a long way towards assisting aspiring athletes in the disadvan-taged communities. In South Africa the initia-tive reaches 40 disadvantaged communities and in Zambia it reaches 11 and in Namibia it reaches 14.

in SA to Tri Sports and Leisure. The SA office is run by former Pick n Pay buyer Ricky Solkow, while the merchandise is also distributed by Sapphire Logistics.

Tri Distribution has grown into a global com-pany — they are also active in Europe, Aus-tralia and the US — that developed lifestyle clothing ranges under license for other brands, Burrda Sport and recently, the Muhammad Ali lifestyle range.

Their Muhammad range not only features the boxing icon’s name, but they also have the ex-clusive rights to use imagery and the slogans that became as much part of the Ali person-ality as his skills in the ring. There will, for example, be Butterfly and Bee (Ali’s famous claim that he floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee) and Cassius Clay (his birth name) ranges. The Muhammad Ali bespoke collection for Spring 2013 will also be distributed in SA.

Burrda Sport is official supplier to the Qa-tar football federation (hosts of the 2020 FIFA World Cup), the Qatar Olympic Committee, Belgium soccer team, Marussia Formula 1 Team, US handball, several Rugby Union and Rugby League teams, and many others. Tri Distribution makes lifestyle ranges to comple-ment the official teamwear.

The Refresh your gear campaign runs from 15 October to 16 November 2012 and the handover of the shoes are scheduled to take place during the first week of December. Adidas has partnered with running retailers throughout SA and feel this is a great opportu-nity for the public to start their running jour-ney with adidas.

Adidas ambassadors Jean de Villiers, Greame Smith and Bryan Habanna “refreshed their gear at the adidas concept store in the V&A Waterfront

Companies on

p14 :: Industry


“I would like to reassure everybody that Prince is alive and well.”

Mike Ballardie, executive vice-president of Prince EMEA Ltd was in SA to meet retailers and Leisure Holdings, their local distributors, to explain what happened during the recent sale of the racket brand, following a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the US — and explain their plans going forward.

“This has been one of the most exciting and uplifting weeks in recent months,” he says of his reception by SA retailers and their willing-ness to support the Prince brand until stock delivery is fully restored in early 2013.

Over the past six months, as news about the Prince problems in the US emerged, manufac-turers in the Far East started turning off pro-duction taps, explains Ballardie. “Since the beginning of August we’ve turned the tap back on, but the problem is that when production stops, workers are let go, and to turn the tap back on, takes time, as the factories have to re-employ the workers.”

By early 2013 they will be back up and run-ning in the right way.”

Ballardie was part of the Lincolnshire Man-agement company, formed by senior Prince executives, who bought the brand from the Benetton Group in 2003. After they sold the majority shareholding to Nautic Partners, a private equity company, in 2007, he remained vice-president and MD of the EMEA region.

“Nautic was unlucky,” he says. The year af-ter they bought Prince, Lehmann Bros started the biggest economic slump of recent years in the US. Tennis rackets are high value items and overnight people just stopped buying pre-mium rackets.

Prince is a premium brand who had about 75% of the US racket market share in the $200 (R1 700) and above range in 2007. Customers who used to pay more than $200 for a racket simply stopped buying new ones, and instead were restringing and reconditioning their rackets to make them last longer, explains Bal-lardie. Over the past three years the US tennis market shrunk by about 20-25% per annum. The impact of the US losses on the brand were devastating.

In March 2012 Authentic Brands Group (ABG) bought the debt burden of $60-m and May 1 this year a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy was filed in the US. At the end of July the US Bankruptcy Court process was completed and ABG had 100% ownership of the brand.

Among the ABG brands are the popular MMA brand Tapout (official clothing sponsor of EFC) and brands like Hitman Fight Gear, Iron Star, Marilyn Monroe, Sinister, Bob Marley and Sportcraft.

Subsequently an Omaha equity investment company, the Waitt Company bought the op-erating assets and rights to the Prince brand across the world — with the exception of China

and a few other Asian markets.The Eastern Hemisphere (which includes Af-

rica, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the Middle East) is run by Prince EMEA Ltd, with Mike Ballardie in charge.

“The Waitt company has deep pockets,” says Ballardie, who is excited about the new owner who considers the acquisition as an opportuni-ty to re-establish Prince as a top racket brand with high performance innovative product.

They are also looking at ways in which they can reduce costs across the supply chain — with Chinese and Asian production costs in-creasing and retailers looking for higher mar-gins, less and less becomes available for the distributor caught in the middle.

Ballardie was therefore discussing ways in which they can work closer with their SA dis-

tributor, Leisure Holdings. “We’ve worked to-gether with Leisure Holdings for a long time,” he says, “and we’ve been brainstorming on how to find a different business model that will be more beneficial.”

Peter Reeves has been distributing Prince for 23 years in SA, and he and Ballardie have been working together for more than a decade.

Worldwide the racket market consists of a top-end performance segment and a more commercial segment of aspiring and recrea-tional players. “We need to find the right way to address each of the different segments,” says Ballardie.

Globally, Prince has signed new agreements with the majority of their players, like #5 ranked David Ferrer, US #1 John Isner (who also plays in Prince footwear), the Bryan brothers, etc. “We currently sponsor 16 play-ers among the top 100 men, and 8 of the top 100 women,” says Ballardie.

In squash they also sponsor ranking leaders James Willstrop and Nicole Davids.

“We also have a whole army of young up and coming stars we sponsor, like Taylor Townsend, the Australian junior tennis champion, who is being touted as the next Serena Williams.”

In the US Prince recently signed a multi-year deal to become the official racket of the Pow-erShares Series, played in 12 US cities over a seven-week period, starting October 13.

Big tennis names like Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras Jim Courier, Ivan Lendl, Patrick Rafter, Michael Chang and Mats Wilander, as well as Davis Cup champ Todd Martin, will compete for a total of $1-m(R8.7-m) to be shared by the top three finishers.

Prince is back on track

Companies on the move

Peter Reeves from SA Prince distributor Leisure Hold-ings with Mike Ballardie, vice-president of Prince EMEA Ltd.

Leatherman buys PocketToolXLEAThERMAN Tool Group (LTG) have bought the PocketToolX Company, manufacturer of unique, single-piece multi-tools. Founded in 2009, PocketToolX (PTX) introduced the idea of single-piece, multiple function tools into the mass market. The company had designs for new models in the works when the acquisi-tion took place and LTG will be reviewing those for possible future intro-ductions. LTG began selling the PTX tools in August under the Leatherman brand name, but using existing PTX model names: The Brewzer Keychain Tool, Mako Bike Tool, and the Piranha pocket tools.

Bokkie campaign launchedSARU launched their Bokkie campaign to cre-ate hype about the Springboks brand at Canal Walk in August. The campaign will run until the 2015 World Cup. Bokkie, the animated 3D CGI Springbok, will be showcased in cinemas around SA until December this year as well as children’s social networking sites such as Club Penguin, gaming and mobile applications. Apart from the animations targeted towards kids, the campaign also includes the kids’ and adult lifestyle cloth-ing range, distributed by Tri Sports and Leisure and Sapphire Logistics, depicting the Bokkie emblem, a TV campaign and the use of Bokkie in the physical space (in costume visiting chil-dren’s hospitals etc).

The injured Springbok Schalk Burger and Andy Marinos from SARU at the launch of the Bokkie campaign

Industry :: p15


Retail newsReebok opens first Fithub store in SAThE fIRST SA Reebok fitness store (called Fithub, with an emphasis on CrossFit products) recently opened in Canal Walk Centre in Cape Town. This is the fourth Reebok fit-ness store in the world, following the demand created af-ter the first store focusing on a CrossFit range of products opened its doors in New York’s 5th Avenue.

The Canal Walk store is a showcase of Reebok as a fit-ness brand — and especially their close link to the growing Crossfit trend. Stocked with clothing, shoes and equip-ment that will appeal to gym goers of all persuasions and staffed by fitness and product experts capable of giving tips and advice to customers, the store has a clear mes-sage: this is for fitness fans. The store design also features elements associated with CrossFit boxes — like hanging ropes, wooden display boxes etc.

New stores opened by two top brands show how retail can be used to communicate a strong brand message. For Reebok it is their association with Crossfit and for Puma their commit-ment to sustainability

Puma promotes sustainability PUMA hAS opened their first sustainable store in India (right), featuring innovative design elements and energy saving and environmen-tally friendly-sourcing practices.

For example, they used recycled steel, more than 90% of the interior spaces have direct ac-cess to natural daylight, the building design promotes natural cooling and air circulation, solar power provides 100% energy, sensors switch lights on and off when necessary, silt that polluted local water supplies has been used in construction, furniture and fixtures were made of recycled wood and organic paint has been used.

The store will retail a range of organic cot-ton products, including Puma’s sustainable Wilderness Collection developed and made in Africa. The store also introduces Puma’s glob-al Bring Me Back in-store recycling programme for footwear, apparel and soft accessories to help reduce waste and landfills by reusing the returned items.

The clear branding for The Sport of Fitness sends a clear message what to expect of the Reebok Fithub.

Left: Brett Burgess of Reebok Western Cape, Riaan Oosthuizen of Sportsmans Warehouse, Ree-bok GM Bruce Joubert, Pieter Warnich of Sportsmans Warehouse and Reebok’s Shannon Bou-wer in front of the first Reebok Fithub in SA in Canal Walk, Cape Town.

Some of Puma’s sponsored players like An-dries Bekker and Francois Louw (below left), Schalk Burger and Moroko Swallows helped to introduce these bins in their SA stores as well.

One of the bins was installed in Puma’s new street store n the trendy suburb of Braamfon-tein (below), whose young, hipster population fits the store’s target market. It is kitted with

their new international Retail 2.0 store de-sign, including elements like a social area and DJ mixing station (below right).

Puma has also acknowledged Johannesburg’s gold mining history by introducing references like a brand wall made up of mining helmets, footwear housing elements that look like mine elevators and gold sprayed Puma cat statues.

p16 :: Industry


What Mass impacthas Walmart had in SA?

The last decision on supplier assistance by the Competition Appeal Court in October finally sealed the merger deal between Walmart and Massmart. With Makro and Game big players in the sport and outdoor equipment, footwear and clothing markets, the industry have been keeping a close watch on these proceedings. NIC DU TOIT and CARIN HARDISTY asked Tyrone Vieira, Massdiscounters merchandise director, about the role Massmart-Walmart will play in the industry

“What Walmart has brought us is a mas-sive level of profes-sionalism and a know how that would have

taken us 25 years to learn. Learning these les-sons ourselves would have cost us millions in consultancy fees. What it allowed us to do is to rapidly process in their know-how,” says Tyrone Vieira, the merchandise director for Massdis-counters, a division of Massmart.

Vieira has been with the group for 18 years, having started working at Dion before it was bought by Massmart in 1993. Five years later Massmart bought Game. Today the Massmart group consists of Game, DionWired, Makro, Builders Warehouse, Builders Express, Build-ers Trade Depot, Jumbo, Shield and Cambridge Food. Massdiscounters operate two of these re-tailers: Game and DionWired.

“The Walmart philosophy has always been if we can add value, we’ll add value. If there is a reason why you should buy local or if you can do better by buying local, then buy local,” he says. There is sometimes a reason why you will rather buy from a local supplier.

“Whatever the case may be, keep the supplier. If it’s a niche, keep them. If you can take a local supplier’s product that is doing particularly well here and export it to one of the international territories, even better.”

The local seasonal sports are also more likely to be ordered from a local supplier as the other international countries don't usually stock these sports. The group looks out for the best deal that they can get.

Most of Massdiscounters’ categories are ben-efitting from Walmart. One big benefit that Walmart have brought is pure business know-how, such as how to improve the supply chain and better quality control, says Vieira.

The direct product benefits depend on how strong Walmart is in that product. For sport, Mass-discounters is more likely to draw experience and support from their colleagues in Canada or the UK, for example, than from the US, because there are more overlaps in the sporting codes. Addition-ally, when Massdiscounters have a problem with a local distributor of an international brand they will make use of their international connections to get the issue resolved faster.

They have found that there is little overlap for our seasonal sports with the international ter-ritories, but where there is an overlap Massdis-counters get the advantage of asking for advice from the other countries' experience, says Vieira.

On the health and outdoor side, however,

there is a lot of overlap with their international colleagues who can offer help and guidance as needed. “A territory such as Canada, that is a fairly wealthy nation, sells more braais during their three months of summer than South Africa sells in a whole year,” says Vieira.

What Massdiscounters have also learnt from Walmart is their knack and talent to create in-store promotional events to stimulate consum-ers to buy from their stores.

Looking into the futureWhen it comes to opening new stores, Massdis-counters have a strict store approval process. They have written an internal computer model that every new store has to pass through be-fore it’s opened. “Perhaps we’re a bit prudent sometimes and potentially leave money on the table when a store gets rejected, but it means we haven’t had to close or reduce any of our stores,” he says. “I think in the last few years there were some retailers that were opening and opening and opening stores, and it’s starting to hurt them badly.”

When looking to the future, Massdiscounters still see growth possibilities within SA. “Game has had a good response from the mid-size towns. We are opening stores in King William's Town and Queenstown in the next few months, for example,” he says. “We’ve seen retail devel-opment formalise in some of those towns that used to have just main road stores, where they are now building small shopping centres outside the CBD.”

Their current country stores are treated like destination stores and serve a broader customer base. These stores will more likely sell a higher market product, for example, pool tables, be-cause they receive a broader range of clients.

There are still some growth possibilities in the urban centres, but he feels that the rate of growth in shopping centres has definitely slowed down. This is due to the economy, he adds and he feels this will turn around again. “You only need to look at construction — there has been a big lull in development. But the upturn will

come again. The economy is still growing, but it’s not growing at the rate it was. Development will lag now and then it will start turning again.”

Also, retail areas move. What used to be a good location a few years ago, might not be to-day. Vieira uses the example of Randburg in Jo-hannesburg. Randburg used to be THE Location for retail a few years ago, but now it’s Fourways and even that is moving, he says.

Moving into Africa“Africa is a massive opportunity,” says Vieira. “The countries are hungry for products and we sell insane amounts of health, camping and out-door equipment into Africa.”

Makro and Game both do business via export-ing — the bulk of which goes into Africa. Both receive orders from wholesalers (Makro) and re-tailers (Game) who travel across borders from other African countries, order in bulk, and then either sell it in their own stores or sell it on to other retailers.

DionWired has 16 stores in SA and Game cur-rently has 106 stores across Southern Africa. Outside South Africa, Game also has stores in Botswana (2), Ghana (1), Malawi (2), Mozam-bique (1), Namibia (2), Nigeria (1), Tanzania (1), Uganda (1) and Zambia (1). Of the bigger African markets, it is only Kenya and Angola that they are not yet servicing with their own stores.

Africa is a growing market in general. People often forget the scale of the population in Africa, points out Vieira. While the majority of Africans are poor, the small percentage of people who have money still make up a big number of people.

Uganda, for example, has a big competitive market. The UN also has a presence there and tend to buy in bulk. He points out that there has also been phenomenal growth in Zambia. “We will expand in Africa as fast as we can locate a site,” says Vieira. “We have an appetite for hundreds of stores in Africa.”

While Walmart is currently using SA as a spring-board into sub-Saharan Africa, they will eventu-ally also be looking at Northern Africa, but the fact that it is largely Arabic presents some prob-


lems (e.g. language). Walmart also don't as yet have a supply chain set up from the Middle East, which would be convenient for Northern Africa expansion.

“Part of what the Walmart transaction meant to us is that we are now no longer reliant on developers,” says Vieira. “We have access to capital from Walmart to actually go and build a property by ourselves.” He points out that, typi-cally, in Africa they would build a property and then sell it to someone, who will in turn lease the building to Massdiscounters. “We don’t want to hold a massive property portfolio, so we’re quite happy with this arrangement.” That will accelerate their development into Africa.

Massdiscounters have dedicated buyers for the Africa region, but all their buyers for all the re-gions are situated in a centralised area together.

MassdiscountersMassdiscounters’ stores focus on the scholar and the recreational and home type of sports person. Typically, their customers are older and their sales are centred on the mass market.

They have a broad focus on customers who fall in the LSM 5-8 groups, but they do also cater for LSM 9-10. Makro, particularly, caters for a slight-ly more wealthy clientele. While they are also

focused on the scholastic market, Makro will do a bit more commercial business through bulk or-ders. Instead of someone walking into the store asking for a tube of tennis balls, for example, they will ask for a case.

On the health equipment side the products push the higher level, but overall their products tend to service the entry- to mid-level market.

“You don’t get into the health market over-night,” cautions Vieira. “We run service centres across the country. We have a big service infra-structure carrying 10 years’ worth of spares. We run a fully manned call centre where we have a proper computerised system to deal with service calls. We have fleets of people on the road who do service calls… this does not all come over night.”

They are seeing an emergence of direct-to-market players — people approaching schools directly, or school teachers and coaches wanting to make an additional income and selling their own equipment. Vieira sees this as a threat to the formal trade, because the teachers do not have operating costs and they are trusted. They hold a lot of authority with the kids and parents and can influence their buying. Also, many of these direct sellers come in with “B” brands.

Sports growth“We’re growing nicely in the sports category,” says Tyrone Vieira. He says it is an interesting category at the moment, because of the aggres-sive players in the field. “We’re fairly buoyant, based on the fact that we’ve had a lot of compe-tition come into the market and we’re still able to compete and have our own niche in the mar-ket,” says Vieira. “I think this is because we’ve stuck to what we do well.”

Sport moves up and down, he points out. “For a long period now we had a positive run in sea-sonal sports, but this can be very dependent on which tours and teams come to SA.”

He says their two biggest emerging trends are general health and wellbeing as well as adult cycling. People want to be healthy. Gym equip-ment, accessories and health supplements are doing very well for their stores.

They have experienced a significant shift in cy-cling with the focus shifting from the kids’ mar-ket to adults. Their core focus used to be on the kids’ market, but there has been a big growth in adult recreational cycling. Parents are scared to send their kids to schools on bicycles, because of traffic, the bicycles get stolen, etc. He feels that while this mass market is in decline, there has been a growth in recreational cycling.

The area that is experiencing the biggest pres-sure is indoor games (pool tables, table tennis ta-bles, etc.). People are buying smaller houses and therefore they do not have the space anymore. Additionally, indoor games are fun/luxury items — in tough times people will cut down on the luxuries and focus on the items that they need.

Tennis is coming back and over the past year they have seen a growth again. Vieira says it depends largely on the personalities playing the sport. Now that there are strong personalities playing, there has been a general interest again — especially among children who want to play at school.

Supplier development fundTHE COMPETITION Appeal Court (CAC) announced its decision early in October regarding the supplier devel-opment fund, volunteered by Walmart and Massmart as a condition for their merger.

The CAC ruled that “the merged firm has flexibility, at its discretion, to invest up to R200 million over the next five years in identifying and assist-ing micro, small and medium suppliers that can benefit most from Massmart-Walmart’s expertise”. The decision was made to rather focus on upgrad-ing skills than the amount of money invested.

Some of Massmart-Walmart’s im-mediate objectives are to act on op-portunities that will affect positively on SA’s economy. This includes helping to improve local manufacturing com-petitiveness.

Industry :: p17

Tyrone Vieira, Massdiscounters merchandise director

The Walmart philosophy has always been “if we can add value, we’ll add value”. If there is a reason why you should buy local or if you can do better by buying lo-cal, then buy local.

While he has noticed that children are playing more sport more, they are taking part in less of a variety of sports, rather choosing to specialise in and focus on one or two. He adds that ath-letics is dying — some schools have apparently even stopped having their athletics days. This will hopefully change with the new compulsory school sport policy.

It is very difficult for the mass merchant to sell golf products, says Vieira, because there is such strong competition for a small market among the specialist shops. Someone looking for a specialist product will rather drive further to reach a spe-cialist retailer who can stock a wider variety of the product, than the mass retailer.

“Adults seem to have moved away from tennis, golf, etc.,” says Vieira. “There is a time pres-sure for adults.” He feels that adults have moved towards a more individual sport that is less time consuming, e.g. running, that can be done on their own time and as they have time to do it.

Massdiscounters focus on stocking established brands — the only area where they stock their own brand (Trojan) is in their health category. “We believe that especially the youth market want brands, so wherever we can find a brand at the right value for them, we will stock them,” says Vieira.

p18 :: Outdoor


The LED Lenser M14X is the brightest torch in the M (performance) Series. A new high power LED in the compact flashlight offers extreme performance. Like the M7RX it illuminates the close area equally, but generously lights up the landscape outside the focus area.

Among the many functions are applica-ble light programs (Smart Light Technology),

comfortable one-hand focusing and the pat-ented Advanced Fo-cus System.

Playing a game of netball, soccer or cricket is a great way for families to spend time together over the December holidays. Summit’s range of soccer goal sets are perfect for a game between parents and kids (classic) or a game between

Summit’s games for the beach, garden or backyard

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Sep-Nov Mar, Aug, Dec Apr-Jun Jan,Feb & Jul

Spor�ng goods imports R'000m 2008-2011

teams of kids (mini twin). The soccer goal sets come complete with a ball, pump, cones and pegs — ready for play!

The portable goal sets as well as Summit’s 2-sided rebound nets are perfect for a day at the

Ideas for Xmas stockDecember holiday and January back-to-school sales are the backbone of SA retail sales. To ben-efit from the more generous spending by customers who receive their annual bonuses or want to treat the family for Christmas retailers have to think out of the box. It’s time to stock up on items that will appeal to these occassional customers, rather than the regular seasonal sport buyers

The December Christmas holiday season, followed by Janu-ary’s back-to-school rush, is the busiest time for all retail-ers. Some estimate that they increase sales by as much as 50% during this period. Even the very seasonal sporting goods industry benefits from the freer consumer spending

over this period, fueled by annual bonuses, the generous spirit of Christ-mas and the need for new clothes and equipment when going on holiday.

Statistics provided by Statistics SA show that over the 3-month pe-riod just before December (September-November) the value of sporting goods imports is more than 30% higher than the second highest period — the months March, August and December (see chart). It is interesting that in January, February and July the least sporting goods are imported (see more statistics on p58).

Because this is such an important period for retail sales, a bad season can start the new year off on a very bad note. The flip side is that a good holiday season, lays a good foundation for the rest of the year.

This might require some out-of-the box thinking to stock up on items that will attract customers who might not normally buy sporting goods.

We therefore give a few suggestions for gift items or goods that will appeal to families on holiday or parents looking for ways to keep the children occupied during the long holiday.

beach, a camping trip or for the backyard. The sets are easy to set up and allows the family to play anywhere within minutes. Future sport stars looking to improve their catching and throwing skills will love the 2-sided Rebound training net, which deflects a ball back at a player.

Families looking to spend time with their daughters can enjoy easy mountable netball rings. Goal scorers can improve their hoop skills with Summits’s professional hoop sizes. The hoops are mounted using hi-tensile screws and the hoops are made from durable powder coated metal tubes.

Everybody needs light!

A good, reliable flashlight with a strong beam is still a must-have on most men’s wish lists. In unfamiliar situations — like a campsite or a strange holiday city — it is comforting to have the bright light of a torch at hand. Especially if you know that the LED’s (Light Emitting Di-odes) save energy and reduce CO2 emissions as in the products from LED Lenser, from Awe-some Tools.

The latest performance models pack a se-rious light punch. The new LED Lenser M7RX (right below) and M14X (right above) feature a wider lighting angle that light up the imme-diate area evenly with a generous beam — a maximum beam distance of 600lm for the M7R X and 650lm for the M14X. In the focused posi-tion they both reach an impressive distance, but still illuminate a wide area outside the fo-

cus point. Just what one needs when walking in the bush in the dark.

A new chip in the LED Lenser M7R X makes it possible to combine all of the many light-ing performances of the older M7R model with completely different light cone characteris-tics that lights up the area surrounding the focused spot. Despite its generous light distri-bution, it has an exceptionally strong beam. Other functions include the Ad-vanced Focus System that LED Lenser is renowned for, speedy one-hand focusing, and a comfortable charging method.

The Civvio Ultimate Survival Set (below) is a gift option that should appeal to a wide range of customers — hikers, adventure racers, yachtsmen, canoeists, off-roaders, travellers… anyone who will be away from home comforts for some time, or lovers of clever gadgets.

At first glance it looks like a compass, but this compact, yet robust set is a 10-in-1 tool that would be the envy of the likes of Bear Grylls, says Brigid Kemp of local distributor DMQ Trad-ing. Apart from the compass, the set contains a thermometer, hygrometer to measure the moisture content in the air, a flint, a ruler, a LED light, spirit level, magnifying glass, SOS whistle and mirror.

They are packaged heat-sealed in a blister pack with an attractive and descriptive backing board and euro slots for hanging — making it easy to display them without having to sac-rifice much space.

Another new item from Civ-vio, the Survival Band (above right), is just the thing for any adrenalin junkie or out-door enthusiast, says Kemp. “With a breaking strain of


p20 :: Outdoor

160kg’s and capabil-ity of unravelling to up to 3m, this rug-ged accessory could end up being an integral life line in even the trickiest of situations!”

These handy — and inexpensive — bands are made of military grade paracord and have mul-tiple uses. They are ideal for tying, securing or hanging any item — or even person, when you need to keep in touch in the dark. And after being stretched to the limit, the band may be rewoven to a style of the wearers choice. More exciting colours and colour combinations are currently being added to the first two colours and are being produced locally.

In line with Civvio’s conservationist brand values, a percentage of all Survival Band sales will go to The Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Wild dog Project, founded to ensure the survival of this African specie.

An attractive survival band stand is available with

a minimum number of orders. These hangsale items are also easy to merchandise and are ideal

as point of sale items.

Gifts for the outdoor enthusiasts

DMQ Trading | 021 200 0747www.civvio.com | [email protected] us on facebook.com/civvio

Tweet us @civvio

Gear & Accessories


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Think Outside... No Box Required

Survival Band Supports Endangered Wildlife Trust

SURVIVAL BAND

ULTIMATE SURVIVAL KIT

Happily Ever Active

NAVIGATORCOMPASS

MILITARY COMPASS

When having to find a gift for the man in her life, many a woman has said a silent thank you to Leatherman, lo-cally distributed by Awesome Tools. The latest Leatherman tool is a sure winner when it comes to finding a gift that will make even the most fussy man happy — or an es-sential tool to take on holiday. The multi-tool concept was born nearly thirty years ago because of the frustrations Tim Leatherman suf-fered while he and his wife were travel-ling in Europe and he had to try and fix an old car and bad hotel plumbing with a pocket knife and since then many, many holidaymakers have been grateful for the multiple tools combined in one.

It is therefore with good reason the brand new Style PS is subtitled the travel-friendly multi-tool. Although this refers to the fact that it is allowed as on-board luggage by US airlines, the compact stainless steel tool contains all the es-sentials a traveller would need.

The eight tools consist of spring-action needle-nose and regular pliers, spring-action wire cut-ters, scissors, a nail file, tweezers, a screwdriver (flat and Phillips) and carabiner or bottle opener. With these, most travel emergencies can be fixed. A 25-year warranty assures customers of its quality.

For years multi-tool users could choose from two distinct options when it came to a one-hand-operable multi-tool: one-hand-opening pliers or one-hand-opening blades. Leatherman has now fused these ideas into the first ever, 100% one-hand-operable multi-tool, the Leatherman OHT (above). This industry-first tool features spring-

loaded pliers and wire-cutters so you don't tire your hand adjusting and readjusting your

grip. Handles with visual imprints of the tool beneath make for quick identifi-cation. A lifesaving strap cutter and

oxygen bottle wrench, threading for common-size cleaning rods and much

more make this a one-handed workhorse of a tool.

The new rebar from Leath-erman is a classic that never goes out of style. With the new

Rebar, fans will immediately rec-ognise the iconic box-like body and

sloped-neck design found in the Super Tool 300 and Micra. This new tool rounds out Leatherman's classic heritage line of products by offering one in each size category.

Just like the Super Tool 300, the Rebar pliers have been optimized for strength and feature replaceable wire/hard-wire cutters — a first for a four-inch tool from Leatherman.

“With all the features to get even the toughest jobs done, in a smaller, slimmer size, the new Rebar is sure to be an instant hit on job sites, and home-projects the world over,” says Sean van der Sluis of Awesome Tools.

“The Mako Ti bike tool is named after one of the fastest shark species in the world, not unlike you when you're up and running,” he continues. “For those unfortunate breakdowns, the ex-tremely lightweight and compact Mako features nine essential tools for a road or trailside fix to get you back up and running in no time.”

It comes complete with a bottle opener for refreshment, five metric box wrenches and two spoke wrenches. “This is the first bike tool that you won't even notice in your pocket!” says Van der Sluis.

Gifts for the man who has it all

time pieces, these watches are available at surpris-ingly affordable prices, mak-ing them ideal gifts and add-ons for any store. They will retail for under R200, even with good margins.

They come in innovative packaging and an eye-catching display stand is available with minimum orders.

p22 :: Outdoor


A range of sporty watches in fun styles and funky colours should appeal to sporty, out-doorsy customers of all ages.

The Civvio sports watch range, available from DMQ Trading, has the same features you would expect to find in serious sport watches — but they are more fashionable with eye-catching displays in bright colours like yellow, red or blue. All watches in the

range are 3ATM water resistant. Although

they are top quality

Swimming, sea and sun are the things we love about the summer. The dark side is that December is the month of drownings — some statistics say at a rate of a child per day — and the age group most affected are toddlers aged 1-4. And contrary to ex-pectations, most drownings don’t occur in the coastal provinces — Netcare 911 say that during the holiday months they receive more calls about drowning and water emer-gencies in inland provinces, than at the coast. And the highest number of emergen-cy calls are about children aged 2-8 years.

By prominently displaying water safety equipment for young children, you will re-mind your customers that they need to take steps to keep their children safe near water.

Aqualine, the water sport brand owned by De Wet Sports, has a range of products under the Aqua Pups label that will give parents greater peace of mind while their toddlers are enjoying a splash in a pool. All their swim aids are approved by the NRCS (National Regulator of Compulsory Specifi-cations, which set SA water safety specifi-cations).

A swimvest with flotation inserts (above right) — which looks just like an adult life jacket — keeps the youngster afloat and helps him or her gain confidence while learning to swim. Because the arms can move freely under the water, it is easier to master basic swim strokes. There are three sizes, for children 1-2 years, 3-4 years and 5-6 years.

Their roll-up armbands with two air cham-bers in durable PVC, will keep children aged

2-12 years floating while in the water. Some of them come in bright cartoon-style char-acter designs.

A baby swim seat (below) in two sizes — 6-12 months and 12-24 months — will be welcomed by young mothers, who will now be able to go swimming with their babies. Designed like a baby seat with three inflata-ble tubes around it, the baby stays upright, with legs dangling in the water.

But, drowning is not the only danger faced by toddlers who go swimming. According to the National Cancer Registry nearly 20 000 South Africans are infected by skin cancer every year — and young skins are particu-larly vulnerable.

Aqualine’s float suits therefore have a dual benefit: their flotation inserts not only promotes confidence when tots learns to swim, but the UPF50 sun protection rating also keeps harmful sun rays from their vul-nerable bodies.

Keeping toddlers safe in water


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3ATM Water Resistant

Sporty Gear & Accessories

Fun, Functional & Affordable

Negative Ion Infused Straps


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BLOCK

BOLT

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p24 :: Outdoor

Most teenagers dream, wish or nag for inline skates or a skateboard at some stage. That is why these are such sought after Christmas gift items — or why they fly off the shelves now that the long summer holiday is drawing near. These will especially be a hit in Cape Town where the Sea Point promenade has been opened to all skaters.

De Wet Sports has expanded their popular and affordable Surge brand and now offer sev-eral new items that should appeal to young-sters - and their parents.

They now offer longboards — with much longer decks than skateboards — for those who enjoy travelling at speed for a longer period, rather than performing on a skateboard. Long-boards are more stable at higher speeds.

Surge offer designs in two ranges that will cater for every taste: from the serious atti-tude of the skulls, to the pleasing designs of the flowers, or the bright and funky adventure scenes.

The Recoil boards have 9-ply dura-ble maple double kick decks, while the slightly smaller Proton range have 7-ply Canadian maple pintail decks. The wheels on the Proton boards are slightly larger (75x65mm) than the Recoil boards (70x42mm) — the smaller the wheel, the faster the acceleration of the board, but the lower the top speed, while big-ger wheels give more momentum and a higher top speed. Additional wheel sets are also available as accessories.

In addition to the brightly coloured maple Surge-branded Orbit skate-boards, they also offer a Canadian ma-

ple Vortex range in assorted more hard core designs. New ultra high rebound wheels (size 54x31mm) are also available.

They now also offer two ranges of inline skates. The reinforced PP frame of the Nex-us, in size small, can be adjusted to find the perfect fit. The Synergy, in medium and large sizes, has a more expensive, but durable, alu-minium frame. The cast PU wheels are sized for recreational or freewheel skating (72mm for Nexus and 76mm for Synergy).

Parents will be interested in the new pro-tective accessories from Surge: helmets with designs that should appeal to teens on wheels, featuring an air vent cooling system and soft nylon webbed straps for comfort, in a high im-pact EPS shell. A protective pads combo set consists of knee, elbow and wrist guards in high grade high impact fabric that ensures a comfortable fit.

Customers who care about the environment and a more sustainable lifestyle will appreci-ate some new products from DMQ Trading that are made from natural resources.

The 100% natural wood watches (below) are the latest addition to the Civvio watch brand, locally developed by DMQ Trading. These at-tractive watches, in sandalwood for men and maple for the unisex version, feature stainless steel finishes and top quality Japanese move-ment. A strap that elegantly tapers ensures more comfort. They are packaged in a beauti-ful earth-friendly recyclable cardboard cube.

They also offer a range of hemp t-shirts in earthy colours and striking designs. Forget about the negative connotations attached to cannabis — hemp is fast becoming most earth-lover’s choice of organic fi-

bre. Because it is such a versa-tile plant that can be grown in all climates, hemp has been used for textiles, fabrics, fuel, fibre, food, paper, medicine etc. for thousands of years. It is easily re-newable, strong and requires no pesticides or herbicides to grow. Garments made from hemp fibre are soft, du-rable — it is the strongest vegetable fibre in the world — and machine washable.

The mistaken belief that hemp was grown for the drug trade resulted in efforts to eradicate the plants over the past seventy years – but as more and more alternative information sur-

faces, the value of cannabis sativa (hemp), the sister plant of cannabis indica, that doesn’t contain the pshycoactive drug THC, is increasingly recognised and the

planting legalised.


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Tweet us @civvio


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The ELEMENTS Range

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p26 :: Apparel & Footwear


Time Factor runs on time with top brands

Sales manager Patrick Benade has lots of experi-ence of the SA watch market.

Running watches with the top class features one would associate with a pre-mium brandT

he son of a Hong Kong watchmaker, Chan learnt everything about the mechanical structure of watches from a very early age. During the years spent working with his father,

he had also learned how to repair watches, and although still a teenager, he opened his own company to repair watches. Because times were difficult, he worked at the company dur-ing the day and attended night school to finish his studies.

As his King Hao Watch Company grew, Chan decided to add the selling of watches to his re-pair business. The focus therefore shifted from a repair company to a wholesale company sell-ing watch brands like Seiko and Citizen.

While visiting relatives in Johannesburg, Chan realised there was huge potential in the SA market. At the time, there were few suppli-ers of watches, especially low- to mid-priced watch ranges. After careful consideration, he decided to sell his company in Hong Kong, and start a new business in SA.

After immigrating to SA in 1987, Chan set up a company called Hong Kong Development Company to import low- to mid-priced watches from Hong Kong for wholesale. Because of the affordability of these watches, the business grew very quickly. In 1995 he changed the name to Wingki Chan CC to honour a family member.

Wingki Chan’s products became known in the local market for their exceptional quality and affordable prices. Due to the demand from customers for more products, they also started importing pocket radios, stationery, torches, pocket knives and other commodities.

With the increasing demand for corporate gifts, Wingki Chan set up a department with an in-house designer to specifically deal with corporate gifts, as well as OEM watches in SA.

In 2000, as the demand for more ranges in-creased, he also opened a company in Hong Kong, J & T International Group Ltd. To fa-cilitate growth and cope with the demand, he also opened offices in Guangzhou and Zhejiang China. They also opened an office in Australia.

In 2011 Wingki Chan acquired the distribution

Time Factor watch company founder Edwin Chan is a born en-trepreneur. He was only 15 when he established his own com-pany in 1977. He is not scared to work extremely hard to grow his business — like travelling on a bicycle from Johannesburg to Newcastle to sell watches. Now, 25 years later, he is a successful businessman, developing quality watch ranges for top brands

rights in SA for watches under the brand names Asics, Onituska Tiger, Everlast, Fila, Q&Q, So-lus heart rate monitor watches, and Edwin. Three further brands were added in 2012, namely New Balance running watches, Daniel Hechter and Hello Kitty watches and Jewellery.

Name changeIn September 2012 Wingki Chan changed their trading name to Time Factor, in order to define the company as a specialised watch distributor.

After acquiring the distribution rights for the branded sport watch ranges, Chan appointed Patrick Benade, who has a lot of experience in the SA watch industry, as national sales manager.

Benade started working in Cape Town as an agent for small appliances about twenty years ago. After their principal was bought by an-other company, who didn’t need an agent, he joined Tex van Beuge’s agency Tri-Us Sales and Distributors in 1994.

Benade sold the Xonix watch range to sport stores, which did very well, he says. Avantco was the SA distributor for Xonix, and about ten years ago they asked Benade to join them as sales manager, provided he relocated to Johan-nesburg.

They also got the license to design and dis-tribute BadBoy watches. When LGB Distributors got the license to distribute BadBoy watches in 2009, Benade was appointed brand manager.

Benade had sourced numerous products through Chan while still working for Avantco and in 2011, when Wingki Chan acquired the in-ternational sports brand watch licensing rights, he joined them as sales manager.

Apart from the fact that the watches offer the followers of these sports brand an accesso-ry to complement their outfits, they also have the top class features one would associate with

a premium brand.The Asics and Onitsuka Tiger watches are

manufactured by Seiko in Japan. As one would expect from a world-class running brand, the Asics watches are aimed at runners, especially those who want to record their lap memory or need a stop watch during training. The attrac-tive watches, in various colours, are water re-sistant (for triathlon), act as alarms — two tim-ers can be set — and can record short memos.

Top running brandThey recently introduced the New Balance running watch range with even more features that should appeal to runners, especially the trail runners and adventure racers who follow this brand — like a heart rate monitor, GPS and digital compass, in addition to a lap counter memory and other features associated with runner’s watches.

Solus is a watch combined with heart rate monitor, and is manufactured in China. It in-cludes a heart rate zone alert and counts down calories burnt, in addition to measuring speed, distance and steps. Its memory retains data for 100 laps or a 4-week exercise programme. It also tells time and dates in two time zones and has an alarm.

Their Everlast watch range fits well with the brand’s boxing and fitness profile. The range offers from large face stainless steel sports watches, to more understated fashion designs, or colourful ABS polymer and silicon watches that should appeal to ladies.

The Fila sports watches reflect the understat-ed Italian design flair of the sports company with its heritage in tennis, golf, running and lately, lifestyle fashion.

Q&Q watches, manufactured by Citizen in Ja-pan, are one of the largest selling analog watch brands in more than 150 countries.

Chan also developed his own Edwin range of watches which he successfully distributed in Asia as well as SA for almost 20 years. He recently added a good quality digital range de-veloped for the SA market.

He also distributes fashion brands like the ele-gant and sophisticated range of Daniel Hechter men's and ladies watches, and the Initial range which feature the latest fashion styles at af-fordable prices. They recently launched a new range of Hello Kitty watches and jewellery.


2013 is going to be the year of run-ning for adidas. Winand Krawinkel, adidas SA CEO, enthusiastically lists the reasons why next year is going to be THE year for adidas running.

Tanned and relaxed, he is clearly a happy man.“Managing a great team and brand in a mar-

ket like this is an honour and makes me very happy,” he says about his two-year stint in SA.

Being appointed the new sponsors of the Two Oceans Marathon (TOM) — labelled by many the most beautiful marathon in the world — will be at the heart of the adidas running campaign. It will be a platform for showcasing their technical running apparel range, and a vehicle for reach-ing out to grassroots running communities.

The partnership will not only promote adidas as a running brand, but will also promote TOM as a brand.

The TOM range will consist of gender specific styles in different designs for each aspect of the race, featuring technology to keep runners cool, dry and comfortable.

After a sneak preview test-run in adidas stores from October, a TOM running apparel and memorabilia retail campaign will be in-troduced in Q1 2013, culminating in the Two Oceans Expo in March, and continuing beyond.

“Our first distribution channel for merchandise will be our key partners who carry specialised running ranges,” says Krawinkel. “It fits quite nicely to have technical garments to comple-ment the footwear from our four core families, adiZero, adiStar, Supernova and Response.”

The innovations from adidas that will be available from Q1, will give the running indus-try something to take note of, promises run-ning brand manager Kate Woods. “It will set off fireworks when the products hit the market.”

While football is still at the heart of the brand DNA, running is a strategic product cat-egory for adidas, Krawinkel stresses. “Techni-cal running garments and shoes are two very important strategic pillars of the brand.”

The Two Oceans is a strong brand across the world and it will be a good addition to the adi-das basket of global marathon partnerships — in Berlin, Beijing, Boston and London.

“You do not become a global partner of the top marathons in the world if you don’t have the right technical products. Some of the best runners in the world run in our brand because it enhances their performance.”

Their proven international track record en-sures that adidas is a step ahead when it comes to promoting merchandise and brand the race to a much broader audience, believes Krawin-kel. “We know the dimensions, we know how much we can sell. For me it is about the pas-sion and pride to be associated with the event, to see the pride with which runners wear their event shirts.”

Their philosophy is to encourage all kinds of runners at all levels to participate — from top runners like adidas ambassador Haile Gebrse-lassie, who has already said he’d like to enter, to beginners in the fun run, intermediate run-ners in the half marathon, or trail runners. On the Friday of the race weekend there is also an international friendship run, bringing peo-ple from across the world together.

They will also use the TOM exposure to grow running participation in grassroots communi-ties — where people are already running to train for other sports. “Access and affordabil-ity are the great obstacles for entering the sport and we will do our best to give access and make it more affordable.

