The highly recognized international awards in the concept of sports design, the fourth annual Volvo SportDesign Awards, had already announced their winners. The grand awarding ceremony took place at the IMC center in Munich. The theme for this year was “EcoDesign – Form follows sustainability.” The theme’s focal point was the various innovative ideas in the eco design portion. There were more then 300 hundred entries that came for this year’s SportDesign Awards, from different international companies known worldwide. Andrej Kupetz, the head of the German Design Council, had spoken in behalf of the entire panel of judges. He said, “All the submitted works for their internationality as well as their great amount of diversity that is unusual for a design award for sporting equipment. From an ecological perspective, the sports industry has made great progress. People are getting the message behind the EcoDesign theme. The blend of sustainability and design will continue to range high on the future agenda of designers and the entire industry.”

The winners of the Volvo SportDesign contest came from different countries such as Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and the United States of America. There were eight different categories for the awards. The winners are the following:

Outdoor Equipment: Nextec srl., OutDry® membrane system for water-proofing footwear, Italy
Ski Equipment: Grown Skis, Wooden Skis, Germany
Board Equipment: Amer-Salomon, Salomon Snowboards, SickStick, France
Apparel: Klättermusen, Einride Jacket, Sweden
Wheelers: Essedum, CycleCaddy Waggon, Germany
Accessories: Plantaplast, BioGolfTee, Austria
Concepts: Max Koriath, “schöner bootfahren”, Weissensee School of Art Berlin, Germany

Aside from the above mentioned awards, USA was also given a special award. The award was:

Special Award “EcoBrand of the Year”: Patagonia, USA

Alongside the Volvo SportDesign Awards is the 7th Volvo SportDesign Forum. This took place during the 2008 edition of the sports trade fair ispo. In the said forum, the visitors would be able to get a large amount of details and information about sustainability when presentations are and panel discussions are made, and when workshops and exhibitions take place.

sources: Design Taxi and SportDesign at ispo