Première Vision picks Portland for new sportswear trade show

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Jan 22, 2019

French textile trade show organiser Première Vision will launch a new event in Portland, Oregon, on August 14-15. Première Vision Sport will join footwear industry event The Materials Show, with some 300 exhibitors and 1,500 visitors annually, at Portland's Oregon Convention Center.

This isn’t Première Vision's first foray in the USA: since 2000, the French organiser has been staging the Première Vision show in New York. Also, it isn’t the first sport industry event put together by Première Vision, which staged a massive Sport&Tech section with one hundred exhibitors at Première Vision Paris last September.

“Seeing [Sport&Tech’s] success, we decided we could afford to give this event a life of its own,” said Guglielmo Olearo, international exhibitions director at Première Vision. “We are targeting about 60 exhibitors to begin with, and we had a very enthusiastic response from brands exhibiting at our shows. As the event grows, besides textile companies, it could also extend to accessories, textile design and even manufacturing, showcasing outdoor brands chiefly by exhibitors from Europe, but from the USA and Asia too,” added Olearo.

Première Vision explained that, according to market research firm Euromonitor, the sportswear market was worth $280 billion in 2016, a prime reason to move in this direction. Besides, the USA alone accounted for 37% of industry sales, and in the same year it generated sport apparel sales worth $70 billion, in addition to $32 billion of footwear sales. The city of Portland is a major sportswear hub, home to national and international offices for brands like Nike, Under Armour, Adidas, Columbia, Asia and Poler Stuff.

Première Vision announced the new show's launch on January 16, the closing day of Première Vision New York, which will be followed on February 12-14 by the show organiser’s leading event, Première Vision Paris. The latter precedes Première Vision Istanbul, scheduled on March 20-22, and Made in France Première Vision, to be staged in Paris on April 3-4.