“Every morning when I go round the moun-tain I see guys running in non-technical shoes, but I can see by their style and pace that they are good runners. We need to get them into the running community and give them a tar-get, like finishing an event like this.”

Through their Two Oceans Marathon Initia-tive (TOMI) adidas is encouraging runners to bring their worn running shoes (of any brand) to “Refresh your Gear” bins in retailers — and in return receive a R400 voucher towards a

new pair of adidas shoes. They are also work-ing with partners in communities like Khayelit-sha to encourage people to start running.

They recently commemorated Heritage Day with an adi-active fun run in Soweto to cel-ebrate the first birthday of co-host Virgin Ac-tive Soweto. The partnership between adidas and Virgin Active has resulted in several com-munity-based adi-active 5-10km fun runs, with groups of runners departing from the various gyms after work during the summer months.

In Durban, adidas partnered with the new Prime Human Performance Institute, where adidas technical representatives are on site to assist the institute staff in recommending the correct footwear and apparel to members. The institute, which opened in July, is one of the top three high performance training ven-ues for local and international athletes in SA.

“We are building something sustainable here in South Africa and our numbers prove us right,” says Krawinkel. “Adidas is very success-ful at the moment and we’ve had a very good year. It was even better than last year. Much better. But the job is far from done, there are still many opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa.”

They have invested in stores in Zimbabwe and improved their presence through visual merchandising in key accounts in Namibia and Botswana. Through the expansion into Africa by key partners adidas have been able to fur-ther grow their presence in these countries.

But, the South African team cannot take all the credit for the good growth, he acknowl-edges. “Globally the brand is showing incred-ible strength and momentum.”

The London Olympics not only resulted in a win-win situation for Team Great Britain, the brand got a boost worldwide through their as-sociation with the Olympics and all the teams and athletes they sponsored.

They clothed more than 80 000 Games Mak-ers with sustainable products, supplied kit for 3 000 athletes competing in 25 out of the 26 Olympic Sports (equestrian was the one excep-tion) and supplied 11 National Olympic Com-mittees. Sales of Olympic products were 250% higher than in Beijing.

2013 a GOOD

year for running

They will also use the TOM exposure to grow running participation in grassroots communities

adidas SA MD Winand Krawinkel is very upbeat about the brand’s prospects for next year

Western Cape MEC Alan Winde, Two Oceans chairman Solly Moeng, and adidas SA MD Winand Krawinkel, inspect an official TOM T-shirt


adidas unveilsthe official match ball

a didas, the official match ball supplier for the Confederation of African Football (CAF), recently unveiled the new official match ball — KATLEGO — for the Orange Africa Cup of Nations 2013, South Africa.

The new ball, which was given its new name through a vote by the African football fans, was unveiled dur-ing CAF’s live draw show in Durban.

“We are delighted to present the fourth of-ficial match ball for the most important tour-nament in Africa to CAF following the success of previous balls such as Wawa Aba (Ghana), Jabulani (Angola) and Comoequa (Equatorial Guinea and Gabon),” says Zobuzwe Ngobese, the Public Relations Manager at adidas South Africa.

KATLEGO, which means success in the SeSotho language, was chosen by African football fans via an online voting competition.

Advertorial :: p29


for up-to-date news from adidas South Africa, visit adidas South Africa news

stream at news.adidas.com/ZA.Contact adidas SA on

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The design of the new ball was inspired by the Ndebele print artworks and the dominant colours in most Africa national flags and the result was a ball full of colour and vibrance, adds Ngobese.

“CAF is proud to be associated with a leading football brand such as adidas and we are excited about the new ball as it

represents the whole of Africa. We look forward to an exciting tournament in Janu-ary,” says Amr Shaheen, the Marketing and TV Director at CAF.

KATLEGO will be used for the first time shortly after the draw to leverage the excite-ment for the upcoming tournament in South Africa, starting January 2013 and to allow the qualified teams to get used to the ball. South African Premier Soccer League clubs got the opportunity to use the new ball at the end of

October in two fixture: Ajax Cape Town vs Sundowns in Cape Town and AmaZulu vs Pirates in Johannesburg.

KATLEGO, which means success in SeSotho lan-guage, was chosen by African football fans via

an online voting competition where they had to vote for one of three names short-

listed by adidas. KATLEGO beat alter-nate names Khanya (which means

light) and Motswako (which means mixture).

Ismail Badmus of Nigeria was one of the lucky voters who won a double ticket and trip for two to the watch the final match of the 2013 AFCON tourna-ment in South Africa.

of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations 2013, South Africa



Forrest Gump ran to get away from his problems. Others run to get fit for another sport. Or to lose weight. Many people run because it makes them feel good. Professionals run

for a living. Competitors run to break records or earn medals.

The many reasons why people run, is prob-ably an explanation why running is the single category that contributed the most to the 5% growth (to $333-bn) of global sporting goods sales in 2011.

The runners in the annual Nike Jozi We Run do it for the companionship and fun. In the Wildrun and Otter Train run people enjoy the breath-taking Eastern Cape landscapes. Completing a Comrades or Two Oceans Marathon is a lifetime achievement for many.

And then there are the people whose fastest run is to the TV to be in time for their favourite programme who buy running shoes just because they look so stunningly beautiful. Figures from GfK Retail & Technology show that about 50-60% of total running shoes sold in SA are non-technical models.

Because there are so many reasons why peo-ple buy running shoes, there is bound to be something for everyone in the new ranges the running brands will be introducing into the SA market over the next few months.

Every brand has something different to offer that will appeal to a specific

runner. We asked them to give a run-down of what will be hot

in their forthcoming ranges.

BrooksFor Brooks, running

shoes are all about function and bio-mechanics, says

reducing rubber weight, also promote a more natural forefoot motion. In the heel Horseshoe Grooves work with the caterpillar crash pad to ensure a smooth transition and reduce prona-tion as they centre the heel pressure point.

Before developing their new PureProject 2 range (see left), Brooks engaged the trend re-search company IDEO to do research with con-sumer focus groups on what they want from running shoes. Some of the ideas that they took away from the consumer and retail re-search were: barefoot is a trend, lightweight is a reality. The market is shifting rapidly, if you don’t have a point of view, you’re just an-other option.

“With PureProject we’ve taken a proactive approach to meet the biomechanical needs of runners in incredibly lightweight and flexible shoes,” says Chowles. What’s more, they are run-ready straight out of the box.

Five unique technologies combine to pro-mote an efficient, aligned, stride, by encour-aging a more forward foot strike. “This places the runner over their center of gravity for better balance and a newfound spring in each step.” These technologies are:Toe flex: A split toe enhances forefoot flex-ibility and independently empowers the big toe to engage the runner’s natural stability and provide power during push-off. Nav Band: This elastic band wraps over the instep and provides a comfortable, assured fit, regardless of foot shape. Ideal heel: Their signature slimmed-down heel encourages contact points to shift for-ward, which aligns the joints and creates opti-mal energy return. Biomogo DNA: BioMoGo, their earth-friendly midsole technology, is blended with patent-pending Brooks DNA adaptable cushioning. Anatomical Last: Designed from an anatomi-

Michelle Chowles of local distributor SBR Agencies. Researchers in their world-class lab-oratories constantly look at ways to develop running shoes that fit and feel better.

“We look at build (posture, body type, weight), anatomical structure (morphology), running style (gait, strike pattern) in our shoes that are customised for all runners,” she says.

They have two main series: Core, which they describe as about the float and PureProject, about the feel.

Since 2010, the Adrenaline GTS has been the top seller in US specialist running shoes — and despite having the highest average retail price in the category, the gap between the GTS and its closest competitor has been widening.

The Adrenaline GTS 13 is their best Adrena-line GTS yet, says Chowles. “We paid special attention to the underfoot flex by adding Omega Flex Grooves and continuing Omni Grooves in the forefoot, allowing the outsole to bend and shape naturally.”

A tailored arch and heel fit is achieved with stretch eyelets that lock into the side to cap-ture the foot better, while design overlays offer better midfoot and heel support. Tech-nologies like Flextra, Brooks DNA and a Cat-erpillar crash pad deliver customised stability and cushioning.

The placement of the different grooves en-sures greater flexibility in key zones and by

What’s HOT in road running

Shoe brands give a preview of the new road running shoe models they’ll be in-troducing over the next few months

Because there are so many reasons why people buy running shoes, there is bound to be something for everyone in the new season’s ranges

Apparel & Footwear :: p31


cal form, the shoe’s shape follows the natural shape of the foot to provide true support and a glove-like feel.

As part of the function-driven design, the chevron on the toe reveals the NavBand.

There is a 4mm heel to toe drop.

Hi-TecHi-Tec introduced the first lightweight hiking boot many years ago, and this lightweight tra-dition continues in their running shoes.

In addition to their V-Lite trail shoes, they have also introduced some models that will appeal to road runners or those looking for a training shoe.

The attractive colour cosmetics and low price of the Luca men’s and ladies lightweight running shoe (see above) will surely drive sales.

The innovative upper was made with welded overlays, thereby reducing seams that can cause chafing. An EVA sockliner and IMEVA midsole ensures cushioning and flexibility, but the weight has been kept down to 210gm. The high-wear areas of the outsole feature durable rubber plugs.

In pink and white with yellow laces for la-dies, or charcoal and lime or charcoal and blue for men or unisex, the retail selling price of around R400, makes this an attractive stock option.

MizunoWorldwide, Mizuno has a following among se-rious performance runners.

Their most iconic running shoe to date, the Wave Rider, returns lighter, faster and more fun than before as the Wave Rider 16 (see be-low). This is a shoe that has been made for high mileage runners who like a smooth and cushioned ride.

The “16” represents all the benefits that the Wave Rider is known for — and it is even more responsive and cushioned than before. A technical advance includes Mizuno’s unique Dynamotion Fit technology, which is a series of panels strategically placed to enhance fit. In the Wave Rider 16, the lateral eye has been moved backwards to increase the flexion in the forefoot, reduce excess volume and en-sure the shoe moves more in unison with the wearer.

The Wave Rider 16 also features new Smoo-thride Foam to provide a silky smooth, transi-tional ride from the heel impact to toe-off. A shock-absorbing cushioning compound in the forefoot, the new Smoothride Foam is even lighter than the VS-1 used in Wave Rider 15 and features a material that bounces back quicker to its original state after impact — re-sulting in a smoother ride.

Whilst providing ample cushioning and sta-bility, the Wave Rider 16 is also lighter and more dy-namic, weighing just 280gm compared to the Wave Rider 15’s 310gm.

Its weight is further reduced through a light, more minimal, upper with support straps placed underneath.

X10 carbon rubber also provides greater du-rability and allows for longer wear in high im-pact areas for men and women alike.

Mizuno labeled the Wave Inspire 9 the “most fun support shoe in the market”. Dynamic and fast, the latest Wave Inspire provides an advanced shoe for high mileage runners who need moderate pronation support.

It introduces the new Smoothride Foam that bounces back quicker to its original shape af-ter impact, maximising the efficiency of the toe-off phase and providing effortless transi-tion when running.

It also showcases an evolved “Dynamotion Fit” upper with with the lateral eye moved backwards to help increase the flexion in the forefoot and reduce excess volume. The Dyna-motion Fit mirrors the movement of the foot.

Staying true to the natural DNA of the Wave Inspire series, an AP+ premium midsole com-pound is still present to enhance cushioning and support, whilst the double fan wave plate and wider gauge on the front area of the fore-foot provides good stability for runners that might over-pronate.

Other technical features include an upper that feels supportive, without being overly built, whilst a more precise fit in both the heel and toe box contribute to a smoother ride.

The weight of the Wave Inspire 9 has been reduced from 315gm to just 295gm — retaining its position as one of the lightest and smooth-est moderate support running shoes.

New BalanceMinimus running is one of New Balance’s key marketing pillars under the To p31

Opposite: The 10km Cape Town Marathon in Sep-tember follows a scenic run through the city. The marathon festival weekend also includes a 5km Fun Run and a 5-x 4.2km relay for clubs, companies and schools.

Nike’s We Run Jozi 10km race connects 20 000 runners from the leafy Johannesburg suburbs of Sandton (below left) to the dusty streets of Alexandra (below). The race route, unveiled by each runner’s registration on Facebook, started in Sandton, crossed the M1 highway, through Alexandra Township, and ended in Innesfree Park, linking the two faces of Johannesburg: township poverty and suburb affluence. At the start and finish the crowd, all wearing black Nike T-shirts, were entertained by bands, break dancers, etc. Almost 80% of the runners were novices and everybody who finished received a medal, while the top eight male and female finishers received cheques to the combined value of over R100 000. A portion of each runner’s registration fee was used to enable 1 700 primary school children from Alexandra and from Nike’s grassroots programmes to run a 2.5km race in bright orange T-shirts on the Saturday prior to the race (see below). The Nike’s programme is a partnership with Sport for Social Net-work and Grassroot Soccer. For many of the children it was their first official race experience, and the idea is to grow a future passion for running.



Less = More label (see what Anton Krupicka says on p36).

The Minimus 10v2 (see above) represents a significant departure from the 10v1 and is now more aligned with their minimus collec-tion. A new no-sew upper reduces weight, and virtually eliminates the need for seams that can cause irritation. A Vibram outsole provides traction and durability and the new Revlite midsole has a 4mm drop

The updated model offers cushioning support above the foot, which helps to reduce injuries and offer more ground control. The end result is a more natural shoe that offers more speed, but less weight and less elements. “It’s like barefoot, only better,” says John Andrews, product director of New Balance SA.

The striking Revlite 890 and 1080 (delivery in December and March) are the key styles for the New Balance lightweight running. “Both these updates are a lot lighter, but without any sacrifice on performance,” he adds. The geometric design of the 890 remains to create a stable, full-ground contact ride.

Other features include additional forefoot blown rubber coverage for more durability, a 8mm midsole offset, no-sew forefoot design, a thin TPU weld in vibrant colours with fashion appeal, and fast performance qualities.

The Revlite 1080 continues with a natural last and 8mm offset. “We are doing more than others with a low profile cushioning system — and are not simply lowering heel heights,” says Andrew.

A wider T-beam provides additional torsional stability. Combined with the careful segmen-tation of the abzorb crash pad, this enables the runner to move into a slightly more secure mid-stance, whilst retaining the flexibility created by the T-beam. “The forefoot features plusher, softer, blown rubber that retains flex-ible areas, but a softer di-cut blown rubber creates a plusher toe-off,” says Andrew. This is complemented by “luxurious, stunning, aes-thetics.”

Puma“The performance of our athletes and prod-

ucts are not simply about being the fast-est, but about pack-

ing every run with endorphins and every

millisecond with enjoy-

ment,” says Robyn

Frick of Puma SA. They have been introducing innovations in running shoes since 1948 “that have made the fastest humans (read Usuan Bolt) on earth even faster. Our science is often disguised with spiffy colours and designs, but beneath it all is technology that turns human into su-perhuman.”

The Faas Foam Scale identifies the right lightweight Faas shoe for every runner. Each Faas shoe contains different amounts of Faas Foam — a resilient, lightweight blend of foam and rubber that provides excellent heel to toe transition, with just the right amount of cush-ioning, rebound, and response.

The Faas Foam Scale measures the foam from 0 to 1 000, with each product named for the number measured. A higher number means more Faas Foam, and therefore more cushion-ing in the shoe, less foam means more speed.

“The Faas 900 takes your run to a more com-fortable place,” says Frick.

The shock-absorbing midsole made of a foam/rubber combo and the innovative out-sole that delivers superior abrasion resistance, keeps the run light and efficient. This is ideal for neutral runners looking for extra cushion-ing, support, and style.

Other features include a premium mesh upper that is ultra-breathable, an OrthoLite sockliner to enhance fit and moisture and odour control. Reflective strips ensure higher visibility in low-light situations.

The Faas 350 (left bottom) is a lightweight, low-profile, stability performance trainer, de-signed for faster training runs, road races, and speed workouts. The one-piece midsole with medial flare and low profile — a 6mm heel-to-toe drop — ensure stability.

A heel-to-forefoot lateral release groove reduces the pronation angle and allows for a more gradual transition. Faas Foam has been placed in the flex grooves for increased flex-ibility and a more natural ride. The simplis-tic upper has a bonded synthetic suede cage around the midfoot for support.

SauconySaucony is another performance brand that appeals to the serious runners, rather than the consumers who buy running shoes to walk around the mall.

They will be updating nine models between

November 2012 and March 2013. The updates include new redesigned crash pads, deeper flex grooves, new sockliners and much lighter, more cushioned shoes, says Jerome Goslett of local distributor Omni Sport.

“With a growing consumer move towards Saucony as their preferred running brand in 2012 — as shown by 45% growth in 2011 — these models will go a long way to reinforc-ing Saucony’s commitment towards providing excellent running footwear going forward into 2013,” he says.

Their flagship neutral cushioned shoe, the Saucony PowerGrid Triumph 10, will now weigh only 295gm, while the new ProGrid Jazz 16 will weigh only 269gm. “All five of our fran-chise models will now have a 8mm heel-to-toe drop.”

The Saucony Virrata (above) is a new model that will be launched in March 2013. “This is an addition to the very successful Saucony Natural range.” The Virrata has a 0mm heel-to-toe drop and weighs only 184mm. It has, however, 18mm of cushioning underfoot — more than the normal 0mm heel-to-toe drop shoes.

SkechersIn America few distance runners nowadays doubt the Skechers track record for making running shoes that can take the pace. Not after Californian ultra runner Christian Burke came second in the Born to Run 100k, wear-ing Skechers GoRun shoes. And the rest of the world watched Meb Keflezighi cross the line fourth in the 2012 Londen Olympics marathon, wearing the Skechers GoRun shoes in which he won races to qualify for the Olympics.

Skechers GoRun shoes are indeed serious shoes for serious distance runners who prefer a more natural running experience. Keflezighi describes GoRun as “a lightweight shoe that is great for an efficient foot strike.”

All unnecessary materials have been cut away to lighten the shoe and allow the run-ner to interact and respond more efficiently to just about any surface — yet offering just enough Resalyte cushioning to protect the foot on all terrain. The men’s style weighs merely 195.6gm and the women’s 139gm.

While the GoRun brings the runner close to a barefoot experience, it also provides the ben-efit of impact protection. For example: the M-Strike technology promotes To p32

New from road running shoe ranges cont from p31

Then there are the people whose fastest run is to the TV to be in time for their favourite programme who buy running shoes just be-cause they look so stun-ningly beautiful.



a natural mid-foot strike and GoImpulse sen-sors, innovatively placed on points of contact in the outsole, provides feedback that allows the runner to react faster to the terrain. High-abrasion rubber on these strike points adds extra stability and traction control.

The 4mm heel-to-toe drop and responsive flexibility that allows the shoe to bend and twist with the movement of the foot, places the GoRun in the fast-growing lightweight and minimalist camp. An integrated anti-microbial sockliner that reduces odours and prevents slipping, further promotes more natural sock-less running. Extra space in the forefoot fur-ther reduces friction and allows the toe's to spread, grip and push off.

VivobarefootThe new Vivobarefoot range is turning heads across the world, says Dale Turrell of SA dis-tributor Native Sport.

Runner’s World UK, for example, had the following to say about the Aqua Lite, voted the Best Debut Shoe in their Autumn / Winter 2012 shoe guide: VB has hit barefoot running gold with this model, producing a shoe that treats nervous newcomers gently and pre-sents the best attributes of ‘stropped-down’ running (better form), while protecting run-

ners from the bad parts (pain). After adapt-ing the initial strangeness of little cushioning underfoot, our wear-testers loved the snug heel fit, wide toe box and the responsiveness (these were the most flexible shoes on test in the lab), with several feeling more secure in these compared with other barefoot shoes they’d previously tried.

While they are proud of the Best Debut shoe award, they are pretty confident that after making barefoot shoes for nearly 10 years, the new shoes they will soon be introducing, will be just as exciting, says Turrell.

The Breezy Lite, which features the same 3mm puncture resistant sole as the Aqua Lite, but with a light and breathable upper, have been introduced in SA and the UK for this sea-son only. It is excellent for on-road, gym and studio activities.

In early 2013 they will be introducing two new light and breathable styles, featuring their new ultra-thin, puncture-resistant sole, namely The One and The Stealth (see above).

These two models are made with road run-ners in mind. “They are sure to be one of the must-have shoes in every runner’s cupboard,” says Turrell.

New Balance tests eyewearNew Balance outlet stores will be introducing New Balance eyewear for the summer season as a tester. “Should the range be well received, we would like to extend it to other retail chan-nels,” says Barbara Cole. The range features high performance sun-glasses for any athlete, with retail prices starting at R499 for a light-weight impact resistant lens, which is 100% UV protective. The top end glasses will retail at R999. It will have top quality features like two inter-changeable lenses, one polarized and the other non-polarized, 100% UV protection and adjustable rubber components. All glasses have a limited lifetime warranty.

Osprey running packsThe international backpack range, Osprey, is so confident of the quality of their products that they decided to celebrate their 35th birthday with an Almighty Guarantee campaign. This means that Osprey will repair any damage or defect, even if caused by the customer, free of charge. This is valid even if the packs in the range are thirty years old. And if they can’t be repaired, Osprey will replace it.

Osprey is a new addition to Adventure Inc’s brands. The Osprey 11, a lightweight multi-sport, hydration compatible pack, comes with this Almighty Guarantee.

