Hello dear readers,
Few weeks ago we packed the car and headed south to Friedrichshafen, Germany for Oudoor 2015 trade show. It was a long drive through Europe (and even longer coming back home), but certainly worth the effort. At the show we met gym owners, route setters, climbers, people behind other climbing hold brands, material suppliers, distributors etc. We were delighted to see such a good atmosphere between hold brands. One afternoon there was even a friendly bouldering session between booths. It was cool to see so many dedicated and talented people, all with their own distinctive shaping style.
We were happy to see how well our shapes were received and we appreciate all the feedback and encouragement we got. Clearly we’ve done something right with our shapes. The simple yet beautiful and functional scandinavian style seems to attract people. We’ve got plenty of ideas how to extend our product range and we can’t wait to get the next batch of new shapes out for everyone to see.
In terms of business, it seems that indoor climbing as a sport is continuing to grow. We heard a lot of talk about new climbing gym projects and extensions and we wish all the gym owners good luck with their projects. It’s great to see that the sport is doing well.
In some ways the trade show provided more questions than answers but also gave us confidence that we are on the right track. We are looking forward to all new opportunities with you guys out there!
Our roadtrip sats:
- 5600 km travelled
- 69 hours of driving
- 8 countries
- 3 ferries
- 11 days away from home
- 1000+ songs streamed from Spotify
- Plenty of beer and bratwurst!
We would like to thank Finnish mobile data subscriptions with unlimited data, Youtube for entertainment, Spotify for tunes, TomTom for adventurous route choices (shortcut proposal through Kaliningrad), Germany for Autobahn, Ramstein, Kraftwerk and Lena, Kaunas city in Lithuania for making us feel like millionaires, Latvia and Estonia for leisurely pace (roadworks) and last but not least, everyone who visited us at our booth!
Cheers,
Team Kitka