Summer certainly seems to have arrived this May, and with it the realisation for many of us that yes, really, there is a football tournament on and England are not participating. Of course, for many of us that will be replaced with the Olympic Games, held in a place where the humidity and pollution promise to be a great leveller. Whoever the favourites are for medals right now, I doubt they will be favourites on the day.

Some may also know him as 'Mr T' or 'Thrifty'.

David was with Rucanor Sports from May 1981 to June 1992, formerly as a Sales Executive covering East Anglia and London, and progressing rapidly to Managing Director before he was invited to join the European Board of Directors.

New Balance has debuted a new brand campaign that highlights running as fundamental to all sport and spotlights the runner's complex love/hate relationship with running. The campaign brings these struggles and personal breakthroughs to life by personifying running in a light-hearted and engaging manner and showcases the brand's ability to increase the love of running through product innovation.

The Molten G-Series, the official basketball for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, has achieved another feather in its crown, it has been selected as the English Schools Basketball Association's official ball for the next four years in the lead up to the London Olympics in 2012.

uhlsport, the German owned trans-national football brand, has announced a customer sales and service partnership with McDavid, the world's leading manufacturer of protective athletic wear. The terms of the partnership, which has immediate effect, sees the specialist performance brands share a UK sales structure, and the establishment of a new uhlsport administrative head office in Bampton, Oxon. Uhlsport's presence in the UK is being directed by Paul Sherratt who assumes the title of Country Manager for both uhlsport and McDavid.

A major health and fitness sponsor is being sought for the 2009 Special Olympics GB National Summer Games, which will be held at the Walkers Stadium and a number of major venues across the City of Leicester & Rutland from 25-31 July 2009.

Industry response has been outstanding in terms of both visitor and exhibitor interest for the two exciting new B2B shows launched in Munich and supported by the expertise of ispo Group.

Voted 'Best Buy' by Holiday Which? magazine, Aqua Sphere's remarkable Kaiman swimming goggles are now supported with eye-catching Point of Sale shelf wobblers and pack stickers to promote their prestigious Best Buy status. Guaranteed to turn heads this summer, enhance your swim kit sales with the handy new Kaiman POS pack. Call 01254 278873 for details.

Two STAG members recently celebrated trading landmarks ˆ Don Rogers Sports, in Swindon, and Norton Sports and Camping in Midsomer Norton. Norton Sports and Camping, a STAG member since 2003, is celebrating 20 years in business. The sports and outdoor retailer, based in Midsomer Norton is owned and run by John Sharp. "Our customers demand quality.

They may be ‘The Old Fashioned Football Shirt Company' (TOFFS) but as the undisputed global  leader in genuine retro football shirts, it would seem that the world is their oyster. Their attention to the smallest detail in reconstructing ‘the real thing' gives them the lead over the usual ‘look-a-like' and their constant ambition to be one step ahead is paying dividends.

Award-winning world swimming champion Karen Pickering has teamed up with Australian swimwear brand Zoggs to offer free expert swimming tutorials to British consumers as part of the brand's unique Swim4Fitness programme.

One eagle-eyed reader has pointed out some errors in our recent Brand Profile on Amer Sports. While Atomic skis were the overall number one-ranked brand in Alpine skiing, according to statistics on the International Ski Federation web site, they do not have more than the second, third and fourth placed brands combined, as we indicated in the article.

Chiemsee: New General Manager

Stefan Biergans started on April 1 as General Manager for German sportswear supplier Chiemsee. He succeeds Florian Steinberger who left the company in order to be Managing Partner of the Sport Invest Search Central Europe GmbH (Holzkirchen near Munich). Biergans previously worked as Global Product Director for clothing supplier s.Oliver.

Internet retailers rely heavily on their ability to communicate using email – they have no face-to-face sales contact, so they have to work smarter and harder to generate business. And they’re very good at it. So what can traditional retailers learn from them? Quite simply, the answer is that effective communication and promotion equals more business. And there’s no reason why you can’t employ the same marketing techniques – albeit on a smaller scale!