Other new packs in their range that would appeal to run-ners are the Osprey Talon 4, is a bumbag and hydration system. The Osprey Hydraulics 2l reservoir combines excellent

reservoir-to-pack integration. A contoured backer plate preserves pack fit and comfort, while a magnetic bite se-

cures the valve to a sternum strap so that it can easily be reached while in full flight.

HOT new accessories

Road runningcont from p32

Running is a Skill

Built for the most aggressive trails, but designed with lightweight breathability for the ultimate barefoot experience.

The Foundation of Skill is Propriopception.VIVOBAREFOOT has the most proprioceptive soles in the world.

Breatho Trail Neo Trail

Evo II UltraRunning is a skill. Technique is everything. Learn how to transition to an injury-free running style by connecting with Dale Turrell, VIVOBAREFOOT Certified Coach, on [email protected] or 082 929 9996.Interested in learning more about selling VIVOBAREFOOT? For more details contact Stuart Hutcheson, Distribution and Sales, on [email protected] or 082 851 3065. Alternatively, contact our Johannesburg agent, Tarryn Rusteberg, on 082 4480108.

VIVOBAREFOOT.com

GO Anywhere and Everywhere

GO for the RideGO for the Ride







Sports Trader :: 2012 August/September


What’s HOT in

trail running

The American ultra mountain run-ner Anton Krupicka (above) runs to feel one with nature. As little as possible must interfere with his enjoyment of the environment,

and he therefore runs shirtless and in minimal-ist New Balance shoes.

Following the film Indulgence 1000 miles under the Colorado sun, Krupicka became a a cult hero among extreme athletes. Others would call him crazy. Apart from scarpering across the mountains around his hometown, Boulder in Colorado, he runs in extreme races and has twice won the tough Leadville 100 miler.

During a recent visit to SA he explained his running philosophy and what he expects from a trail running shoe, to audiences at Sports-mans Warehouse Rondebosch and the Sports Science Institute in Cape Town.

Krupicka worked with New Balance to devel-op their Minimus 10 series and he graphically illustrated with slides why it’s important for him to feel the terrain when running: he runs up rockfaces that mountaineers would climb with ropes, races barebreasted across vertical snow fields, armed with two tent pegs in case he slips (the type of terrain where crampons and ice picks are the order of the day), and runs along ledges where a boerbok will fear to tread.

Krupicka leaves you in no doubt that running in these conditions requires sure-footedness A broken ankle will be the least of your worries if you fall because you couldn’t feel the rocky outcrop that tripped you. On these trails, re-sponsive sole is not merely a selling point, it can be a life saver.

Originally Krupicka simply cut away the soles of his running shoes. Since he started working with the New Balance product development team, he recommended, tested and negoti-ated with the designers until they came up with a shoe that satisfied him in the Minimus 10 series — and that is why he declares the new Minimus the best minimalist trail running shoe on the market (he obviously does not lack self-confi-dence, which would be a natural re-quirement for someone who does 8-hour

runs across mountains for fun).While few trail runners encounter the same

extreme terrains as Krupicka, he does illus-trate why a trail shoe has to respond to the runner’s foot as well as well as to the terrain. This is a principle incorporated in most new trail ranges coming onto the market.

BrooksThe Cascadia 8 (below) is “built for the trail but answers to the call of the run,“ says Mi-chelle Chowles of local distributor SBR Agen-cies. “It was designed from the gritty, wet, and uneven ground up. Engineered to adapt to the surface and your foot, this versatile piece of equipment runs an ultra-marathon and then asks for more.”

Brooks swapped out the midsole for BioMoGo DNA to create a very cohesive and smooth heel-to-toe transition with a toned down cat-erpillar crash pad on the lateral side.

The suede geometric pattern on the upper not only harks back to former Cascadia de-signs, but also functionally wraps the foot for a close fit.

Lightweight and minimal shoes account for about half of the trail running shoes sold in American speciality running stores, and ac-count for virtually all the growth. “Cascadia bridges the gap between the extremes as it nicely combines ground adaptation, with the ability to connect with the trail.”

The new models provide a smoother, more consistent and adaptable ride, as the BioMoGo blended DNA midsole has been reduced in parts. The biodegradable MoGo midsole mate-

rial brings more sustainability to the trail.

The segmented and decoupled caterpil-lar outsole promotes a smoother heel to toe transition, with re-cessed rubber adding durability. A slightly

lower offset brings the heel closer to the ground for a more stable ride.

The visible Ballistic Rock Shield in the one-outsole with aggressive tread offers more pro-tection. The no-sew construction, with fewer stitches and seams that can cause irritation and blisters, add to the comfort.

Hi-TecInspired by the iconic classic running shoe the Silver Shadow, the new Hi-Tec Shadow Trail, (above) has fine footsteps to follow. The ver-satile Silver Shadow had been used by new re-cruits in the British Army for training, and the new Shadow trail shoe will be equally ready to tackle every kind of terrain.

The exclusive trail outsole from Vibram en-sures good grip on uneven surfaces, and pro-tection against rocks. The upper is lightweight mesh and PU, while drop through dual-density midsole technology will provide further com-fort and cushioning.

Retailing for around R800, the attractive navy, grey and limoncello trail shoes are ex-pected to surpass the popularity of its prede-cessor. It should be in-store in March 2013,

Inov8Like their name implies, Inov8, the running shoe range that has made such an impact at trail events and among runners looking for a more natural experience, is innovative.

“Inov-8’s all-new and exciting Trailroc range (see below) has been designed to handle loose, rugged and eroded trails and will be just as adept on hard-packed single track and district roads,” says local distributor Rebel Elite Fit-ness. “Although not designed specifically with

SA conditions in mind, they might as well have

To p36

On some trails, responsive sole is not merely a selling point, it can be a life saver.

When running across rocks and along uneven paths a trail runner wants a pair of shoes that will help him respond to the terrain in time to prevent a fall — a need recognised by the devel-opers of new trail running ranges



been.” One of the unique features of the Trailroc series is the use of three different rubber compounds and different size lugs on the outsole to optimize grip and performance. Larger lugs made of endurance rubber are placed in the high-wear areas, such as under the ball of the foot. A hard, sticky rubber and larger lugs are positioned on the outer sec-tions, where grip and stability are crucial. The sole under the toe and inner arches are com-prised of a softer, sticky, rubber with smaller lugs for flexibility and suppleness when jump-ing from rock to rock and contouring.

Like all Inov-8 shoes, the Trailroc range is very flexible and gives the runner an excellent feel for the underfoot conditions, essential on the trail where rocks, corners, and obstacles are all part of the experience. “The Inov-8 wearer can handle anything the trail throws at them with complete confidence and sure-footedness,” they say.

Their design philosophy is based on putting the foot in the most natural position possible, which is, obviously, as if barefoot. This means no difference in height between the heel and forefoot.

Inov-8 employs a transitional approach to this In order to allow runners to gradually move from the high heeled shoes that they may have become used to, to the 0mm difference, they use a transitional approach. Their shoe ranges come in a series of heel-to-toe drops.

In SA the Trailroc will be available in two models: the 255, which has a 2-arrow Shoc-Zone and therefore a 6mm difference be-tween forefoot and heel and the 245, which is a 1-arrow shoe with a 3mm differential.

Mizuno The Mizuno Ascend series is popular with trail runners looking for a faster medium profile shoe that is versatile on multiple terrains, says local distributor Super-Brands.

The Wave Ascend 7 offers grip and cushion-ing, combined with a supportive upper. It is packed full of performance technologies, while retaining a light feel and low profile.

The Wave Ascend 7 offers good protection on the trail, while the Dynamotion Fit technology works with the foot throughout the gait cycle to deliver the fit and staying power required on even the most uneven surface. The fan-shaped wave plate inside the sole and Mizu-no’s new ap+ midsole work together to deliver advanced cushioning and durability on trail or road. Increased grip to tackle the most diffi-cult terrains is provided from Mizuno X10 car-bon rubber that allows for longer wear in high impact areas and more traction at heel strike, whilst a wet traction, bi-directional, outsole allows the wearer to break through water and

further improve grip in colder conditions.

New BalanceThe 10v2 Minimus trail

shoe for men and women

will be the key style in New Balance’s less = more strategy, says John Andrews of New Bal-ance SA.

Tested under the most extreme conditions and honed to the bare performance essentials, ultra mountain runner Anton Kupicka says the 10-series Minimus shoes he helped develop can cope with the most extreme terrain.

The success of its predecessor means that the same DNA had been kept for the update.

The same Vibram TC1 Dura rubber compound outsole provides durability and protection on all terrain, but the outsole design has been updated. The Acteva Midsole has a 4mm drop.

The forefoot strap has been revised for a better fit that will help eliminate irritation and the upper features an updated mesh pack-age for a better feel. Colour details have also been added.

“The 1210 is a top end trail style that we are very excited about and it should really make a statement to the more serious trail runner,” says Andrew. “As you will see, we address all the requirements demanded by the serious trail runner seeking the best for his performance.”

The men’s 1210BG and women’s 1210BP are scheduled for delivery in March. Key features are an 8mm drop, Revlite midsole, N2 cush-ioning, limited seam construction on the in-side, a medial post, flexible overlays, Vibram outsole, and a toe protected and debris free construction.

There is also a 1210 sandal for after the run to ease swelling and blisters, but provide trac-tion, cushioning and protection when walking across uneven terrain.

SauconyThe Kinvara was one of the pioneers of the more natural (or barefoot) running trend when many other brands were still debating if this was the way to go.

Saucony continues the legendary Kinvarawith the addition of the new Saucony Kinvara Trail (right below). This shoe has a 4mm heel-to-toe drop and also offers add-ed under-foot protection with a EBO (External Bedrock Outsole) protection plate.

Vibram FivefingersFor many runners the glove-like appearance of Vibram Fivefingers have become the face of minimalist running. Runners don’t always re-alise that this footwear is available in a wide range of styles and models.

Trek Pro, for example, has a three-layer water-resistant upper, incorporating a breath-able membrane and tapped seams. The lin-ing is also made of three layers of fabric.

The first layer, which touches the foot, has undergone anti-bacteri-al treatment. The second layer is a breathable and water-resist-ant membrane. The third is in a reinforcing Jersey. The stitching of the upper and the lin-ing were heat-sealed to make the shoe water-resistant.

A 4 mm shock absorbing EVA insole protects the foot from bruising, while the performance rubber outsole in lightly cleated Vibram de-livers improved traction and plating protec-tion on a variety of surfaces. A hook and loop fastening completes this lightweight perfor-mance shoes.

The very streamlined Seeya is their newest performance option for serious minimalist runners. Designed to bring you even closer to the barefoot sensation, they have radically re-duced the weight and material and introduced a more breathable mesh upper, to deliver real performance-driven footwear. The minimum rubber thickness in the outsole ensures maxi-mum foot feel and flexibility, while a soft mid-sole further reduces thickness and weight for a more natural movement. A stitched-in insole protects the skin and foot tissue during longer runs. The lightweight, stretch mesh upper has a seamless collar and adjustable hook-and-loop closure to ensure a snug fit.

Designed for an enhanced trail running ex-perience, the new Spyridon LS has a closed speed-lace system to accommodate a wider foot or higher instep. The naturally breath-able upper closes with an adjustable hook and loop to ensure that it fits securely, while the minimalist Vibram rubber sole with its aggres-sive tread pattern allows proper minimalist dynamics and foot feel — but still delivers protection on rugged surfaces.

VivobarefootWith the growing demands for good barefoot and minimalist shoes Vivobarefoot have been pioneering the way for over a decade now, says Dale Turrell of local distributor Native Sport.

Their new trail shoes for 2013 will be similar to the Breatho of 2012, with the addition of a new lacing system, some new vibrant colours and a more durable sole.

The Breatho (below) and Neo Trails have been very well accepted in SA. “We are seeing many top athletes switching to a super light, very grippy and totally minimal racing shoe,” says Turrell. “Asher Clark and our design team have been working hard to produce a great road shoe, cross trainer, as well as a minimal-ist lifestyle or work shoe.”

They also designed an attractive leisure shoe

range.

Trail shoes cont from p36

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Rebel_Inov8_WeLove_SportsTraderFP.pdf 1 2012/10/03 9:33 AM



What’s HOT in

running apparel

Several SA outdoor companies have recently introduced technical cloth-ing ranges for all multi-sport activi-ties. Thereby extending the tech-nical know-how they acquired by

supplying performance outdoor products to the supply of performance apparel.

Adventure IncAdventure Inc has acquired some international performance brands that provide performance gear that will appeal to runners who rely on their clothing to ensure a comfortable, chafe-free and dry run — whether in training or on race day.

Icebreaker has been promoting the wearing of merino wool garments for about twenty years: it is not as bulky and itchy as other wool garments, and is not flammable and odour trapping like synthetics. Merino wool, they say, is soft, non-itching, and does not trap odours. Merino wool is also warm in the cold and cool in the heat. The merino wool Tech T lite see image below), therefore breathes, manages moisture naturally, dries quickly — and you’ll still smell fresh after running a marathon.

Ronhill is one of the two running brands founded by top UK runner and holder of vari-ous records, Ron Hill (MBE) — the other brand is Hilly. With his Trail Cargo Short he has pre-sented a solution for a problem experienced by many distance runners, namely, where to put your gels and valuables (like a car key) if you don’t feel comfortable running with a belt or pouch. His trail running short has loads of gel pockets and a zip-secured pocket for valuables.

Another UK brand, Bridgedale, is known for the technology-enhanced performance socks they make for a variety of sports and leisure ac-tivities, including running. In the Xhale Speed

Demon and Speed Diva they blended the best properties of Coolmax and wool. The very lightweight sock is very breathable and their T2 anti-compression cushioning technolo-

gy protects against impact. Target-ed ventilation keeps the feet cool.

Buff can almost be called the runner’s friend as these versatile fabric bands provide protection

against sun, wind, cold or rain. For running in the sunny summer months, there is now also a high UV Buff that provides moisture manage-ment and UV protection in one multi function-al headwear package.

Hi-TecWith Hi-Tec probably one of the best-known outdoor shoe brands in SA, it is an easy step for consumers to ac-cept Hi-Tec as a perfor-mance clothing brand. This will be the second season that they offer a varied clothing range to complement their footwear.

The Pour Off Shell for men (above) is a feather light synthetic (nylon taffeta) softshell that will provide runners with protection against the elements, without impeding their run. It will also not break the bank.

The polyester moisture-wicking lining keeps the runner dry, while the Dri-Tec waterproof, breathable, fully seam-sealed technology en-sures that condensation does not build up on the inside, or rain enter from the outside.

The shell is compact and can be packaged in its own pocket. The hood folds away in the collar and a drawcord to tighten the hem can be operated with one hand.

The Usain active shirt is a 100% polyester mesh men's polo shirt in breathable Playdry fabric that will keep runners cool and com-fortable on the road and trail.

MerrellMerrell has introduced a new performance clothing range, developed by one of the world’s top designers, with input from Gus-tav Nefdt, Merrell brand manager for Medicus Shoes. The unisex clothing range feature all the technological features that runners can ask for.

Merrell Aeroblock, for example, creates a lightweight barrier against cold air. It is highly wind-resistant and breathable, mak-ing it one of the most versatile layering op-

tions for the active outdoors-man, says Nefdt. It releases body moisture, and blocks wind.

The Opti-warm syn-thetic insulation gives you efficient warmth — without the bulk — and provides excellent loft retention without sacri-ficing compressibility for easy packing, he adds.

Merrell’s Opti-wick fabric transfers moisture away from the skin and dries quickly to keep a runner comfortable and dry.

The Running Fleece LS Tee is a long sleeve lightweight moisture wicking running tee with a brushed back fleece inner. Opti-wick and Opti-warm keeps the runner warm and dry. It can also be worn as an extremely lightweight fleece.

The Hi Performance Tri-short is a water-re-sistant garment that is also breatheable, us-ing a rubberised gripper on both the legs and waistband for the bike leg of a triathlon.

The Ultra Trail Short is a lightweight multi-purpose running tight, combined with a light-weight running short. It is water-repellent and moisture-wicking.

The white Pack a Mack (above) is an easy-packable windbreaker, ideal for road and trail runners and any other sport, weighing only 70gms. It features Merrell’s Aeroblock tech-nology that allows for immediate moisture evaporation.

The orange Wind Jammer is water repellent and wind repellent. When submerged in wa-ter, it dries within 5 minutes, says Nefdt.

InjinjiTo complement their toe-hugging Vibram Five-fingers footwear, Branded Footwear have in-

troduced Injinji Toesocks for runners and active outdoor enthusiasts. In-jinji’s patented five-toe seamless de-sign benefits the athlete by providing proper toe alignment for a natural

feel and superior moisture man-agement. It also strength-

ens muscles in

Runners competing in gruelling events like the 3-day 112km Wildcoast Wildrun need technical apparel that will help them enjoy the spectacular scenery along the Transkei Wildcoast

More photos of the Wildcoast Wildrun, sponsored by adidas and Hammer Nutrition, at www.NickMuzik.com

To p40



the foot, offers more protection from blisters and hotspots, eliminates bunching or sagging and offers better gripping and balance.

The Outdoor Series lightweight toesock is sleek and very thin, ideal for performance in any shoe, climate and terrain. The high knit-count ensures that the thin fibre remains du-rable. The socks in the Outdoor Series have been manufactured with Injinji’s patented AIS: Technology using Nuwool (merino wool) that helps prevent odour and controls temper-ature, which keeps feet dry and comfortable.

New BalanceNew Balance’s new running range is all about bright colours, following key fashion trends, says New Balance SA apparel manager Barbara Cole. “Colour blocking form an intergral part

of our range of technical ap-parel for Q1 of 2013.” To tie in with their Minimus footwear range, light-weight is also a key com-

ponent of the clothing range. “In apparel it will be imple-

mented with our NBx Minimus line, which offers flexibility, support and comfort,” she says. “It has key colour tie-ups to our Minimus footwear

in both men’s and women’s running.”It is the top tier of their technical apparel

and has comfort features like a seamless con-struction, body mapping and aquapel technol-ogy (see below) in their Minimus jacket. Other features include pockets for accessories, laser cut detail and reflectivity.

Aquapel is the next generation in water repellency performance, explains Cole. The fabric is treated with molecules that cause moisture to bead and roll right off the fabric surface. The result is excellent water-repel-lency in a fabric that’s also breathable, dura-ble and fast drying.

NB Ice is New Balance’s fabric technology that follows on from the former Icefil. This technology is found in their top tier running apparel — in the “Impact” styles. It wicks moisture, and also blocks the sun’s infrared rays, while xylitol reacts to further maximise the cooling effect. “In our better tier of run-ning apparel we have also made use of recy-cled polyester, for a great value and conscious buy on technical apparel,” says Cole.

In women’s technical running they have in-troduced longer length silhouettes in running singlets and new graphics on technical tees. The fabric and styling of their entry level Tem-po tee to the Go 2 tee have been updated. They feature NB Ice technology and recycled polyester fabrics have been used in the manu-facturing. In addition to these features, the men’s technical running tights and shorts now

have new colour pops.

NikwaxWet, smelly, clothes in a kit bag or laundry basket is rather unap-pealing — but unfortunately una-voidable when wearing moisture wicking running or gym clothes. Nikwax, locally distributed by Ram Mountaineering, has developed two products that can give a fresh appeal to performance apparel as it helps them dry faster and removes odours.

BaseWash is an effective deodorising cleaner that enhances the performance of technical synthetic baselayers and improves comfort by accelerating wicking and drying times. It re-freshes items and removes odours, instead of just masking them as some detergents do, says Simon Larsen.

BaseFresh, is a deodorising conditioner for technical baselayers that also softens the fab-ric and accelerates drying.

“Nikwax has put in a lot of effort to highlight how environmentally friendly the company is, despite the chemicals in their products,” he says. “As result, they have received the Sun-day Times Best Green Companies award three years in a row.”

The award goes to companies that are rec-ognised as visionaries of sustainable, environ-mental business practices.

UltraSpire at the OtterWhen American super-runner Krissy Moehl was the first female runner to cross the line in Mag-netic South’s 2013 Retto (Otter backwards) trail run, presented by Hi-Tec and GU, she gave the spectators a good look at her UltrAspire Elite hy-dration pack. She is an athletic director of this company which makes hydration products — in-novative belts, packs, bottles — for elite ultra to recreational half-marathon runners. Moehl has been instrumental in the development of several of these hydration systems, specifically made for distance running. They are available in SA from Native Sport.

Photo: Jacques Marais.

JAIME fULLER, chairman of international sports compression company SKINS has taken a tough stance against doping — and the seem-ing inability of sports bodies like the UCI (Un-ion Cycliste Internationale) to stamp it out. Skins is a commercial partner of international athletes and teams, including runners and six cycling teams and organisations, and supplier of the high tech race suits worn by the gold medal winning US cycling team in the 2012 London Olympics.

In an open letter to UCI president Pat Mc-Quaid, he demanded that he either acts im-mediately or resigns in order to protect world cycling and its commercial partners in the wake of the Lance Armstrong drugs debacle.

Fuller wants the UCI to force Armstrong to deliver full closure on the evidence contained in the damning 1 000-page US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) report. Armstrong has refused to answer the charges and Fuller believes that in the absence of a confession, Armstrong must face his accusers.

