Friedrichshafen news: more of everything

8a visited the Friedrichshafen trade show for two days. You can feel that the climbing industry is booming, with more interest for indoors but also companies like The North Face and Prana who want to get an even stronger connection to the outdoor sport. In general, the companies try to diversify covering more of the climbing lifestyle for indoors climbing. When it comes to climbing product news, there is a focus on optimisation plus design and color changes. Just in Friedrichshafen, several hundred climbing shoes, harnesses, quick draws, ropes were shown and also for belay devices the scene is growing fast. Although La Sportiva, Tendon and other companies did present some innovations it is hard to say something before testing them. We will make some video presentations in cooperation with EpicTV. Walking around among the stands it is interesting to see that there are so many companies from the Czech Republic and Italy that seem to be growing. It was also interesting that Kailas from China had a large and impressive booth showing great ambition.