Fedas General Assembly 2008 in Dresden:

Werner Haizmann re-elected for another three-year term

The vice-presidents are Pierre Gogin, France; Ernst Aichinger, Austria; Enrico Rossi, Italy; and Marcel Savioz, Switzerland

Dresden – “The Fedas product classification key, which was developed and continually improved by Fedas in cooperation with all big players from industry and trade, proved to be one of the most crucial tools in the sector’s electronic communication. Its permanent maintenance and extension occupy an important position in the daily routine of the European umbrella federation of sports retail associations. An introduction of the key to the USA is currently discussed with representatives of the US sector.” This is how Fedas President, Werner Haizmann, from Stuttgart Bad Cannstatt, and the group’s secretary general, Claude Benoit, president of Asmas from Bern, described one of Fedas’s most important ongoing tasks.

The federation’s delegates met in the Saxon metropolis Dresden for their 2008 general assembly. With the choice of Dresden – a symbol of recent German history – as a location, the Association of German sports retail stores, vds, wanted to underline the urgency of a close European cooperation on all levels and a peaceful elaboration of competition in a globalised world economy and sports goods sector.

Both necessities formed the backdrop of the agenda of the Fedas meeting. The delegates dealt with the initial and further training of the employees in the European specialist sports goods trade and, also, with the currently hotly debated theme “CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility”. Special attention was paid to the question as to how the European specialist sports goods trade will handle this theme in the future. Frank Henke, the Global Director Group Social & Environmental Affairs World of Sports at adidas AG in Herzogenaurach, an internationally acknowledged expert, tried to answer these questions.

During the statutory reelections of the federation’s management team, President Werner Haizmann, who is at the same time president of the association of the German specialist sports goods trade, received the delegates’ thanks for his services. Moreover, he was confirmed as president for another three years. Pierre Gogin from Paris, president of the French association, Fps; Ernst Aichinger from Vienna, vice-president of the Vssö in Austria; Enrico Rossi from Bologna, vice-president of the Italian Federadas; and Marcel Savioz from Bern, vice-president of Asmas in Switzerland, were appointed vice-presidents. Claude Benoit, managing director and chairman of the Swiss Asmas, will continue to serve as secretary general. Fedas president, Werner Haizmann, who gave a detailed account to the delegates of his work and the general, currently rather difficult situation of the European specialist sports goods trade, underlined the need for a further strengthening of European cooperation in the framework of the European sports goods sector. This also goes for the cooperation between trade and manufacturers on the EU level and the trade’s representation in the World Federation of the Sports Goods Industry.

Following a suggestion of the French federation, a Fedas task force will cover the current state of the cooperation between trade and industry at a meeting in September 2008. Moreover, models will be presented at this meeting referring to a continued good cooperation in the interest of the entire European sports goods and sports fashion sector. At the same time, Fedas’s membership in Eurocommerce in Brussels was extended by another year.

Sustainability in demand

As has been shown in various debates published in the context of EURO 2008, the theme “environment and sustainability management” gains increasingly in importance in the sports goods industry. This does not only apply to global branded goods suppliers, but also to the specialist retail trade and its staff, even though these are initially confronted with the matter in a more selective way such as in various campaigns organised in different European countries.

Through the medium of Fesi vice president, Frank A. Dassler, the Fedas enlisted Frank Henke, an internationally acknowledged and decorated expert to give a fundamental lecture on this theme. The versatile and very agile diploma economist, born in 1964, headed the social matters and environment sector, which he himself formed at adidas AG. Worldwide, more than 100 people in all four corners of the world as well as at the Herzogenaurach headquarters ensure that the group’s more than 1000 suppliers respect the internationally acknowledged social and production standards seamlessly.

Frank Henke informed the representatives of the European specialist sports goods trade in great detail about how adidas AG has established environment and sustainability management on all levels of the globally operating group in line with CSR standards. Alongside its own locations and plants, adidas always keeps an eye on its procurement chain and supports its business partners with advice and training in the creation of efficient systems in staff, safety, health and environmental management.

Frank Henke’s lecture at Fedas in Dresden featured a wealth of data yet unknown to the trade and triggered a very constructive discussion among the participants. He is adidas AG’s representative in the CSR Committee of the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry and is also involved in the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Mr. Henke’s work for the adidas group was awarded the B.A.U.M. environmental prize 2007 by the German Working Committee for Environment-Conscious Management (B.A.U.M.) and the International Network for Environmental Management (INEM).

Initial and further training are among the most important tasks of the trade associations united under the roof of Fedas – vds Super Cup well established on an international level

For the first time, the Fedas general assembly 2008 in Dresden dealt with a comprehensive stocktaking of the various initial and further training standards in the different Fedas member countries. On the one hand, the different training concepts in the individual countries were explained. Moreover, it was pointed out that only a team of well-trained and correspondingly paid staff will ensure that the specialist trade’s high service standard will be maintained as compared to the sector’s other distribution channels.

In this context, vds secretary Jens Forstmann, a diploma sports economist, referred to the tremendous success achieved for several years by the vds Super Cup, which has meanwhile established itself as the biggest competition of its kind throughout Europe.

Fedas representatives in Dresden agreed that they will have to carry on promoting joint European efforts so as to be able to have sufficient young staff available for the European specialist sports retail stores.

Weather a crucial factor for sales

Another important part of the Fedas agenda 2008 concerned the exchange of views on the most important business and sales developments in the different countries. It turned out that due to the high energy and living costs, consumers throughout Europe show a definite reservation when it comes to spending money in the specialist sports goods trade. Therefore, sales rose only very moderately, and the situation is similar for all winners in the race. As before, the weather plays a crucial role for sales in Europe.

The Fedas general assembly 2009 will be organised by the French association in Bordeaux from June 7 to 9, 2009.

Fedas secretary general, Claude Benoit, welcoming the CSR expert Frank Henke of adidas AG (centre).

Frank Henke impressed the delegates with a wealth of interesting details on Corporate Social Responsibility.