“As President, you must move immediately to repair damage that, if left to suffer further inertia from the highest office, will be impos-sible to rectify,” he wrote.

In the widely published letter Fuller also raises the question of the potential involve-ment of UCI officials in a cover-up to protect Armstrong from positive drugs tests in the past. If answers cannot be given; “with a clear conscience” immediate changes must be

made to save the sport, he suggests. “Apart from being a genuine cycling fan and

an avid believer in integrity in all sport, I'm truly sad to see cycling dragged through the mud by a fallen hero and an organisation with at best, inertia at the centre of its culture. The UCI has some serious questions to answer and a massive reparation job ahead of it.

“What happens if commercial partners start taking legal recourse to claw back contractual payments they've made on the basis of wins gained through systemic fraudulent perfor-mance? The whole thing will implode in no time with the potential collapse of cycling. At the moment, I see no light at the end of the tunnel and its time the UCI started switching on a few lights.”

Skins chairman takes tough stance against sport doping

Skins chairman Jaime Fuller.

Apparel cont from p40

ewr15-skins.indd 1 2012/10/12 09:47:29 AM


Some modern soccer or rugby boots are works of art. Their bright colours, streamlined designs and glove-soft uppers will be equally at home on a fashion ramp as on a sports field. But, do these stunning cosmetic features sell boots, or do consumers still prefer the tradi-tional black and white boots? BRANDON GREGORY asked the brands

The first thick black leather soc-cer boot, weighing about 500gm, was developed late in the 19th century in Britain, when soccer became a sport with proper rules.

Before this, players would wear their steel toe capped heavy duty work boots with ankle sup-port and long laces.

Since then, advancements in boot designs re-sulted in 21st century consumers being offered an endless variety of boot designs and colours to choose from. Soccer boots now come in just about every colour of the rainbow, some are shiny, others are silky soft, laces are on- and off-center, logos form part of the design, or are subtly hidden… there is hardly an end to the design features available.

It is not possible for a retailer to stock boots in all the colours or designs on the market.

We therefore asked team boot suppliers to give retailers an indication of which cosmetic features they believe are the most popular.

Bright colours Over the past few years most brands have in-troduced brightly coloured boots to their soc-cer ranges. But, how popular are they with local soccer players?

Bright colours are now in the highest demand worldwide — the more colours and designs, the more interest the consumer tends to give that boot, says Ricky Joseph of Kappa SA.

Most aspiring footballers want to stand out on the pitch in some way or other (wow the boy with the neon red boots really has some good touches) and this is one of the easiest ways to do it, adds Gian-Paolo Sangiorgio of adidas (better known as GP). Boot colour definitely plays a role in sales, he reckons.

This is not necessarily true for all players. Club teams like bright colours like neon yel-

low, pink, bright blue and purple, says Gavin Benjamin of Puma SA, “while the plain black and white soccer boot colours are popular with

the schools players, because learners are lim-ited as to what colours they may play in.”

When given a choice, today’s generation of soccer players will be moving away from the traditional single colour boot and choose the funkier bright colours.

The customer may also choose a boot to suit the surface of the pitch that he will be playing on. “For example, the individual that is playing on lush green grass would opt for a multi- or techni-colour boot, whereas an individual that is playing on a sand pitch will most likely stick to the traditional single colour boot,” explains Zaidy Laher of Diadora SA. He observed that white boots are the most popular, albeit with an orange, green or other coloured aspect.

When Mille did research for the development of their new range, they received a large num-ber of enquiries for multi-colour boots, says Kate MacLennan of local distributor Skye Dis-tribution.

Upper materialsBoot uppers nowadays come in shiny patent leather, or synthetics, in addition to the tradi-tional kangaroo leather. What look and feel do consumers prefer?

Soft materials assist the player in ball con-trol and more accurate and powerful shots, believes Benjamin. “Kangaroo leather has always been considered the best material for boots, but it tends to get heavy when worn in the rain.”

There are still thousands of traditional ‘old school’ soccer players that will buy full leather boots like the adidas Copa Mundial, says GP.

“It may be old looking and bulky, but it offers comfort to change-resistant players, espe-cially on the somewhat heavy pitches around Africa.”

Synthetic materials, however, appeal to younger players.

Most players prefer the more shiny looking boots with glossy finishes, believes Joseph,

provided it is within their price target range.“There are boots on the market made from

carbon fibre that weigh a mere 190gm. It’s al-most as if players wearing boots of this calibre float across the soccer field,”says Laher.

Breathable, mesh uppers are also extremely important, he continues. “I would think that comfort would be one of the most important features of a soccer boot.”

Comfort and safety are important for other reasons. The main reason why laces were moved to the side of the boot and later had a flap covering them, is because you have a nerve right where the ankle and foot meet (al-most on the front side of your Achilles), which hurts massively if it is hit, explains GP.

That is why players used to tie their laces on the side of the boot, or around the ankle. The reason for moving the laces to the side of the boot was therefore one of safety, not only fashion.

Despite that, Benjamin believes that players still prefer centered laces, especially if they are covered by the tongue of the boot to en-able for better kicking. Bright coloured laces also sell better than the traditional black and white ones because they make the traditional black boot stand out.

Other cosmetic features that draw consum-ers’ attention are colour patterns or insets, or prominent logos used as part of the design.

SA conditionsIn SA, the bulk of the mass soccer market are low income earners and therefore more in-clined to buy entry level boots, rather than the very technical ones you would see the pro-fessionals wearing, cautions Joseph.

Consumers may therefore prefer some of the cosmetics they see on some of the top interna-tional brands — but can’t afford to buy them.

Apart from that, the SA soccer landscape has to be taken into account. The bulk of our soc-cer is played on very rough out

Team boots

Whichcolours and designs

are popular?

To p44


www.kappasouthafrica.com



Adidas offers a boot for every kind of player, says Gian Paolo: the F50, for example, is for a quicker player that likes colour. The adiPure, on the other end of the scale, offers comfort and will appeal to the more traditional, less colourful, player.

Predator lies somewhere in between, and is for the control player. While leather is com-fortable, it becomes heavy in rain, and adidas therefore developed the hybrid-touch mate-rial for their new Predators LZ range. It com-bines the comfort of leather on the inside, with the advantages of synthetic on the out-side (being lightweight, water resistant, etc.). and hence the hybrid material.

DiadoraDiadora’s range features a new Net Breath-ing System in the sole’s surface that is made mostly of a synthetic fibre mesh and a special breathable and impenetrable membrane. This increases the sole’s transpiration capacity, which prevents moisture, mud and other ex-ternal elements from entering the shoe and keeping the foot dry.

Gilbert Gilbert will have a complete new range of

shoes for 2013, featuring new technologies and state of the art designs, says Gavin Hunt-er of James Gilbert SA. They have combined their knowledge of rugby ball technology and boot construction to produce a rugby boot designed to improve kicking distances and ac-curacy, he says. This is achieved “through a strategic ProStrike Zone, which is combined with a premium nappa leather upper and a BioFrame outsole to ensure it is a boot worthy of international rugby standard”.

Kappa The Italian sports brand Kappa, established in 1967, has a proud heritage in football and fashion. “Kappa is the sportswear brand dedi-cated to active and dynamic people who want technical and functional clothing with a mod-ern, engaging and colourful style,” says local distributor Ricky Joseph.

After an absence, Kappa returned to SA last year. At this stage they are focusing on the en-try level boot market, where they strive to hit affordable price points, while still maintaining high quality on the finished product, he says.

“We also keep our style fresh and creative, constantly introducing new styles at this entry level price point. We focus on bright coloured boots, as well as more neutral boots, while keeping our logo visible and prominent.

MilleIn 2013 Mille will be welcoming a new era in soccer apparel and equipment when the brand steps into the game with soccer boots, shin pads, goalie gloves, soccer balls and tog bags,

says Kate MacLennan of Skye Distribution. They currently supply a standard black soc-

cer boot with a PU upper and standard lacing. This style has been extremely successful, be-cause it appeals to the masses as a boot that offers value through functionality and quality, she says.

They have included subtle embossed and embroidery detail for additional control and styling in the range with PU uppers. Minimal branding is further a key feature of the range.

Mille has expanded the range to include col-our as well as boots with off-centre lacing, adding detail for additional grip.

“We have had huge success with the launch of this range and there is a definite market shift towards the appeal of colour and points of difference within the boot range,” says MacLennan.

The bulk of the distribution is done through independent stores across Southern Africa.

Mille is currently the official kit sponsor for the PSL soccer team Golden Arrows (see p 10).

PumaIn soccer, Puma’s traditional black and white leather boot with its strong local heritage — the Jomo Sono King — is sold successfully throughout the year. Coloured boots, which launched earlier this year, include the v1.11 i FG in vibrant yellow/parachute purple and the Dresden in blue/white/lime punch colour. The PowerCat 1.12 Gravity FG, in fluo blue/new navy/orange, is a multi-coloured boot.

The Evospeed SG and FG boots feature pre-mium single layer microfibre synthetic uppers.The Evospeed 1 FG has a soft and ultra thin mi-crofibre material on its upper, whilst stability is provided by the internal Everfit cage.

In rugby, the kangaroo leather PowerCat 1.12 FG is available in a red/white/blue colour way. The Esito is available in black and white, as well as in a blazing yellow for those looking for something brighter.

Warrior The official kit sponsor of the popular Liverpool soccer club, Warrior, is now also available in SA. The brand has a young and extreme image, rep-resented by the likes of soccer star turned bad boy Hollywood actor, Vinnie Jones.

“Warrior brings new life and energy to the sport. We make people sit up and take no-tice,” says brand manager Katharine Tromp of local distributor New Balance SA.

This attitude will be seen in all boot catego-ries, with bold colour palettes, aggressive de-sign and extreme technical offerings like super light microfibre, stitch free internal construc-tion, Arrowhead forefoot design and Claw Tec blades.

What to expect from the brandsSuppliers explain what features in their new boot ranges are popularfields — or in some cases sand, adds MacLel-

lan. Even though players may want the look and feel of boots worn by international play-ers, they settle for boots that are durable at an affordable price.

This could be one of the reasons why SA soc-cer boot retailers tend to play it safe by buying the bulk of their boots — especially entry level — in the conservative black and white colours, say Joseph.

A retailer in a big city will tend to benefit from both markets — those that prefer the aesthetically appealing modern boots, as well as the consumer that prefers the everyday ba-sic boot, observes Laher. A retailer in a rural area will, however, most likely play it safe and back the basic traditional black boot.

Rugby boot preferencesRugby players are more conservative than soc-cer players when it comes to moving away from the traditional black and white boot.

Black rugby boots still out-sell coloured boots by about 10 to 1 internationally, says Gavin Hunter of James Gilbert SA, but there is a definite increase in the volume of coloured boots sold locally. Black boots with a vibrant second colour are also more predominant these days.

“As more and more players at international level turn out in coloured boots, the market is slowly moving that way, with increases in the sale of white/coloured boots,” he adds.

South African rugby players are ahead of the more conservative Northern Hemisphere mar-kets in this respect, as we are more inclined to embrace the bold brighter multi-coloured boots.

Schools tend to only allow black boots, says Ben Meyer of Puma SA. Other consumers, how-ever, prefer multi-coloured boots, he believes. “Both have their market, but I think the multi-coloured boots out-sell the more traditional coloured boots.”

Retailers are sometimes a little on the con-servative side and tend to stick with what they know and are reluctant to take a risk on new options — this could be when selecting a brand or just a new style of shoe, says Hunter. That could be a reason why most rugby boots sold are still the traditional black leather.

“This is completely understandable in the current climate, but our research shows the end consumer is becoming more open to the bolder and brighter options when they are available.”

But, their choice of upper material will be influenced by price point — while soft leathers are sought after, they are higher priced. The advances in modern synthetic leather options have resulted in non-leather shoes that look fantastic and perform to a high level, he adds.

Team bootscont from p46

FREE

FREE

Soccer Boots


What influences consumers when buying hockey sticks?

What do consumers look for when buying a new hockey stick? Is it brand preference, graph-ics, colour, technologies or other features? And how can the retailer make sure they buy the correct stick? BRANDON GREGORY asked some experts for advice

The use of the J-shaped stick used in hockey can be traced back as far as 600 BC in ancient Greece. Hockey is one of the oldest sports in which two teams compete by

attempting to move the ball or puck tactically through the opponent’s goal post.

Today, field hockey sticks have heads that are shaped to suit the position or preference of the player, come with unique shaft bows, and are manufactured under a variety of brand names with striking graphics and colours as well as technologies, at a wide range of price points.

All of these factors can affect the buyer’s

decision when choosing a hockey stick. Add to that the influence of the coach, friends or in-ternet reviews, and it is clear why a customer so often walks into a store with a preconceived idea about the stick they want — which might be completely wrong for them.

We asked some experts from hockey spe-cialist stores to advice on how to work with a customer’s preconceived preferences and still sell him (or her) the best stick for his needs and budget.

There are about 150 000 hockey players in SA, and of that number only 10 000 are club or senior players, says Jack Thonissen of The Hockey Shop in Cape Town. This means that

the majority of hockey players in the country are in primary and high school — customers who will therefore be inclined to be swayed by factors that will not necessarily improve their performance, like price point To p48

The material and technol-ogy are the most impor-tant criteria when select-ing a stick, especially when each stick is tested by the customers themselves

p48 :: Sport

Madonna Blyth

Marsha Marescia

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CONTACT US TODAY!!!J.R.T Crampton (Pty) Ltd» Tel: +27 (0) 31 579 4150» Fax: +27 (0) 31 579 4180» Email: [email protected]

INNOVATIVE NEW RANGE

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FROM KOOKABURRA

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2012 Hockey SA Advert 1.1.indd 1 18/09/2012 13:33


While the brand does have an effect when the customer first comes in, this preference often changes once all the different brands in the store have been tested, is the experi-ence of Dale Hermanson of Sports Horizons in Johannesburg. “Our policy is not to push any certain brands, but allow the customers to test the testing sticks for each brand across the quality ranges in our testing area.”

With increased TV coverage young viewers are very aware of brands being used by top hockey players, say the Patons. “Exposure during the Olympics will definitely have an in-fluence on brand preferences in the next few years, because aspiring internationals want to play with the sticks used by the best players in the world.”

Player influenceDuring and just after the 2012 Olympics play-ers asked for a stick used by a top performer like the Argentinian player Luciana Aymar (Ma-lik), confirms Faling.

The IOC was, however, incredibly strict about marketing of sponsors and promot-

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(primary school) or brand name (high school).

PriceThe hockey stick market can be described as price sensitive, say most of the experts: be-ginners look at the lowest price, intermediate school players will insist that their parents buy the year’s current fashionable brand, irrespec-tive of price, while senior club players do not care much for the latest cosmetics or brand, and will be willing to buy the previous year’s graphics at a lower price, continues Thonissen.

When she started playing. her mother want-ed to buy her the cheapest stick possible in case hockey was just a passing phase which she’d replace with another activity, remi-nisces Kathleen Faling of The Hockey Spot in Pretoria. This is often still a factor.

A more advanced player would, however, look for a stick within their budget that will best enhance their game, rather than purchas-ing any stick because the price is low, is the experience of Alan and Di Paton of The Hockey Shop in Durban.

BrandsCustomers will often walk into the store with their minds made up about the brands they want — especially kids who want to be cool and therefore want the brands they perceive as cool at the time, says Thonissen.

Faling remembers how, as a school girl, she begged her mother to buy her a specific brand because somehow she thought that would make her a better player.

What sells a hockey stick? cont from p50 ing of brands, limiting the branding on stick bags, etc., cautions Thonissen “When a player scored I noticed the cameras zoomed in so much that when he held up his stick, it was out of the shot.”

Furthermore, in SA, hockey players are not famous personalities like cricket and rugby players and only a few key players have the power to attract a following, he continues. He mentions the exception of the captains Austin Smith (Princess) and Marsha Marescia (Kooka-burra) or the top goal scorers Pietie Coetzee (Gryphon), SA women’s striker who is the women’s player to score the most goals ever in the history of hockey, and Justin Reid-Ross (Gryphon) the drag flicker and goal scorer for the SA men’s team.

Even though they are the most high profile hockey players we have, most hockey players don’t know them.

“I think the kids will take some notice of what sticks the players are using, however, I think what brands do around their stars in terms of activation is much more important. Are they marketing their Olympic stars in-store through posters, etc. or making signa-ture sticks, or marketing on social media? Merely having the players use them is not a very strong force for swaying customers to a particular brand,” says Thonissen.

Other influencesThe influence of the team coach is often a ma-jor problem for a retailer selling hockey sticks. It is especially problematic when a coach has a sponsor, which he might then promote to influ-ence the team’s choices.

“I know from experience that if your coach is sponsored, then the entire team

Skilled sales staff can play a role by sharing knowl-edge with the customer in terms of which stick to buy based on the materials or technology in the stick

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p50 :: Sport

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Range informationGryphonThe Taboo and Tour ranges have been extend-ed for the 2013 season with the introduction of new stick shapes that cater for all players.• The Classic Curve has a new, thinner headprofile with an extended toe for increased ball control as well as a shaft curve that is suited to all round play. • The Deuce 2 features the same head profilewith a very low bow shaft curve for special-ist drag flickers. • The Pro shape has the normal midi head anda shaft that offers a low bow option that is not too radical.

The Taboo and Tour range feature a new look for 2013. The unique silicon technol-ogy used in the Tour range combines a

smooth feel with lots of power. The Classic Curve and Pro

shapes are now also used in the Essential range, which has a bright

new look for 2013 and offers good per-formance.

“The Initiation range completes Gryph-on’s offering and provides excellent en-try level price points on fully synthetic sticks,” says Shane Schonegevel of local distributor OBO SA. These durable and easy to use sticks are available in a va-riety of different colours. The Slasher caters for junior players while the Wand and Predator models cater for the senior player.

The super-light Aero Gryphon boot is equipped with a microfibre open cell upper, which provides ventilation and comfort usually associated with running

shoes, without sacrificing the durability need-ed for a top-end hockey boot. The TPU mid-sole provides good cushioning and the rubber outer is configured for a grip that maximizes acceleration and agility.

The Gryphon glove and shinpad range has undergone several improvements. The Pa-jero gloves are now available in pink, blue and black and have an improved outer. The new G2 plastic shinpads feature an improved mould and are now available in three different colours. The Anatomic and Anatomic Pro mod-els are also now available in different colours.

The bag range has nine different stick bag options, all available in a variety of new col-ours. High quality and unique top-end design and excellent value characterize this very comprehensive accessory range.

Kookaburra“Kookaburra’s innovative 2013 range has fused the latest advancements in engineer-ing design with cutting edge, state-of-the-art materials,” says Nicola Ludlow of local dis-tributor JRT Crampton. Kookaburra utilises aerospace grade carbon fibre and fibreglass reinforced composites to produce hockey sticks that are stiffer, lighter and more pow-erful. “Players told us that they wanted to hit the ball harder, trap the ball cleaner, and dribble and jink better than ever before and we listened.”

“Kookaburra hockey sticks combine scien-tific research, engineered technology and

selected materials to create weapons-grade hockey sticks,” says Ludlow. The Anti-Tremor and Counter Vibra-tion technologies in Kookaburra sticks To p52

make them stable and offer a greater feel.They utilise aerospace grade carbon fibre

and fibreglass reinforced composites that enable them to make hockey sticks that are stiffer, lighter and are more powerful than previously.

Kookaburra has introduced two new Ultralite sticks (see previous column) to their 2013 range: the Oxide and Gravity. The Ultralite Oxide is a L-bow, lightweight stick (20% lighter than conventionally manufactured sticks) that is designed for a heavy weight performance. It improves hand and stick speed whilst the tex-tured surface of the KCF (Kookaburra Control Face) enhances close control, offers and im-proved feel and refines agility.

The Ultralite Gravity is a leaner and meaner lightweight M-bow stick that offers great hand and stick speed without compromising on power.

Both the new Ultralite sticks have a twin tube core construction, made of 95% carbon and 5% fibreglass matrix.

Part of the Kookaburra 2013 range is the Venom — ideal for advanced players. The iBow design is unique to Kookaburra and seeks to give players better results than conventional curves. “The Venom's innovation and reassur-ingly high carbon content makes this a good investment,” says Ludlow. Venom is construct-ed with a twin tube core, made from 75% car-bon and 25% fibreglass matrix.

The Illusion hockey stick from Kookaburra is ideal for both junior and senior players at school and social level. This stick allows the player to master the basics and more. The Il-lusion is of the M-bow profile shape, which is a more conventional shape that al

p52 :: Sport

Advertorial :: p53


For over 40 years Malik have been at the forefront of hockey stick and cricket bat manufacturing, develop-ment and design, making us one of the leading brands worldwide. 150 skilled artisans work in the Malik owned factory in Sialkot (Pakistan) producing up to

900 sticks and cricket bats per day. Only the finest quality sticks and bats that make it past our rigorous quality control bear the Malik brand.

We have always been great product innovators, working with some of the game’s greatest players such as Sohail Abbas (world record holder for most goals scored), Ahmed Shabaz, Marc Delis-sen, Stephan Veen and Luciano Aymar (FIH 7 times World Player of the Year) to name a few. Malik continually respond to the needs of players to bring them the products they need to play great hockey.

