Best of ISPO MUNICH part 2

by Mr Zing, March 26, 2015

Following up on our “Best of ISPO MUNICH part 1” post, this part is aimed at brands leaning to sports, but with a more urban character. For many, the story behind the brand is as important as the products themselves.

Alchemy Equipment

We’ve covered them at Outdoor Retailer and, to our delight, at ISPO they added a new color which they didn’t have available at Outdoor Retailer. Alchemy Equipment totally nailed it in many different aspects: materials, details, brand positioning, style. They’re going to be huge, we just know it. They have a nice collection of clothes too with the same philosophy: performance-driven style.

And yes, sir, they won a carry award for best carry-on. Need we say more?

Millican

Millican had a big surprise in store for us: their founder Jorrit was at ISPO to introduce a brand new collection called The Mavericks, containing various packs and bags. Right now there are two packs up on the site, but more will come! Millican’s slogan is “an original life” and it fits the brand perfectly. Millican has a fantastic story to tell and you should read it.

Oh and they did a special edition with The DO Lectures and if you’ve never heard of them, check them out too…

Target

In their price range, Czech brand Target (not to be confused with US-based Target) may be the coolest brand you’ve never heard of. They don’t even have an English website, but they will soon: http://www.targetbag.com/en (here’s what happens if you don’t shield your demo website ha ha).

Boll

Also Czech Republic-based, Boll has a huge range of packs, varying from technical expedition packs to laptop backpacks. In the blur of a thousand outdoor brands at ISPO, they stood out with some original designs. We especially liked the Prophet series, as it has a clean design, offers a lot of protection and comes in three sizes. Check out this awesome unboxing vid (in the Czech language).

Ethnotek

We’ve covered them extensively in two road tests: backpack and messenger and found them again at ISPO. Ethnotek has a cool story and its founder Jake Orak is just a great guy to hang out with.