In February 2008, Solosport signed a distribution agreement with Arena to market their product and develop opportunities for the brand in the UK and Ireland. With Prince rackets already in their stable, Solosport is a well-known name in our industry. Can they bring the glory days back to Arena in the UK? SGB thinks so, as Digby Gunson explains.

HILLY Clothing has recently upgraded two of their popular socks, namely: Off Road and Marathon Fresh. The wool content of the socks has now been replaced with Merino wool and both socks are antimicrobial.

March 2008 - Two of the world's leading brands, adidas and Samsung, have announced their strategic partnership and unveiled the first product initiative as a result of the collaboration, called miCoach.

As any nutritionist will gladly tell you, oxygen plays a vital role in maintaining a healthy mind and body. It's the single most important nutrient in energy production and provides vital fuel for our bodies. But it's not just about stamina. Our brains divert up to 20% of our oxygen intake just to function, using it to boost concentration and maintain our sense of wellbeing.

Appreciating that the female face has different proportions compared to its male counterpart, swim kit expert Aqua Sphere has redesigned its popular Kaiman and Seal XP goggles to create women-specific aquatic eye protection. The new goggles are called Kaiman Lady and Seal XPT Lady and are available in aqua, purple and raspberry, with a choice of clear or tinted lenses. 

Aimia Foods has launched a brand new range of Slazenger S1 hypotonic sports drinks.  Formulated to aid both physical and mental performance the drinks, in orange and mixed berry flavours, deliver excellent cash margins for vending operators, wholesalers, retailers and cash and carry outlets due to the competitive cost price and premium packaging.

If you want to avoid being left on the treatment table from those two footed crunches then there is no better solution than Mitre's revolutionary Revolve IP Pro shin guards:

The wait is finally over and the much anticipated flexible body protector for women has finally arrived. Outlyne, the stunning new safety vest from Airowear, brings to you the ultimate in body protection whilst combining the finest, most chic and flattering design with futuristic technology.

Paul was born in Edgbaston, home of the world-famous cricket ground. His family had moved to Quinton, on the outskirts, which would be of little concern except that I recalled having once researched Quintain, a game played in the Middle Ages, often as training for battle, which depended on players exerting a great deal of agility to avoid some rather nasty personal damage.

In this country, bank holiday weekend and good weather are words not readily associated with each other but they certainly were over the first May bank holiday recently. Combined with that, in the current climate, the words good trading day are a bit of a rarity so to find I had a hat trick with bank holiday, sunny weather and good trading was excellent.

Result Performance, the technical outdoor clothing brand, have launched their latest 2008 trade brochure. Result has more than doubled its 2007 outdoor range, with the introduction of a further 46 exciting new products into its 2008 collection.

Outdoor sports enthusiasts all need to be part of a transformation of the industry, according to experts at a major international conference at Lancaster University Management School in April.

Swiss mountain sports equipper Mammut Sports Group AG has acquired its longstanding Raichle distributor, Macclesfield-based Outdoor Elements. Concluded at the beginning of April, the deal means Outdoor Elements will continue to trade as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Mammut Sports Group AG under the name of Mammut UK Ltd. August 2008 will see the new subsidiary adding the entire Mammut catalogue to its roster. Former UK Mammut distributor DMM International Ltd. will continue to retail Mammut's core rope products in the UK and Eire.

SmartWool has 'raised the standards of excellence for performance socks' with the launch of its latest innovation, WOWtechnology, a new wool-on-wool knitting technique featured in all Autumn 2008 SmartWool PhD socks.  Developed after three years of rigorous testing, the new WOWtechnology knitting technique increases durability and longevity as much as 30 per cent over the previous SmartWool snow and outdoor sock models, already apparently some of the outdoor industry's top selling socks.

The North Face's Primero 60 has been awarded the prestigious Gear of the Year by Outside magazine.  The Primero 60, a state-of-the-art multi-day pack for the serious outdoor enthusiast, features the new X-Radial suspension system which consists of a unique axis configuration that mimics the human body's natural movement.

TKC, the UK distributors for the performance outdoor footwear brand, Lowa, have appointed David Morton as their Brand Manager in the UK and Ireland. David has many years knowledge of the footwear market under his belt after 12 years experience working at The Mountain Boot Company as Area Sales Manager.