Many of Malik’s recent innovations have been emulated by other brands and are industry norms across the world. Products like the Jumbo Stick bag (originally the Jumbo Jet Bag, 1997, the first com-bined stick and kit bag), drag flick specialist sticks developed with Sohail Abbas (the world’s most prolific drag flick specialist) now pro-duced in many different styles and used as the basis for many other manufacturers stick designs. The Argentina men’s captain Lukas Vila, was also behind the design of the dribble curve mould that we use on the majority of our sticks. The dribble curve was designed to allow for advanced use of aerial skills and allow the players to perform this skill with relative ease.

Top players and coaches across the world continue to use Malik to help them perform at their best!

Malik South AfricaIn 1993, Peter Wright enquired to advertisers in the World Hockey Magazine for posters to decorate his technikon’s clubhouse. One respondent was Mr Malik who in turn asked Peter if he would be interested in distributing Malik hockey equipment in South Africa. In December of 1993, Peter received his first order of Malik sam-ple sticks and Malik South Africa was born.

Starting from very humble beginnings 18 years ago, Malik has grown into one of the leading hockey brands in South Africa. Our marketing strategy, product development, design and exception-al value for money products and sticks, have all attributed to MALIK being one of South Africa’s leaders in the hockey market.

Malik has had many prominent SA hockey players using its sticks and products, namely Greg Nichol, Piettie Coetzee, Susan Wes-sels, Emile Smith, Clyde Abrahams, Kerry Bee, Brad Michalaro and Rob Pullen to name a few. Our current local heroes include 4 na-tional players: Sulette Damons, Dirkie Chamberlain, Kim Hubach and Marcelle Keet, with Damons and Chamberlain representing MALIK at the recent 2012 London Olympic Games. We also have a good following in our National Junior teams, who played in the African Qualifier for the 2013 Junior World Cup in October. On the men’s side we have Michael Abrahams, Ignatius Maalgraaf and Ross Gonsalves, while in the ladies team we have Bronwyn Kretzmann, Tiffany Jones, Lisa Hawker and Nicole Walraven. For the past 10 years we have been the National sponsor of South African Umpires — supplying clothing to the top men and ladies umpires and supplying the official umpires’ shirts throughout the country.

A lot of our marketing effort is spent on grass roots market-ing, sponsoring coaches, clinics and training camps aimed at the beginner and youth players. We also allocate a healthy part of our marketing budget to sports development programmes, giving away a lot of our product to those in need of sports equipment.

Malik SA has come a long way since its first office in Pretoria West. We now operate out of our office and warehouse in Hen-nopspark, Centurion, where we have 15 dedicated staff members who all play a role in our dynamic company. Malik SA has evolved over the years to offer a broad service to the sporting goods industry, we now specialize in:• Distribution of Malik Hockey products

in the SADC region.• Distribution of the exciting new

Malik cricket products in the SADC region.• Manufacture of custom made sports

clothing.

Malik CricketWe are extremely proud to have secured the Malik Cricket range for the upcoming season, and we believe that the cricket range will fit into our company profile, offering our clients an affordable product with the quality that they have come to expect from Malik. We will be stocking the full cricket range, from Kashmir willow junior bats up to the selected English willow Limited Edition bats, as well as the softs and accessories.

With having Peter Wright’s invaluable experience and knowledge of the industry, and the newly appointed director Andrew Kemp taking on the role as brand manager, we believe we will continue to grow Malik South Africa, and offer our clients a wide range of top quality, technical product at affordable prices.

For further enquiries, please phone our office on 073 142 7506 or email [email protected].

Malik cricket back in SA

Andrew Kemp and Peter Wright

p54 :: Sport

lows for a number of hockey skills such as drag flicking and sweep hitting. The profile is also good for ball control and is assist-ed by the Maxi headshape for a larger sweet spot. Illusion is con-structed with a twin tube core, made from 10% carbon and 90% fibreglass matrix.

The Chameleon hockey stick is designed with a conventional M-bow shape for enhanced ball control, sweep hitting and drag flicking techniques, whilst as-sisting in a full strike. “A great beginner stick, the Chameleon incorporates a good amount of Carbon for the price,” says Lud-low. Chameleon is constructed with a twin tube core, made from 20% carbon and 80% fibre-glass matrix.

MalikIn their 2013 hockey range, Ma-lik is replacing their London Lim-ited Edition stick with the popu-

lar Grunge Graffiti, which is similar to the earlier edi-

tion Diamond. “The Graffiti is the new and improved flagship stick for 2013 and its golden appearance will surely create a buzz in the hockey circles,” says Peter Wright of Malik SA. The Graffiti is a level 1 com-position stick with the popular dribble curve.

They have also reintroduced their Sohail drag flick stick, named after the legendary Pakistani player, Sohail Ab-bas. He is the world record holder for the most goals and renowned for his lightning fast drag flicks. The Sohail will be available in a bright luminous yellow. “It will be a tough con-test to see which creates more hype, the colour of the stick or the lightning fast drag flick it pro-duces,” says Wright

The stick is manufactured to the latest FIH regulations, and has a thick shaft for enhanced slapping ability and the unique Sohail curve, to give an edge when flicking.

Following on the popularity of pink in their range of sticks, they have added the Black dots Punk with a classy black finish and striking pink dots. “It will add some class and style to a hockey package,” he says. The Punk is available in the dribble curve and is a level 3 composi-tion stick.

The rest of the changes to their 2013 range will be cosmetic.

MercianMercian, the UK hockey brand with nearly 40 years of experi-ence, is back in SA and distribut-ed locally by Bellingham & Smith.

“Mercian have combined new materials, colours, designs, shapes and sizes to create a

product range that covers just about every hockey requirement and will no

doubt appeal to all levels of South African hockey players,” says Ronnie Bird.

Their innovative designs and unique graphics are sure to be a draw card for the younger gen-eration, while the quality will attract the more experienced player.

“Composite material advanc-es have resulted in enhanced strength,” says Bird. The weight of Mercian sticks have been re-duced, using aeronautical grade carbon fibre, without compromis-ing hitting power, durability or torsional strength.

Mercian sticks are available in two shapes — the Standard Bend and the Late Bend — and they will have a full range of sticks, from high end composite to wooden junior sticks.• The Standard Bend in-

corporates the maximum permitted bend at the mid-point of the shaft, with the balance point moved to enhance play-ing characteristics.

• The Late Bend also in-corporates the maxi-mum permitted bend, but the bend is posi-tioned lower on the shaft (200mm from the bottom of the head). The different weight distribution maximizes hitting power and in-creases the speed at which the head can move for more drag flick power.The piezo-electric fibres

in the VRZ (Vibration Reduction Zone) on the Pro Line sticks are used to harvest the vibrations created in these super-stiff sticks and turn them into heat. The re-sult of this is efficient vibration dampening.

The man-made Bio-Fibre face on the new indoor sticks are made from naturally occurring materials that are woven into a thin sheet. The face has softness and texture that creates a cush-ion effect when trapping the ball. This texture means that the ball does not slip from the face when dribbling, controlling or shooting and helps the ball stop spinning during the course of play.

OBO“The top goalkeeper brand, OBO, has a full range of technically ad-vanced products catering for all levels of hockey goalkeepers,” says Shane Schonegevel of local distributor OBO SA.

There are four different ranges of OBO equipment tailored to the different needs of goalkeepers of all ages and levels, offering a full complement of everything a goal-keeper would need. This year saw improvements to the quality and value for the junior goalkeepers range.

“OBO’s quality products domi-nate the goalkeeping market and are used by the majority of national and international keep-ers,” he says.

SlazengerSlazenger’s 2013 range of hockey stick technologies include Fuse, Muscle Core, Nano and 1500k Armour. “All of these combined provide the next generation of hockey players with the most technically advanced products,” says Steve Gallienne of local dis-tributor Super-Brands.

The new Slazenger Aero series (left) has a new and visibly dif-ferent shape, compared to other products on the market. The range is faster, lighter and more power-ful and has the Quad Core tech-nology (patent pending) that gives the stick up to 15% greater lateral stiffness and torque resistance, he says, resulting in a faster and more powerful stick.

The Aero profile offers a lower coefficient drag, causing it to

be faster while using less energy. It offers an an-gled rear face, providing a

thicker front To p54

Hockey range info cont from p54

Untitled-1 1 10/1/2012 12:27:03 PM

p56 :: Sport

edge for better stopping power and a thinner reverse edge to assist with reverse stick hitting.

Slazenger’s unique Squoval handle allows for comfort and a better grip, increasing the car-bon structure and strength in the handle for greater torsional and lateral stiffness for en-hanced control and feel. The handle is also of an offset design more in line with the sweet spot. This increases the moment of inertia (MOI) for less torsional deflection on ball im-pact. This makes dribbling and control eas-ier while decreasing the stick angle to the ground when defending and ball stopping.

Slazenger has positioned their series as some of the most advanced sticks available this coming season selling at under R2000.

TKTK’s apparel and goal keeping equipment is showing excellent growth, says local distrib-utor and SA goalie Rassie Pieterse. Several top hockey schools like Kearnsey College, Northcliff and KES, as well as SA University Champions UJ and Maties play with the TK brand. SA’s hockey player of the year Taine Paton is among their sponsored players.

At the London Olympics SA goalies Jacques le Roux and Rassie Pieterse played with TK as well as Amy Tran of

Hockey range info cont from p54

THE NEW FIH rules, which will be implemented in 2013, specify the following regarding the bow of the hockey stick: “Any curvature along the length of the stick (the rake or bow) must have a continuous smooth pro-file along the whole length, must occur along the face side or the back of the stick, but not both, and is limited to a depth of 25mm.

New FIH rules

the US. Germany’s top goalkeepers — Yvonne Frank and Max Weinhold, have included in the FIH World All Star team, one of TK’s ambas-sadors.

Their sticks are equipped with nano fibres, which causes the stick to be very light while retaining its strength and force.

“In the Synergy range we have brought out an additional stick with a new shape. We have the Synergy 1, 2 and 3. The new stick is the Synergy 1+ delux, the series of which runs for two years,” says Pieterse

TK’s two limited edition sticks, the Plati-num P1 and P2 (see left) are equipped with DynanoTex technology, which is a purification process for dry carbon fibre strands. A carbon fibre strand (containing 24 000 carbon fibres) is separated and precision tension rolled to achieve almost 80% alignment in the fibres while the P2 has 10% less carbon fibres. This increases the strand width to 15mm from the typical 6-7mm seen in more widely used car-bon fibre left in a more roughly bundled state. These sticks are used by accomplished hockey players because the 24 000 matted carbon lay-ers cause the stick to be incredibly stiff and powerful.

“The technology used in all our top-end sticks is called the Integrated Dampening Sys-

tem, which is basically a gel insert into the handle that disperses the shockwaves that travel through the stick when hitting a ball,” says Pieterse.

The Integrated Dampening System (IDS) is technology used in the TK top-end sticks. It is a gel insert, which is placed into the handle and disperses shockwaves that emanate from the hockey stick when striking a ball.

Following the success of their brand’s range, TK has included a few new colours to their bags.

Sport :: p57

uses that brand of stick,” says Thonissen. “For this reason many of the brands sponsor

prominent coaches in the area by, for exam-ple, giving them a stick and in exchange the coach has to sell, say, ten sticks to learners in the area,” agrees Kathleen Faling of the Hockey Spot in Pretoria.

Another contributing factor to customers walking in with preconceived purchasing deci-sions, are internet reviews or social media like Facebook blogs.

“Some [customers] research the internet and want a particular stick without really under-standing the significance of the composition of the stick or its features,” say the Patons.

CosmeticsInside the store, the cosmetics of a stick can also influence a customer’s choice.

“A player will choose a stick that’s wrong for him — maybe too stiff and powerful for a junior player… or a senior player will take a stick that’s not powerful enough — based on the graphics of the stick,” says Thonissen. “It’s the wrong way to choose a hockey stick for your game — but it happens all the time.”

This is especially true for younger custom-ers, the experts agree.

“This is not a deciding factor for the better

quality players who buy sticks from our store,” says Hermanson, “it is only a factor for the younger teenagers who are still learning about the game and play socially.”

Youngsters will also be influenced by col-ours. According to Faling, the majority of girls want girly sticks like a pink or purple, while boys just would not be caught dead with a girl stick.

Materials and technologyThe material and technology are the most important criteria when selecting a stick, es-pecially when each stick is tested by the cus-tomers themselves, advises Hermanson. “They then get the feel for themselves.”

The shapes of the top-end sticks are more important than the prices of the sticks, as well, he continues.

Especially players with specific roles in the game are impressed by technologies in the stick, adds Faling. “For example, the team’s drag flicker will want the latest and greatest thing in a stick to make him drag better.”

The average consumer, however, knows almost nothing about the materials used in hockey sticks and why certain hockey sticks are more expensive than others, cautions Thonissen.

What sells a hockey stick? cont from p57 This is where skilled sales staff can play a role by sharing knowledge with the customer in terms of which stick to buy based on the ma-terials or technology in the stick, he believes.

Matching the right stickAlthough most customers who walk into their store have an idea of what stick they are look-ing for, Hermanson believes that it is important to try to get each person to start from scratch, so they can get a feel for the new technologies available from each hockey brand each year.

By encouraging the customer to test all the sticks to find the most suitable one, the cus-tomer chooses the right stick himself, without being pushed into the sale, he believes.

The majority of our customers are influenced by the advice we give them, the Patons say. While a stick may have been recommended to them, or they want it because a well-known player uses it, that particular stick may not suit their particular level or style of game. “We would say that our advice is what deter-mines the closing sale.”

For this reason on-job training for staff is so vital, advises Faling. “Especially with a parent-child setup where the parent has lim-ited knowledge of the game. For me, it is not about selling the most expensive stick, but rather aiding the parent to select a stick that will help the child best grow and perform as a player, while still suiting the parent’s pocket.”

p58 :: Sport


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Import R'000m 2008-2011

Sports goods statisticsStatistics on the Rand value of SA sporting goods and footwear imports compiled from in-formation supplied by Statistics SA

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Above: In the six months March–August 2012, the import value of sporting goods listed on the Department of Trade and Industries web-site were R634-m. Imports during August were the highest, namely R148-m.

Left: Between 2008-2011 exercise, gym and athletic equipment constituted the high-est value of imports (R‘000-m) of the twelve sporting goods categories listed on the De-partment of Trade and Industries website. The other categories represented are: • swimming and paddling pools• golf clubs• inflatable balls• golf balls• balls (other)• golf (except for balls and clubs) • lawn-tennis rackets, • lawn-tennis balls• badminton and similar sackets, • ice- and roller skates • table tennis.

Hockey stick imports in quiet monthsWe only received statistics for the import of hockey sticks for the period March–August 2012 (see below), which is traditionally the period when most hockey sticks are used, but not when the ranges are imported and sold into retail. Despite this, about 28 000 sticks to the value of R6.8-bn were imported during this period, at an average landing price of R366.

Not surprisingly, most hockey sticks during this period were imported from China (22 000) — what is surprising though, is that there are no figures for imports from hockey-stick producing countries like India and Pakistan. The average landing price of the sticks from China was R180, while the highest price were paid for sticks imported from Spain (R549). 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000

Main hockey s�ck imports per country (units)Import statistics for all shoes imported, not just athletic footwear, show that while the value of imports remained fairly stable at around R4-bn between 2008-2010, the value increased to R6.5-bn in 2011.

020406080

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Safety firstProtective apparel and equipment is a must-have for any athlete and can sometimes mean the difference between a slight bruise and a bro-ken bone. CARIN HARDISTY asked suppliers what protective products they have available for retailers to stock.

The various pieces of protective apparel and equipment form an essential part of any athlete’s kit, no matter what sport they do. With each sport having their own

set of protective requirements, there is a wide variety of protective products that retailers can choose from to stock.

One thing that many protective products have in common, is that foam plays a large part of their protective qualities. The way foam is moulded, plays a large role in how ef-fective it is.

Aero’s cricket and OBO’s hockey goalkeeping protective products are foam-based and are at the forefront of technological developments, which enable athletes to gain an advantage in protection, comfort, speed and mobility,

the athlete to perform better.”The unique moulding process enables 3D

shaping, as opposed to flat pressed shaping. The new technology provides better protec-tion:• It creates a better, snug-fitting product that

stays in place;• They can use the tough, closed cell foam,

which also means that the products are more durable;

• Different densities of foam can be bondedtogether, which influence the design shape and leads to optimum protection and ball rebound control.

CricketAero’s stripper pants are considered one of the world’s most advanced thigh and lower body protection system that pro

While not all injuries are preventable, the right protective gear can make a difference for an athlete.

Sport :: p59

To p59

ball control and durability, says Wayne Scho-negevel of local distributor, OBO SA. “This is achieved through the utilisation of cutting edge and unique foam moulding technologies, which result in lightweight, snug fitting, high performance products that protect and allow

Mouthguards are compul-sory for hockey players at school level and most schools nowadays make it compulsory to wear a mouthguard when playing rugby. Mouthguards are also often worn in sports like basketball and waterpolo.

p60 :: Sport

vides protection to the front and back thigh and P1 models also protect the buttocks in addition. The new model fea-tures improved 3D moulding, an integrated design and an improved system with two waistband fitting options, which all allow for natural movement and mobility.

The stripper pants, availa-ble from OBO SA, already have twice received Wisden’s Best Thigh Pad award in their annual product ratings.

An added feature of the stripper pants is that they are easy to use and they are washable.

Aero’s P3 junior legguards (left) are extremely advanced elite foam leg protectors, ideal for primary school play-ers. They are speed-rated to 110kph (the P1 senior legguards are speed rated to 160kph). The legguards are 65% lighter than the old style youth pads and the 3D moulded comfort fit improves on technique, protec-tion and speed.

Albion’s new Ultimate 98 is a lightweight cricket helmet that is constructed out of a 98% car-bon fibre reinforced polymer shell with a super high density EVA liner for increased energy

absorption — all adding up to significantly re-duced weight without negatively affecting the safety that the helmet provides.

The unique construction enables improved ventilation and heat dissipation while the new faceguard design ensures a perfect fit every time.

Kookaburra’s Pro Guard set (below) is a com-bination of an inner and outer thigh pad. It was recently launched into the SA market and has already been well received.

The Pro Guard range utilises several key features:• Multi-component Adjustment System: Com-plete upper leg protection without the wearer feeling weighed down. It enables the differ-ent components to be fully adjustable and re-movable, which means protection where it’s needed most;

• Pro-Comfort Fit Sys-tem: Extra-wide adjust-

able velcro straps that ensure that they don’t dig into the body. The fit width sizes fit eve-

ryone and the wide leg straps keep the

protection in place;• It is made from moulded high den-sity foam with hi-

impact plastic reinforcement, which ensures a snug fit around the legs and ultimate protection. The

Thermo Flex foam moulds to the body to allow greater flex-ibility and improved perfor-mance. It also contains a soft

fill foam backing for increased comfort and movement.• Body Shell Impact Protection:The cut-outs on the Pro Guard fit seamlessly with Kookaburra leg guards to offer complete

protection.In addition, the Pro Guard range is

made of an anti-bacterial air flow mesh mate-rial, all the padding is removable to customise fit, and it is fully washable.

Albion and Kookaburra are both distributed locally by JRT Crampton.

Slazenger’s new and improved Ultimate bat-ting glove (right) now features a noticeable 1500k armour on the lead fingers as well as moulded absorption foam, com- b i n e d with side protection on both hands to offer excel-lent protection and per-formance.

“I have been with Slazenger for 12 years now and I’m pretty fussy when it comes to the equipment I use,” says Proteas all-rounder Jacques Kallis, who plays with the Slazenger Ultimate Glove. “Not only are the gloves comfortable to use, but they are very protective as well. The fact that I have gone through so many years in cricket without breaking a finger, says something for the gloves!”

The products are meticulously tested to ensure that they meet the desired levels of protection.

Slazenger is locally distributed by Super-Brands.

HockeyOBO’s Robo Bodi Armour for hockey goal-keepers (right) is constructed from 38 indi-vidual pieces of foam (many of which are dualdensity) that allow free movement and great agility, while not com-promising protection. These protection pan-els are able to move independently while ensuring that the armour stays in the correct posi-tion, which greatly reduces bunching up

when moving or lying on the ground.Key areas and internal organs are covered by

high density foam. In addition, the chest and heart are also protected by a comfortable and breathable inner pad.

The Robo Bodi Armour arms are designed to provide free movement to the wearer.

The OBO Robo Hi-Rebound goalkeeper leg-guards have an unique dual density face, which means that the softer inside and middle of the legguards have a very high rebound, while the stiff wings rebound the ball on penalty corners rather than bending and allowing the ball to slip through. Additionally, the face also offers an exceptionally wide presentation.

The legguard design allows goalkeepers to slide freely and return quickly and easily to their feet.

MouthguardsMouthguards are compulsory for hockey play-ers at school level and most schools nowadays make it compulsory to wear a mouth-guard when playing rugby. Mouthguards are alsooften worn in sports like basketball and waterpolo.

MoGo (above right), the latest mouthguard brand to arrive in the

SA market, is also the first flavoured mouthguard offering products in fruit punch, mint and orange fla-vours. Bubblegum is the latest flavour for 2013. The flavour is embedded into the EVA plastic, so it lasts as long as the mouthguard does.

A big problem with mouthguards is that athletes don’t keep them in

their mouths — hockey or rugby players are constantly taking them out in be-tween spells of play. MoGo’s mission is

to change the experience of wearing a mouth-guard from a need to to a want to.

