ISPO Trend Report

The winter 2008 ISPO was a great show...there was so much to see! The show is absolutely massive, with many different trends popping up in the various display halls. The look from the ski area to the snowboard varied widely, with some brands focusing on performance, and others pulling out all the stops to be the trendiest.

One trend that seemed to gap the ski/snowboard boundry was the use of bright and neon 'pop' colors. One thing we saw everywhere was the use of these bright tones as accents on jackets (zippers, pulls, linings, drawcords.) Or as accesories like hats and goggle being paired with a neutral jacket.



It was fun to see some retro styles making a comeback on the ski side. We noticed that Patagonia was offing more retro pieces, harkening back to their original styles. This jacket even has the original Patagonia label.


Classic old-school brand Powderhorn looked great at the show. Our friend Teri did a lot of the designs! Their use of 70s styling and colors was fun, and they had some really nice leather accents on quite a few of their pieces. (Plus Meghan designed these hats.)



On the ski side, we saw a lot of bright, pure colors, and not many prints. Bright, contrasting waterproof zippers continues to be popular.
Colors at Arcteryx:

At Helly Hansen:


One brand that we really liked was Cross. They are a Scandinavian brand, and had a nice mix of fashion and performance.


Nike ACG displayed an interesting collaboration with Pendleton wool. Pendleton is know for their high quality wool fabrics, and classic navajo blanket patterns. Nike teamed up with fellow Oregon based Pendleton to create this custom navajo fabric, very cool.



On the snowboard side, one of our favorites was 686. They offered some great prints, has interesting trims and details, and more of their own style than the some other board brands. This digital print of x-ray images was very cool.


686 also did a nice plaid. There have been so many plaids over the last couple of seasons that all look the same, it was nice to see this fresh approach. This jacket also has cool fabric covered buttons and metal rivet details.


Burton's Analog line offered this jacket, a digital print of buffalo plaid. If you look closely, you can see that all of the pockets and trims are actually printed on! Digital printing is steadily gaining a following, and with no limit to the colors or amount of detail it can produce, it will be interesting to see what happens with this technology.


One trend that was hard to ignore... the 80s are back in a big way. Lots of neon colors, especially paired with black. We saw a lot of bold, geometric prints and patterns, and much less of the neutral tones and menswear inspired fabrics of seasons past. Get ready for next winter to be bright!
Quicksilver:



Classic gaper style from Killy:


80's inspired board graphics from Rossignol: