Last November, the leading international trade fair in the sector was held in Cologne, Germany, the FSB – International Trade Fair For Amenity Areas, Sports and Spool Facilities, where new trends come to life, momentum is generated for the industry, new products and ideas are presented to a large commercial audience, and the most important business and commercial contacts of the year are made in the home comfort sector .
As expected, Gardenstore was there to catch up on the latest developments and trends in artificial turf. Our visit to FSB, as in previous editions, was very useful, although there is never enough time to see everything that manufacturers and brands exhibit in detail.
This year, some European brands such as Avalon or Royalgrass were missed, and we discovered other new ones, both European and Chinese, which are so emerging. As usual, all the brands exhibit their new artificial turf models, which are always innovating to achieve an appearance similar to natural grass and with new techniques, achieving what the consumer wants, comfort, softness, and at the same time, the recovery of the fibers when stepped on.
Asia vs. Europe Competition
It should be noted that we have noticed that European manufacturing prices have been decreasing in brands such as Mondo, Turfgrass, or Condor in order to compete with the prices of Chinese manufacturers. Although they are Chinese factories, there are some very important ones that are improving quality and also price, but they still have a way to go to reach the European level. Right now, there is not much difference between the highest-end products of Chinese origin and the average of European products in terms of prices.
Another detail to highlight is that previously the manufacture of European yarn was almost a monopoly with brands such as Tencate, Bonar and now new factories are emerging that should be taken into account with very high-quality yarn. At the fair, we also tested different types of sports turf for football, paddle tennis and golf, which we will be adding to our catalog, in addition to all its accessories such as goals, stands, lighting, scoreboards, etc…and where we discovered a new sports game, such as Hexagol.
In short, the visit was very profitable, as we made new professional contacts, from which you will soon have news, and we saw colleagues from the sector again with whom we shared very good moments and exchanged opinions. That is why you know that counting on Gardenstore, is security of being up to date and that you are in very good hands. Do not hesitate to contact us with any questions.