Their products are designed with a focus on performance, protection, fit and flavour. Each MoGo mouthguard protects the teeth, absorbs impact from blows to the jaw, has a quick re-lease tether and has a high durometer com-posite layer that offers added protection. The airway channels enhance breathability and performance and the bite plate vents mean that saliva won’t collect in the mouthguard.

They have also developed a style specifically designed for people who wear

braces – and designed with the help of athletes who actually wear braces. It

features an inner wall channel to accommo-

date the braces.MoGo mouth-

guards are made from materials that are free

of BPA (bisphenol A). BPA is a chemi-

Protective gear from p60


Sport :: p61

cal found in many plas-tics that has been linked to hormonal problems like late onset of puberty or low birthweight.

MoGo is locally distributed by Flamingo Sales & Export Co.

OPROshield mouthguards (be-low), designed by dr. Anthony Lo-vat, are today the world’s largest custom mouthguard supplier. He ensured that they were designed to fit as comfortably as possible.

A mouthguard only protects the wearer if it stays firmly in place. The unique OPROPfins that break down to mould closely and tightly around the teeth, ensure that OPROshield stay in place as if custom fitted by a dentist.

A blow to the lower face will send shock waves through the skull. A direct impact can frac-ture the front teeth. A blow to the lower jaw can slam the jaws together and fracture the upper teeth, says Lovat. Mouthguards act like a shock absorber, both spreading the force of a blow to the head and mouth over a larger area, and increasing the time for the peak force to occur.

By offering a mouthguard that fits comfortably and does not im-pede speech like a poorly-fitted mouthguard, OPRO gives the player an incentive to keep the mouthguard in place. A mouth-guard that fits properly will also allow the player to breathe more freely.

OPRO is locally distributed by Super-Brands.

RugbyBaselayer technology is evolv-ing at a great rate and many of these features are being brought into Gilbert’s top end protective items. Some of these features are breathability, compression and over-all performance optimisa-tion.

Gilbert has included several technologies in their protective products, from CPZ (Cellular Pro-tection Zone) padding — a cellular foam with perforations that allow key airflow, providing ventilation — to an evolution of the classic TriFlex system that

will be

launched in the near fu-ture.

Their Virtuo headguard (left) uses CPZ (that al-lows for additional pad-ding on the back of the head for improved safety)

and the Virtuo Matrix tech-nologies for the ultimate fit.

The Virtuo Matrix fit is a 3D fit that caters for all head shapes. The headgear also has two-way moisture management mesh that provides additional airflow and prevents overheating. The Virtuo headgear is an improvement on their previous top-of-the-range

Xact headgear.Their brand new Zenon shoul-

der pad has compres-sion two-way stretch fabric and breath-able mesh inserts. The S14 Charger shoulder pad has been re-named Charger (right) and provides func-tional, all-round

padding to cover the shoulders, spine, sternum, kidneys, lower

rib as well as the biceps and triceps. It has

also available in a new colour

(blue). All Gil-bert’s shoul-der pads now come with more breath-

able fabrics — great for SA’s warmer climate.

Gilbert is locally dis-tributed by TransAfrica Sport.

63


Our cut-out-and-keep series to assist retailers with product knowledgeWords: Carin hardisty. Compiled with the help of websites such as en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snorkeling; www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-snorkel.htm and scubadiver-info.com/2_snorkels.html.

What’s in a snorkel?Visit Sports Trader’s website for more product knowledge: www.sportstrader.co.za

Each summer sees more people heading to the coast, many who intend to go snorkelling. This is therefore the time of year when you will be asked to assist your cus-

tomers with selecting a snorkel.The name snorkel comes from a breathing

tube device that was used by U-boats in WWII to funnel air below the water surface to sub-marines. However, breathing tubes have been mentioned as far back as the 4th Century B.C. by Aristotle, 320 A.D. by China’s Pao Plw Tzu and in 1488 Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks fea-tured drawings.

Originally, the snorkel had a standard J-design: one side featuring a mouthpiece with the other side longer to extend above the water surface. In theory, the snorkel today is still this — BUT there are also so much more to it, with companies designing ways to make the wearer’s snorkelling experience safer and more comfortable.

The typical dimensions for a snorkel are:• Inside diameter (or bore): 1.5-2.5cm• Length: 30cm• L- or J-shaped• Fitted with a mouthpiece on the end• Constructed out of rubber or plastic

TubeThe tube can vary in length, diameter and shape.

The length of the snorkel affects how much stale air is left in the pipe, as well as how much water enters the tube.• Long snorkel: The snorkel extends further

above the head, which means there’s a lower likelihood of water entering the tube. However, if water does get into the tube, it is more difficult to get rid of the water by blowing, than it would be with a shorter snorkel.

Also, because of the longer length, it holds a lot of volume and some of the air that’s breathed out (stale air) will stay in the snor-kel.

• Short snorkel: Water enters a short tube eas-ier than with a longer snorkel, but it doesn’t have the stale air problem.The bore affects how easy it is to breathe

through the tube.• A large-bore tube (inner diameter of +/-

2.5cm) is easiest to breathe through. How-

ever too much volume also makes it difficult to get rid of the water that enters.

• The difference between an adult’s andchild’s snorkel lies in the bore tube’s diam-eter. An adult has a larger lung capacity, which means they can handle the increased air that a larger diameter allows, and they can blow out the old air without inhaling it again — a problem that a child might experi-ence with a large bore.Some snorkels come with a flexible accordion

silicone tube that allows the wearer to move the mouthpiece out of the way when it is not needed.• The choice between an accordion tube and a

rigid tube is one of user preference, but

if the user decides on a rigid tube recom-mend that they use one with an adjustable mouthpiece so that it is at the right angle and fits correctly. The mouthpiece should sit comfortably in the wearer’s mouth and they should not have to bite down to keep it from popping out.

• One problem experienced with a flexibletube that has a corrugated inside area, is that water might remain inside. The flexible tubes that have a smooth inside do not have this problem.Some snorkels even have a tube that is di-

vided into two on the inside by an aortic valve separating the stale air from fresh air — the exhaled air travels through one tube and fresh air is drawn in through the other.

Getting rid of liquidsWater getting into the tube — either through the tube or from the wearer’s breathing — is a serious problem to the wearer as the water can obstruct breathing. Manufacturers have designed various ways of dealing with this problem.

There are three types of snorkel designs to deal with the water problem:• Purge snorkel: Snorkels that fill with water

and need to be purged while in use.• Semi-dry snorkel: These have a design to

discourage water from entering, but the snorkels will need occasional purging.

• Dry snorkel: These snorkels have a splashproof opening at the top, as well as a one-way purge valve at the bottom, which allows water that does get into the tube to be eas-ily purged when the wearer exhales. Since the snorkel is dry, the tube is filled with air, which means that the snorkel will become buoyant and could pull at the mask where it’s attached when the snorkeler dives below the surface.Purge and semi-dry snorkels have devices

that will prevent water entering, or help the wearer expel water.• A sump is situated at the bottom of the

snorkel where the mouthpiece connects to the tube. It allows excess moisture (i.e. from breathing and water) to settle and remain in it so that the liquid doesn’t interfere with the snorkeler’s breathing.An one-way output valve inside the sump au-

tomatically drains liquid as the To p63

p64 :: Outdoor


sump fills with water.• The one-way purge valve allows the wearer

to expel water by blowing into the tube. Some models come with twin valves.

• Float-operated valves keep the water outwhen the snorkeler submerges. They are at-tached to the top end of the tube.If the user opts for a splash guard, etc. that

operates with a moving mechanism, recom-mend that they care for them carefully as the parts can jam and become stuck when sand gets into them.

Some mouthpieces are designed to drain themselves once the wearer is above the wa-ter surface while others allow the wearer to breathe while there is a small amount of wa-ter in the mouthpiece.

MaterialsIf natural rubber is left exposed to sunlight it will slowly break down, and eventually lose its flexibility, becoming brittle and crack. This will cause the one-way clearing valves to stick in either the open of close position and float valves will leak, because the valve seat won’t be able to seal out water.

Silicone has a higher resistance to degrading and tends to have a longer life.

What’s in a snorkel? cont from p64

AqualineDE WET SPORTS’ Aqualine brand has several new snorkelling products on offer for retail-ers.The Hydra mask (right) features a tem-pered glass lens, a design that allows deeper vision and low volume and is a dual window mask. The Laguna mask features a tempered glass lens, a big eye with a low volume design that allows for wider vision and an auto-clip strap adjusting mechanism and is a single window mask. Both of these new masks are available in two materials: apiflex and clear silicone.

The Bahama silicone snorkel features a pre-angled mouthpiece, a purge valve and dry top. Flex is a pro sili-cone snorkel with a pre-angled mouthpiece, a purge valve with splash protector and a flex-ible tube for compact storage.

Their new deluxe neoprene low cut booties are available in sizes 6-12. The toe and heel are reinforced for added protection and they are secured with an adjustable Velcro strap.

If your customers will be swimming in colder waters, it’s useful to recommend they look at a wetsuit. Aqualine offers wetsuits in full and shorty styles, for both adults and children. The wetsuits come with a back zip, CR sharkskin material on the chest, a neck seal and cuff and flat lock stitching. The Junior Shorty is made from 2mm neoprene material, the Senior

Shorty and Junior Full from 2.5mm neoprene and the Adult Full is made from 3mm neoprene.

They also have fins available for both junior and senior customers. The junior open heeled

fins have a flexible blade, drainage holes and offer an excellent kick response. They are available in three sizes: S (11-13), M (1-3) and

L (4-6). The Exceed fins have four channels, rubberized side ribs that

improve elasticity and protect the blade, an anatomical foot pocket, blade stabilizers to improve stability and eliminate the ankle twisting phenomena and come with adjust-able quick release straps. They are available in three sizes: S-M, M-L, L-XL.

A handy option for snorkelers is a combo set, of which Aqualine has a wide selection on offer in kids, junior and adult sizes. The Pro Quest combo set have an adult sized silicone mask and snorkel. The mask has a single window, is low volume and the glass is safety tempered, while the snorkel has a pre-angled mouthpiece with a purge valve. The Pro Flex combo set also has an adult sized silicone mask and snor-kel, but the mask has a dual window, is frame-less and has safety tempered glass. The snor-

Range

Outdoor :: p65

kel has a pre-angled mouthpiece with purge valve and a flexible tube.

For the kids, Aqualine also offers swim sets that come with a mask, snorkel, and fins. Both the Hippo and Lil Nipper swim sets are avail-able in two assorted colours and sizes S and M. The Hippo swim set comes in a handy backpack while the Lil Nipper swim set is packed in a mesh carrier bag.

National GeographicThE WELL-KNOWN National Geographic name can now also be seen on snorkeling gear, imported into SA by Lions Tackle and Gear. The brand cov-ers products for swimming and snorkelling and stock will be available from end November. Initially, they will be bringing in the snorkel combos, sets and a select range of swimming goggles and accessories. They will expand the range offered in 2013 and include the individual masks, snorkels, wetsuits and accessories.

The National Geographic Snorkeler and Swim Line will be available in three distinc-

tive groupings: The Explorer, Expedition and Experience Series. The ranges are specifically designed to meet all the needs fof any adven-turer going on water-based expeditions.

The Explorer Series holds the highest quality equipment of the range, intended for use at an extended range and depth by a more seri-ous and experienced user.

The Expedition Series blends products often found in the Explorer and Experience levels to

create the greatest value in terms of cost versus utility. These products are considered to be more than ample for

a snorkeler and could easily be utilized for entry level deeper diving activities.The Experience Series offers

the most cost conscious products in the National Geographic snorkel

range. The series offers the best choice for those who simply want to experi-

ence snorkelling and is designed to fit the entire family, regardless of their

budget.The National Geographic snorkel

range covers mask-and-snorkel com-bo sets, mask-snorkel-and-fin sets as

information

since 1984

For a complete colour catalogue and pricelist contact the office.Phone: 021 948 8150. Fax: 021 948 8084. Email: [email protected]

EZ 6122 GoggleFish

EZ 6122 GoggleAlligator

Silicone Cutie CapBlue fish

Silicone Cutie CapPink cat

2112 Swim FinRubberSize 1-3Size 3-5Size 5-7Size 7-9Size 9-11

AD 06 Dry boxSmall

3113 S Diving Knife

3210 P MaskSenior. PVC

3237 P MaskJunior. PVC

3238 S MaskSilicone

3233 P MaskJunior. PVC

1035 KS SnorkelSilicone

1032 AS SnorkelSilicone

well as individually packaged masks, snorkels and fins.

The swim line offers a variety of accessories, from goggles to kick boards, swim gloves and pool fins, to name a few.

SaekodiveW.E.T. SPORTS have once again brought in an exciting range of snorkels for the 2012 season.The Saekodive range caters for everyone — from the entry level right up to the profes-sional diver.

In the entry level, they once again offer the 1045T for juniors and the 1052 snorkel that is available with either a PVC or silicone mouthpiece, which is suitable for all recreational snorkel-ling. These snorkels also have large bore tubes that allow for ease of clearing.

The 1035S silicone snorkel (right) is ideal for spear fishing enthusiasts and has a flexible PU tube.

The 1057Q silicone snorkel has a semi dry-top system design that offers maximum air intake and exhaust. It remains a very popular item that has done well for them. The snorkel also sports a flat tube to reduce water resist-ance and a corrugated flex joint with dotted silicone mouthpiece.

The top of the range 1032AS and 1033LKS have silicone mouthpieces and flex tubes and also use the semi dry-top technology.


67

Our cut-out-and-keep series to assist retailers with product knowledgeWords: NELLE DU TOIT, compiled with the help of Leo Rust of Adventure Inc, Simon Larsen of Ram Mountaineering, Alexi Prodromou and Andre Naude of Seagull Industries and websites such as camping-online.co.uk, adventureepert.com and abc-of-hiking.com

Selling tents for all weatherVisit Sports Trader’s website for more product knowledge: www.sportstrader.co.za

The protection and shelter against the elements offered by a tent can make or break a camping experience. In extreme weather conditions the right tent can

make a life-or-death difference. Even in mild conditions the water- or wind-resistance and breathability of a tent can ensure that a family become dedicated outdoors people — or make that first camping trip their last.

How you advise your customers about the weatherproof qualities of a tent can make a vast difference to their camping experience.

One of the first manufacturer specifications you could identify on a tent is the seasonal rat-ing. Tents are typically classified into seasonal ratings: • Tents with no seasonal rating that are de-

signed for use in warm conditions are gen-erally made from light materials with high ventilation properties to reduce condensa-tion. Often they provide a roof shelter with low/no water/wind proof capabilities.

• Three seasons tents are considered to be the more jack of all trades in terms of weather resistance and can withstand chilly autumn conditions and prolonged rain. It will insulate occupants in cold weather con-ditions as well.

• Four season tents are high-end tents that are suited to winter mountaineering and other life-threatening conditions.

Caution about ratingThe problem with only relying on seasonal ratings is that one does not get a true idea of the weather resistance the tent is actually capable of. • Weather is unpredictable and even summer

wind storms can completely wreck an entry-level non-technical tent. Therefore, camp-ing in summer time does not mean that a family won’t need good protection because they expect good weather, warns Leo Rust of Adventure Inc.

• Even tents that are designed to withstand certain conditions can break when exposed to them. There have been many tents spe-cifically designed for Everest, for example, that had been broken by that mountain, warns Rust.

• “Not every tent that is called a 3-season tent is actually a 3-season tent,” adds Simon Larsen of Ram Mountaineering. Retailers

should be able to look at the specifications of a tent and see if they believe the manu-facturers claim.”

• The rating might also be subject to where the manufacturer is based, i.e. UK spring conditions are completely different to a family getaway to the Magaliesberg moun-tains during spring.

Looking at the type of materials the tent is made of, its waterproof capabilities, the fab-rics’ breathability, shape, etc. can better help determine what weather conditions the tent is capable of withstanding.

Canvas vs syntheticTraditionally waterproof tents were made from special close-woven cotton or canvas.

As the fabric gets wet, the cotton threads swell and pack together, keeping out the water. • There are small holes still left in the fab-

ric and water vapour can pass through without condensing on the inside, adding breathability.

• Many canvas tents also come with some form of treatment, which helps them to shed water without absorbing it. These gen-erally need respraying after a period of use.

• In general, cottons are hardwearing, butthey tend to be heavy, especially when wet, and their waterproof qualities are limited. They also take a long time to dry out and they are liable to rot.Where lightweight is essential, appropriately

coated and treated Nylon is the best material there is available for its weight.

Nylon fabrics are very light and strong, al-lowing the material to be packed away into a very small space. • For very light fabrics, thicker threads are

scattered through the finer weave to strengthen it.

• Nylon doesn’t absorb very much water and so takes much less time to dry out than cotton, it is also resistant to rot.

• The problem with nylon fabrics is that they can deteriorate when exposed to sunlight but, in some instances this has been solved by utilising other manufacturing processes, such as waterproofing treatments etc.

• It is for this reason that nylon is often used for tent floors and fly sheets where light weight is essential.

Polyester is more commonly used as a fly-sheet and inner material than nylon due to its cheaper price and resistance to UV light. • For flysheet materials, an added benefit of

polyester is that even untreated it will sag less when wet (as it does not absorb water as nylon does).

• Polyester is a more affordable material forflysheet construction, except where every gram counts (such as long hiking trips).

Waterproofing vs breathabilityCampers use tents to protect themselves against the elements. The aim is to recom-mend a tent that will keep your To p67

Photo: Messe Friedrichshafen GmbH

p68 :: Outdoor


customers as dry, yet comfortable, as possible by providing the ideal balance between wa-terproofing and breathability (condensation).• The traditional solution to the waterproof-

ing versus condensation problem is to pro-vide two layers, an outer waterproof fly sheet and a lightweight inner tent, which breathes and provides a dry area.

• Better designed tents usually offer better ventilation (more vents, larger mesh pan-els), which helps reduce condensation inside a tent.

• Some tents may also offer features like a second door.

• Breathable inner side walls and roofs mini-mize condensation whilst mesh windows, doors and panels allow air in, and keep in-sects out.The most common complaint about a tent

is that it leaks. However, this is rarely the case, usually the leak is actually condensation within the tent from the occupants breathing where the ventilation has been blocked leav-ing no escape for the exhaled moisture.

Water resistanceA fabric’s water resistance is measured in mil-limetres of hydrostatic head (HH). • HH is the height (in millimetres) of a col-

umn of water that is required in order to leak through the material and represents the pressure that the fabric can withstand.

• Some materials use different metric sys-tems (such as feet or pounds per square inch) which will need to be converted in or-der to compare different fabrics with each other.

• The higher the water head rating the more water pressure it can withstand. Hydrostatic head is useful when comparing

water resistance between fabrics from two different tents. The hydrostatic measure-ment is often incorporated in the fabric name where the number (in the thousands) will rep-resent the fabric’s water head. For instance a groundsheet fabric HD nylon 5000 will have a hydrostatic/water head of 5 000.

It is normal to have a higher water head rat-ing on the groundsheet [+- 4 000-10 000] than on the flysheet [+- 1 000–4 000], because the flysheet is not necessarily immersed in water, says Larsen.

Waterproof coatings:Polyurethane (PU) is probably one of the most common waterproof coatings for a wide vari-ety of weights of nylon. It increases the fabrics waterproofness by filling in the gaps between the threads in the fabric. Multiple number of coatings or ‘passes’ determine the added pro-tection but at the cost of extra weight.

Silicone elastomer enables a lighter weight nylon to be used without sacrificing any of its strength. It is used for the lightest tents, be-cause it does not weaken the fabric as much as PU. So a lighter silicone coated fabric can

be used to do the job of a heavier PU coated fabric. Neoprene. They make diving suits out of this synthetic rubber. It’s tough and very resistant to abrasion so, when coated onto a heavy duty nylon fabric it is almost indestructible. Some heavy duty tents use a neoprene coated nylon for their groundsheets.Wax is usually a heavy and slightly sticky wa-terproof treatment. The wax wears off and the fabric must be re-treated regularly to maintain its waterproof qualities. Some manu-facturers have spray-on and wash-in water-proof treatments that need to be reapplied as treatment wears off.Polyvinyl chloride (PVC). This is the tradition-al coating that replaced oilskins in boats. It is heavy and quite tough (although surprisingly easy to tear if caught on something). Fine if you don’t mind carrying it about.

These treatments are non-breathable so con-densation may easily form on the inside of the tent if good ventilation is not prevalent.

Various manufacturers developed their own waterproof breathable fabric. Some of the waterproof breathable fabrics available on the market are the GoreTex fabrics, the Tod-dTex and Nanoshield technologies from Black Diamond and the Pertex technology from Ad-venture Inc to name a few.

Manufactured for weatherSealed seams: Most tent fabrics are water-proof over the span of each panel but this does not necessarily mean that the stitching between the panels is waterproofed. • Seams are usually folded or double folded

before they are stitched and any stitching will still need certain points to be seam wa-terproofed.

• Seam sealing is usually done with PU, neo-prene, breathable or hot-melt tape.

• The thread used for stitching should ide-ally be thinner than the needle piercing the canvas and made of a material like cotton that swells and closes the needle holes when wet. It is for this reason that manufacturers ad-

vise customers to erect their tents prior to camping and hose it down to allow the thread to seal up prior to their first camping experi-ence, advises Andre Naude, business develop-ment manager for Seagull Industries.