Sports and Outdoor footwear company HI-TEC has announced the departure of their Global Brand President Tony Linford. Tony has been instrumental over the past four years improving the brand's perception, market share and product development. He left the company in April to join UK shoe brand Van Dal as Managing Director.

A new trade publication called the Outdoor Handbook 2008 will be released on July 17th, the first day of the OutDoor show in Friedrichshafen. For the first time ever, a handbook will  exclusively present the new products exhibited by the brands at the show in English. On top of this, reports, interviews, and other stories will inform the trade visitor on innovative stores, emerging markets, and alternative concepts from around the world of outdoor business.

Over 90 per cent of available space is already completely sold out for the Autumn show and with over four months still to go. Suppliers still wanting to exhibit at the show need to be quick to secure space and not to miss out at the key outdoor event of the year.

Tony Linford, global product and marketing director for Hi-Tec Sports has announced his decision to leave the company to take up the role of managing director with women's fashion footwear brand Van Dal. One of his early priorities will be to assess the positioning of the Van Dal brand in a challenging UK retail market and how to build on the heritage of shoe making in Norwich which stretches back to 1936.

Building on their 'green' credentials, teko's new packaging uses 50 per cent less cardboard. teko packaging is produced using 100 per cent recycled and recyclable card printed using soya inks. Every piece of the packaging is recyclable and uses no staples, plastic or glue.

The Flight Series Endurance range from The North Face is a collection of lightweight jackets, long sleeve tops, tees, tights, tanks tops, bra and shorts made using carbon from bamboo technology.

Students are invited to submit their entries in the new "Concepts" category for the first time. With this year's OutDoor tradeshow in Friedrichshafen approaching fast (July 17 to 20, 2008), the entire Outdoor industry is invited to submit their products by June 6, 2008 to compete for the OutDoor INDUSTRY AWARD 2008, in its third year this year.

New for 2008, Teva strengthens its range of GO shoes with the introduction of the Aravalli. Retailing at just £65.00 the Aravalli is the latest addition to the Teva GO family. Ready for the journey to and from your latest adventures, the new trail shoe promises comfort, stability and durability along the way.

Embarking upon the season with two awards in their pockets (Brand of the Year from outdoorsmagic.com and second-best overall brand from Walk magazine), Páramo Directional Clothing Systems introduce their new Ladies' and Men's Cargo Trousers to their Trek & Travel range. 

UK fans of cross-country skiing can now enjoy a never-ending season with the launch of a new rollerski offering serious on- and off-road capability. Leading cross-country skiing supplier, Euroski (www.rollerskiing.co.uk), is introducing the Skike rollerski to the British market, enabling snow sports enthusiasts to practise during the summer months without being restricted to roads and footpaths.

Product boasts:

• RESULT Breathable Weatherproof Technology 
• 3-layer bonded 100D Micro Waterproof Fleece:
  • Outer-layer: 160gsm 100% Polyester, 100D Microfleece
  • Mid-layer: Bonded breathable windproof and waterproof membrane
  • Inner-layer: 160gsm 100% Polyester, 100D Microfleece 

The most important thing about a ski boot is comfort - if your feet are not comfortable, you'll have a rotten time on the slopes. Salomon's new Custom Shell is all about user comfort, but it also promises performance, as Eric Davies told us.

Many famous UK outdoor brands have been expanding worldwide in recent years, using a solid UK or European base to develop the business into growing economies like Korea, or more established but untapped areas like Japan . Berghaus has been steadily spreading its wings worldwide, and despite humble beginnings in a Newcastle shop, its growth shows no signs of slowing yet.

Lowe Alpine has always created gear for committed travellers. Many of the world's most challenging mountains require days, even weeks of hard travel before you even glimpse your objective. Time served toting expedition gear gave the Lowe brothers the insight to develop their original range of travel designs in the 1970s, the first travel packs that carried as comfortably as a backpack.

Sooner or later most walkers want to go further than a simple day walk will take them. Some opt for the long distance path, usually carefully planned so there are ample accommodation choices at the end of each day; but others seek the solitude of a night or two in the mountains, and there's no better time to give this a go than in the middle of summer, when the weather's usually at its kindest.