Swiss European Market Insight

SWISS

The situation in Switzerland this spring has started to loosen a bit, the shops have been open for several weeks and other public spaces and leisure activities are also reopening bit by bit. Switzerland was not locked down, at least not in the strictest sense, no curfew either but remote working was mandatory wherever possible. The situation at the end of this winter and beginning of spring was still tense and uncertain but a kind of normality did slowly establish itself. Today the restrictions on the number of people per shop (depending on its size) aren’t as limiting as before but wearing a mask inside is still mandatory. Apart from large gatherings, wearing a face covering is no longer obligatory outdoors and groups of up to 300 people can meet up. Life is starting up again and fears and uncertainties seem to have given way to a desire to get on with it. With the summer approaching, the question of tourism is obviously on everybody’s lips: who will want to or be able to leave, who can come visit us? The situation is still pretty vague. Some regions of Europe and the wider world seem to be pretty closed still so it’s hard to say whether Swiss citizens will spend their money in their own country or take it abroad. In any case, summer businesses in our mountains and around our lakes are prepared for a high local turnout, as was the case last year, so have kitted themselves out accordingly (where possible). Switzerland’s relatively open policy this spring has helped put smiles back on faces in shops and even though the weather has been pretty gloomy sales have gone quite well and attendance has been high. This has certainly been missed and with so many activities still forbidden but shops open, shopping has gone beyond what was before, becoming an activity in

AUSTRIA itself. On a boardsports level, retailers were also SPAIN rather pleased with being able to reopen, the FRANCE snowed stayed on our mountain tops for a long UK time, allowing our touring enthusiasts to enjoy GERMANY themselves into early June while, on a more ITALY urban note, skateboarding restarted on the front foot, continuing on its great charge of the last two years. Completes were the first to go before seeing spare parts (decks, trucks, wheels) getting cleared out. As has been the case for some time now, it hasn’t always been easy to get stock and lots of items have become scarce and unable to be delivered. This was the case for skateboard completes along with trucks. At the start of May, Raul Quitério from Doodah in Lausanne was relieved when he finally received trucks that had been sold out for many weeks. The watersports industry also seems to be in good shape, the current circumstances are forcing everyone to rethink their activities, free time and holidays. Many people are trying to make the most of what they have on their doorstep and, after the mountains, it’s the lakes that attract the most Swiss people for sporting activities. These water-based activities have seen strong development in recent years and 2021 seems to be continuing on this path. Obviously there was the explosion of SUP, more recently the appearance of all the different foil set-ups, especially Wing-Foil, and that’s not to mention wake boards, wake surfing and of course the opening of Alaïa Bay, Wavegarden’s first Swiss wave (more on this next issue!) So demand for these products has been quite high for several months and all have one common denominator, neoprene. Sales of all types and thicknesses of neoprene have drastically increased in recent months, to such an extent that there has been a significant lack of stock. Here’s hoping the shortfall is not too great to overcome.

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