Shape One of the biggest factors that affects how a tent will perform in wind and rain is the shape of the tent. Wind and water will react differ-ently to the outer surface of a dome shaped tent than it will to an A frame tent. Dome-style or dome hybrid tents are aero-

dynamic and stable and are one of the more popular tent designs on the market. Dome-style tents are designed to shed wind and all types of precipitation effectively. They often offer better 3 season protection than ridge/cabin style tents. Geodesic is the strongest type of tent. It uses intersecting poles to produce a strong self-supporting structure with a large internal volume. The interlocking poles easily handle a large weight of water and snow and since there is very little unsupported fabric, the tent has minimum sail area to be buffeted by the wind.Ridge or A frame tents offer good stability in bad weather conditions, but they can be heavy and is therefore not a good choice for back-packing or travelling on foot, especially when carrying the tent.hoop or Tunnel tents are popular with long-distance hikers. They are lightweight and their low profile offers weather-resistance as well as a spacious interior.A good pole structure is important to help withstand cold and winds. Generally, the more poles and more intersections between poles the stronger the structure is going to be, says Larsen. Aluminium poles are far superior to fi-bre glass poles when it comes to strength.

Flysheets and groundsheets:“One of the key components of a good quality tent is a bath-tub groundsheet which comes up the sides by at least 10-15cm and is of course seam-sealed,” says Larsen. “In other words, it should have the capability to sit in a shallow river and not allow any water in.”• Flysheets are often made from a light-

weight nylon fabric or a more durable light-weight polyester.

• Whether nylon or polyester, flysheet fab-rics should always be ripstop.

• Nylon is almost always used for inner and floor materials due to its strength.

• Polyester is not as strong as nylon for the same weight of fabric, but on the other hand it is more resistant to degradation from ul-traviolet light than nylon.

• Polyester also does not absorb water as nylon does and it is more waterproof and less breathable.

• Groundsheets are usually manufactured with a slightly heavier fabric, since in-creased abrasion resistance is required.

• Groundsheet protectors (or footprints) are also available and help to protect the tent’s built in groundsheet from getting ripped or dirty.Fabric weights are rated by denier, which is a

measure of weight (in grams) per 9 000 meters of individual yarn that fabric is made of. • It can be identified as just the letter ‘d’

beside a number when referring to fabric (e.g. 70d is 70 denier).

• Higher denier numbers for the same fab-ric generally mean higher resistance and strength, but that also means higher weight.

Tents cont from p67

Wind and water will react differently to the outer surface of a dome shaped tent than it will to an A frame tent

Black DiamondA RANGE of single-wall Bibler

tents made from a waterproof, breathable, ToddTex PTFE laminate fabric, is available from Black Diamond, distributed by Ram Mountaineering.

The ToddTex material is waterproof, wind-proof and breathable. It is a polytetrafluoro-ethylene (PTFE) film — a thin film of stretched Teflon — laminated to a ripstop outer fabric and a polyester inner fabric. The outer layer is a 30-denier UV resistant high tenacity nylon ripstop woven fabric, and is treated with a du-rable water repellent (DWR) finish.

The Superlight series from Black Diamond uses Nanoshield technology, their proprietary breathable single-layer fabric. Nanoshield is made using microfibre filaments so fine and tightly woven that it becomes waterproof. It is aimed at the ultra-hiker doing long distances trying to trim gear weight to a minimum.

The Doublelight series has 3 and 4-season double-wall tents. They are the more traditional flysheet/inner tent designs and are more versatile in warm condi-tions, when a hiker only wants an insect cover that is not necessarily wind- and water- resistant.

E3 GearA RANGE of 1–4 person, 3–4 season polyester tents — the Eclipse, En-durance, Echo, Element and Es-cape — are available from E3 Gear, distributed locally by Ram Mountaineering The weight of these tents range from 1.78kg for the Eclipse to 5.5kg for the Escape, a three to four person tent.

Sea to SummitThe brand new range of compact, lightweight shelters from Sea To Summit, locally distribut-ed by Adventure Inc, should be classified more as shelters and not so much as tents, explains Leo Rust. “It is specially targeted towards the ultra-lightweight market as it is extremely lightweight”.

The Solo tents weigh a mere 625gm and the Duo Tents weigh only 846gm. They are made from cutting-edge material and have very high specifications to keep the shelters as light as possible, adds Rust.

It features a 20 denier nylon shell fabric with a 1 000mm waterhead and a 7 000 MVTR (Mois-ture Vapor Transition Rate). The walls, ves-

tibule and floors are made of 15 denier waterproof nylon,

and have a 1 200mm wa-terhead. It features dou-ble stitched, fully taped-sealed seams and an internal storage pocket.

Hi-Tec The new Big Shot pop-up tent

for youngsters pitches in sec-onds. This Hi-Tec tent has no poles

and can be assembled by simply taking it out of a bag and throwing it skywards.

The flysheet has a waterhead rating of1 000mm and is made from 190T polyester ma-terial. The frame is made of fibreglass and the tent weighs only 2.5kg.

Rocky The tent range introduced by Rocky offers something for all campers. The dome tents —the Hiker (for two), Junior Bow (three peo-ple) and Senior Bow (five people) are made of strong weather-resitant 210T 75 denier poly-ester. The material is fire retardant and has a

water head rating of 2 000mm. The Senior Family tent and exten-

sion tent is manufactured of a 600 denier PU-coated

polyester and has a2 000mm water

head rating. They are dis-

tributed by Quad Rocky Marketing.

Tent ranges


Base

cam

p, B

ugab

oos,

Briti

sh C

olum

bia

• Do

uble

light

tent

• K

olin

Pow

ick

“Doublelight tents

incorporate double-

walled mesh/nylon

architectures and a

fast-pitch hub that

integrates the entire

frame into one unit to

provide a solid, secure

shelter with a roomy feel

for all conditions.”

BLACKDIAMONDEQUIPMENT.COM/DOUBLELIGHTwww.rammountain.co.za

p70 :: Outdoor

Silva, the lighting and navigational brand distributed locally by Lite Optec/Ramrod, is sponsoring one of the top adventure racing teams in the world. The Silva adventure racing team finished second at the Alpine Expedition Race, APEX, which is part of the Adventure Racing World Series, qualifying for the World Championships (ARWC). This year they came third in the ARWC after racing for 130 hours and 8 minutes. They came 3rd in the ARWC in 2006 and 2009, 2nd in the Raid Series in 2005, 2nd at Bimbache in 2006 and 4th in Abu Dhabi.

New record for OtterAndre (AJ) Calitz, the 29-year-old trail runner, who is sponsored by K-Way, took second place at this year’s Otter African Trail Run. Calitz and Otter winner Ian Don-Wauchope both became the first black medal winners because they finished under 4:30. Both also broke Ryan Sandes’ 4:40:15 record he set in 2011.

Nick Bennett, marketing man-ager for K-Way, signed Calitz after he won the K-Way-sponsored Plat-teklip Charity Challenge. The spon-sorship includes both funding and product.

Outdoor news

Ian Don-Wauchope (left) and AJ Calitz holding the SA flag high after both runners came in under Ryan Sandes’ 2011 Otter African Trail run record time.

Silva adventure racing team top in the world


All eyes on SA’srowers and paddlers

Will the gold and bronze medals that were won at the Olympics attract more participants in rowing and paddling? NELLE DU TOIT asked some experts if this will result in growth and how retailers can benefit

For spectators outside the paddling and rowing worlds, the gold and bronze medals SA’s rowers and canoeists brought home from the London Olympics this year might

have come as a surprise.To those involved in the sport, these medals

were not only foreseen, but were also expect-ed. SA’s paddlers have been a dominant force on the world stage for quite some time.

With rivers like the Fish, Berg and Breede, SA is host to some of the best marathon distance races in the world and we have some of the most active river and surf ski racing calendars worldwide, says Travis Wilkinson, GM of Ca-noeSA (CSA).

It is therefore no wonder that SA produces some of the top international marathon dis-tance paddlers.

SA’s rowers have been participating in the Olympic Games since 1928 and brought back a Bronze medal from the Athens Olympics in 2004 and now Gold from London 2012.

SA paddlers lead“For the past 4-5 years SA has been dominat-ing the Marathon World Championships,” says John Oliver of CSA KZN. Hank McGreggor has been the World Flat Water Champion twice, Grant van de Walt won his second U23 gold medal in Rome at the International Canoe Federation (ICF) Canoe Marathon World Cham-pionships in September this year and Beijing Olympian sprinter Shaun Rubenstein has also

won a World Flat Water Marathon K1 title. Across the Masters age groups paddlers like

Enslin van Riet and Rob Maclean won medals when they defended their K2 title at the 2012 World Marathon Championships.

“Our lady paddlers, led by Bridgitte Hartley (who won the 2012 Olympic bronze medal in the ladies 500m K1 event), are increasingly as-serting themselves on the world stage in both sprints and marathon racing,” adds Wilkinson.

The Mocke Brothers (Dawid and Jasper) are currently ranked world number 1 and 2 for surf ski after this year’s Nelo Summer Challenge and the Maar’amu Race in Tahiti. In surf ski, Oscar Chalupsky has won 12 Molokai Surfski Challenges and in white water kayaking Steve Fischer is renowned as one of the best in the world. He is a full time professional travelling around the world, Wilkinson explains.

Experts agree that SA has the facilities to produce some of the top marathon distance and surf ski canoeists in the world. However, producing top performing athletes for Olympic disciplines such as sprinting and slalom are not as promising, unless the right facilities can be set in place.

“We do not have the facilities to produce top

sprinting racers,” says Oliver. “We have two dams in the country where sprinting can be practiced — Roodeplaat Dam (which we share with the rowers) and Nagel Dam. Unfortunately we do not have good facilities for slalom in SA either (we only have one facility in Ash River).”

“I do, however, think we will definitely pro-duce more Olympic [sprinting] medals in the future. SA is also very strong in offshore ski racing, which has fairly recently been accept-ed by the international canoeing federation,” he adds.

Rowing’s top performers“2012 has definitely been one of the best years for rowing in SA. We sent over two teams to compete in the Olympics and one of our disabled rowers also qualified for the Paralym-pics,” says Gaynor du Toit of RowSA.

The gold medal that the four men’s light-weight rowers James Thompson, Matthew Brittain, John Smit and Sizwe Ndlovu won in the 2012 London Olympics was the first Olym-pic gold SA had won in the history of the sport.

For those in the rowing fraternity a medal was expected as the team won a silver medal at the World Cup Regatta in Switzerland in May this year against the same teams they faced at the Olympics.

“Furthermore, SA won a medal (gold, silver or bronze) in every World Rowing Regatta/World Cup this year,” says Du Toit.

“The medals in the Junior Women single scull and the medals we have won

It is no wonder that SA produces some of the top international marathon distance paddlers.

Photo: Andreas

To p71

Outdoor :: p71

p72 :: Outdoor


in U23 World Championship Regattas over the last 3 years are indicative of the depth of talent which has been developed in Rowing,” says Du Toit.

The lack of world class facilities to train remains a challenge. “RowSA is leading an initiative with three other Olympic codes i.e. canoeing, swimming (long distance swimming preparation) and triathlon to establish a facility in SA where preparation for Olympic events can be done,” adds Du Toit. “SA has the best climate and our teams prefer to train on home soil.”

What the medals meanThe gold medal that SA’s rowing team won at this year’s Olympics should benefit the sport in the long run.

“We began seeing an increase in the number of people enquiring about the sport through our website shortly after the SA team won the medal in August, and there is no doubt that the Olympic medal has provided the sport with much needed exposure,” says Du Toit. “Be-cause of this medal we enjoyed lots of media coverage, which helps people become more aware of the sport.”

“Through her incredible hard work and dedi-cation, (bronze medal winner) Bridgitte Hart-ley has proved what can be done. We can al-ready see the interest and excitement around sprinting as the paddlers across the country seek to emulate her,” says Wilkinson.

Many believe that her Olympic bronze will raise the profile of canoeing in the eyes of the general public, especially in the Olympic discipline of sprinting. “We are hoping that it will have a positive impact on the number of participants,” says Rob Maclean of CanoeSA Western Cape.

“But this will not happen on its own. CSA and the provincial unions need to take the initia-tive here and spread the word — especially in schools. A challenge here will be to overcome the prejudice that many traditional schools have against such sports (that they class as mi-nor) as against those that they class as major, e.g. rugby, cricket, etc.”

IN ORDER to understand the product needs of the growing number of rowers and paddlers, a retailer would have to take the time to understand their sport.

A great deal of confusion surrounds the distinction between canoeing and rowing — especially for those whose first language is Afrikaans where roei is used for both sports, explains Travis Wilkinson, GM of CanoeSA (CSA). “There is, however, as much dif-ference between the two sports as there is between cricket and baseball, for example.” • Rowers power their craft while facing

backwards, and canoeists face forwards. • Rowers use oars (one for sweep rowing

and two oars for sculling), whilst canoeists use paddles. • Canoeing is multi-disciplinary to a large

degree, whereas rowing has only four dis-ciplines (sweep, sculling, indoor rowing and coastal rowing).“What they do share is the use of simi-

lar facilities in that the Olympic disciplines of rowing and canoe sprinting both require large pieces of flat water,” says John Oliver of CSA KZN.

Canoeing in SA comprises ten different disciplines. Canoe sprint and canoe slalom are the two Olympic disciplines, while the South African pedigree shines through in

the canoe marathon discipline, which in-corporates the river racing scene. Surf ski paddling is growing considerably, and the union also oversees the white water, canoe polo, freestyle, rafting, dragon boating and waveski disciplines.

“These disciplines fall under the CSA Fed-eration to conform to the International Ca-noeing Federation (ICF), which represents these paddle sports,” adds Wilkinson.

In SA rowing is governed by RowSA and it incorporates sweep rowing and sculling, adaptive (for example where the rower has a physical disability) and indoor rowing (for sports development in disadvantaged areas).

Difference between rowing and paddling

Participation numbers“The number of registered paddlers in SA have increased over the last few years, but the most significant growth has been in the number of ac-tive participants in paddling,” says Wilkinson.

“Canoe polo is attracting large numbers to well-organised and coordinated training facili-ties and events and surf ski paddling is booming along the coastline — the turnout at provincial and national schools regattas is incredible.”

“These days many canoeists paddle surf skis and vice versa,” adds Maclean.

KwaZulu Natal is the biggest province in terms of registered paddlers. “There are cur-rently about 2 300 paddlers registered in Kwa-Zulu Natal,” says Oliver.

Gauteng has the second largest number of registered paddlers, followed by the Western Cape. “In the Western Cape we have close to 1 000 registered paddlers — about 650 actively competing in racing and the balance social members belonging to clubs. They may just be taking a hiatus from paddling competitively, or may actually not be competitive at all and just join for the enjoyment of the sport and the social interaction at the clubs,” says Laura van Heerden of CSA Western Cape.

About 540 paddlers are registered with CSA in the Eastern Cape, but a further 1 000 infor-mal canoeists and sea paddlers are active, ac-cording to Gavin McNish of CSA Eastern Cape.

The rowing fraternity is largely made up of school, junior and university and senior club rowing teams.

“There are approximately 2500 to 3000 row-ers registered with RowSA. It is difficult to de-termine the exact number of rowers in SA as those that only participate in recreational row-ing would not be registered,” says Du Toit. “The majority of these Rowers are in Gauteng and the Western Cape, where there is a long tradi-tion of School, University and Senior Rowing.”

What to stock for paddlers and rowersRetailers who want to benefit from the grow-ing interest in the sport can keep in mind that

once the boat and oars have been purchased — usually from specialists — canoeists will pur-chase all kinds of extra bits and pieces such as spray decks, heart rate monitors, GPS’s, etc, says Oliver.

“Rowers [and paddlers] often train in very cold conditions and opt for technical long sleeve tops, heart rate monitors and focus on nutrition to ensure maximum endurance and strength while keeping their weight in con-trol,” says Du Toit.

The Icebreaker range of technical long sleeve tops from Adventure Inc is made from 100% Merino Wool, which is highly breathable and anti-microbial.

Paddlers and rowers with their own boats have to transport them to events and venues. Roof racks and tie downs are used by these water sport enthusiasts.

Sea to Summit (from Adventure Inc) has the Aquasling, Aquaracks and Bomber Tie downs for the transporting of boats.

One of the biggest concerns for any water sport enthusiast is keeping personal items dry and retailers catering for the paddling market should stock a good range of dry bags, sug-gests Deidre Keulder of Ram Mountaineering. “We supply a variety of dry bags in the Pacific Outdoor range — from heavy duty duffle dry bags for long expeditions to dry cylinders and cell phone pouches.”

Adventure Inc offers a new TPU guide water-proof case for an iPhone and iPad.

In terms of accessories a paddler should include headlamps, compasses, wind meas-urers, map measurer and map cases in their general itinerary, suggests Amaryl Denoon of Lite Optec. “The Tyto red light, for example, is usually put on the rear of the life vest to increase visibility from behind.”

“CSA is currently in correspondence with the government regarding Personal Floatation Devices (PFDs/life jackets) where they have asked to be allowed input regarding life jack-et designs specifications,” says Oliver. During competitions, certain life jackets are designed to help paddlers perform, whilst keeping them protected, which do not necessarily conform to government regulations.

SA’s rowers and paddlers cont from p72

Trade shows :: p73


Trade show news

adidas 29

Adventure Inc 69

Aqualine 23, 62

Awesome Tools 21

Bellingham & Smith 54

Bertuzzi 8

Black Diamond 70

Boreal OBC

Bronx 9

Civvio 20, 22 24

Crown Footwear OFC

De Wet Sports 23, 25, 62

DMQ Trading 20, 22, 24

Everest 10

Flamingo Import 61

Footwear Trading 7, 35

Fruit of the Loom 8

Gryphon 51

Hi-Tec 3

Inov8 39

Jeep 7

Jordan 11

Jordan & Co 9, 11

JRT Crampton 49

K&T Sport 53

Kakiebos Holdings OFC

Kappa SA 45

Kookaburra 49

Leatherman 21

LED Lenser 21

Lions Tackle 64

Lyle & Scot 1

Malik 53

Medicus Shoes 41

Mercian 54

Merrell 41

Mille 47

Mizuno 43

MoGO 61

National Geographic 64

Native Sport 38

New Balance 26, 37

OBO 51

Omni Sport 33

Opal 19

Puma 5

Quad Rocky Marketing 66

Ram Mountaineer 70

Rebel Elite 39

Rocky 66

Saekodive 65

Saucony 33

Sea to Summit 69

Skechers 35

Skins 43

Skye Footwear & Clothing

1, 47

Slazenger 55

Summit 19

Super-Brands 43, 55

Surge 25

Time Factor 27

TK Sports 56, 57

Traverse Outdoor Group (TOG)

OBC

Vivobarefoot 38

WET Sports 65

Zamberlan OBC

P R O M O T I O N S

TONY MILLER

[email protected]

Tel: 031-2052074

MEDALSBUTTON BADGES

KEY RINGS FRIDGE MAGNETSPRINTED ADVERTISING BALLOONS

Advertisers index — a list of advertisers in this issue

GDS879 exhibitors from 38 countries showcased their foot-wear and accessories collections at the GDS and Gobal Shoes show, held 5-7 September at the Dusseldorf Ex-hibition Centre in Germany. Despite the nationwide strike by national airline carrier Lufthansa, the trade fair registered 22 500 trade visitors from 100 countries in total. Sneakers was voted the most important trend for the coming summer months by visitors to the show. The next GDS show will be held 13-15 March 2013 (Spring) and 11-13 September (Autumn).

IspoNext year’s ispo trade show in Munich will take place from 3-6 February 2013, and companies interested in exhibiting can now download a booking form from www.ispo.com or contact Mor-gana van Niekerk of the South-ern African — German Chamber of Commerce and Industry at [email protected] or Tel: 011 486 2775. The Depart-ment of Trade and Industry will financially assist companies wish-ing to participate in overseas ex-hibitions under the EMIA (Export Marketing Incentive Assistance

Boat showThe 12th Cape Town Interna-tional Boat Show (CTIBS) was held at the Cape Town Inter-national Convention Centre (CTICC) from 12-14 October. The international boat show not only provides a stage for all the local boat builders, but is also a get-together for all involved in the boating industry. Talks on a diverse range of topics geared to appeal to all sailing, fishing, boating and water sports enthu-siasts attracted visitors as well as a “Fishing Village”, where visitors competed for prizes, a trip on a water taxi from the CCTIC to V&A Waterfront and the use of a shuttle for the landlubbers.

The 290 exhibitors at 2012 ispo Bike trade show at-tracted more than 6 000 trade visitors from 46 coun-tries and 10 000 consumers. The show, normally held in July, was moved to August, resulting in stagnant visi-tor numbers after consistent double-digit growth the past three years.

scheme).Ispo is giving manufacturers

of basic textile products the op-portunity to present their latest innovations to the international sports industry through a dedicat-ed forum. Designers and product managers will gain comprehensive information on the textile innova-tions in one dedicated area of the show. All products being entered must arrive at the organizers’ of-fice by November 15 2012. For more information please see: www.ispo.com/prj_52/_inc002/_eMagazin/ispo_textrends.

sports trader october/november 2013

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