The Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry (FESI) is proud to officially announce the arrival of a new member, the European Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (EuroSIMA), the only European association aiming to unite boardsports companies and promote their economic development. EuroSIMA is now a regular member of FESI and is active in the different steering committees, in particular the one on product compliance, dealing with key EU initiatives related to consumer product information, safety, chemicals, and standards.
Founded in 1999, EuroSIMA is a non-profit association representing the European boardsports industry. Initially created by six key surfwear brands, namely Rip Curl, Billabong, Quiksilver, Rusty, Gotcha and Hoff, the objective was to respond to the explosion of the surf market in Europe in the 1990s. However, in 2005, EuroSIMA opened up to all boardsports and then established a boardsports cluster due to the rising importance of the industry in the Aquitaine region in France. While federating the stakeholders of the
boardsports industry, EuroSIMA advocates and supports the development of about 122 brands and 58 service providers.
“We are both satisfied and honored to welcome EuroSIMA, a key player in the representation of boardsports companies, as a new member. The arrival of EuroSIMA allows us to extend our representation in the sports equipment sector and increases our credibility towards the European authorities. ” said Jérôme Pero, FESI Secretary General. “This will ensure our policy messages to have a stronger impact on our European partners in the future, in particular regarding product compliance issues”, he added.
According to Franck Laporte-Fauret, EuroSIMA Executive Director, “joining FESI is a key step in representing the interests of our members at European level and supporting their wider economic development. We are delighted and proud to share within FESI our experience and expertise in terms of UV protective clothing and wetsuits. This will help position the industry as a key interlocutor on these issues at EU level.”
The decision to welcome EuroSIMA as a new member of FESI was adopted unanimously during FESI General Assembly late December. EuroSIMA is the fifth organisation joining the Federation for the year 2019, thus increasing its direct membership base to more than fifty companies and thirteen federations.
