News briefs – Page 30
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News briefs
Italy registers booming bike sales
Bicycle sales in Italy have jumped by 60 percent since bicycle shops reopened after the lockdown on May 6, as compared to the same period of 2019. According to data released on June 9 by Ancma (Associazione Nazionale Ciclo Motociclo Accessori), the sector’s trade association, Italians bought 540,000 units in ...
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News briefs
Vietnam gets an advantage over Cambodia
While the government of Cambodia continues to take insufficient action to secure labor rights in the country, Vietnam’s parliament has just ratified a free-trade agreement with the European Union. Only a few steps are still missing before it goes into effect on Aug. 1, making it more likely that European ...
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News briefs
Germany’s VAT cut may hit retailers across the border
Germany decided on June 3 to reduce the VAT rate on non-food products to 16 percent from 19 percent, starting from July 1 and through the balance of this year, to give a boost to consumption and the economy. It has also cut the VAT rate for restaurants from 19 ...
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News briefs
Italy’s sporting goods industry calls for public support
Assosport, the Italian Association of the Sporting Goods Industry, is urging the Italian government to adopt effective measures to help the sector recover, after three months of inactivity. In its opinion, the measures should include, among others, an exceptional reduced VAT rate of 4 percent on sporting goods until July ...
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News briefs
The IOC and WHO renew cooperation to promote physical activity
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have announced a new cooperation agreement that reiterates their joint commitment to promoting healthy lifestyles, including physical activity, sport and active recreation, as a tool for better health conditions across the globe. The agreement was signed by the IOC’s ...
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News briefs
Spain permits large stores to open in “Phase 1” regions
Decathlon has reopened its 24 small Decathlon City stores in Spain in two stages, while offering click & collect at 74 of its larger stores in the country. Spain’s Ministry of Health has revised its initial guidelines for stores re-openings in Phase 1 regions. By the estimate of the Spanish ...
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News briefs
Fedas fears big sales losses for sports retailers
The Federation of European Sports Retailers (Fedas) has developed a plan of action to improve the protection of employees, customers and particularly vulnerable persons in the retail sector from coronavirus infection. The concept was developed under the leadership of Peter Bruggmann, vice president of Fedas and president of the Swiss ...
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News briefs
Customs seize 1,300 pairs of fake sports shoes
Customs officials in Hamburg have confiscated and destroyed over 1,300 pairs of fake branded sports shoes. They were found together with so-called ”no-name products” in a sea container that arrived from China on Feb. 20. Without revealing the brand names, the officials said they found about 400 different shoe models ...
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News briefs
Nike obtains dismissal of Klaw logo suit
Nike has obtained the dismissal of Kawhi Leonard’s lawsuit over the “Klaw” logo. Leonard plays for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The so-called Klaw logo is easily identified with the player himself, as it is meant to symbolize his distinctly large hands. According to Nike, ...
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News briefs
New Balance wins a case against a Chinese firm
New Balance has won in a copyright case against New Barlun, a Chinese firm that was using an “N” symbol that resembled New Balance’s signature logo on shoes and apparel. The Shanghai Pudong People’s Court has ordered New Barlun to pay damages of 10.8 million yuan (US$1.54 million) to New ...
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News briefs
New Balance settles lawsuit against Nautica
The trademark infringement lawsuit that New Balance filed in Massachusetts in August 2019 against Authentic Brands Group over use of the letter “N” on footwear and apparel by the brand Nautica has been settled. All claims against Nautica have been dismissed without prejudice, and each party will be covering its ...
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News briefs
Spanish sports retailer calls Spain’s rent forgiveness insufficient
CMDsport reports that the owner of Base Deportes Santa Gema, Francisco Torrejón, deems the Spanish government’s moratorium on rents “insufficient,” as it doubly excludes companies like his own. Decreed on April 21, the moratorium applies to independent workers and, more pertinently, to SMEs with no more than €6 million in ...
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News briefs
Fibo’s event director joins EuropeActive’s board
At its general assembly this month – held online to comply with Covid-19 quarantine – EuropeActive appointed Silke Frank, event director for the fitness trade show Fibo, to its board of directors. Frank joins Alfonso Jiménez of Ingesport Go Fit, Jennifer Halsall of Basic-Fit International and Ana Damaso of Portugal ...
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News briefs
Catalonia prepares plan to reintroduce sports
Spain has been one of the European countries that has been most affected by the novel coronavirus. Gerard Figueras, secretary general of sports and physical activity for the autonomous region of Catalonia, has told CMDsport that its government hopes to lift the Covid-19 quarantine of children on April 27 and ...
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News briefs
Spanish retailers petition the government for rent relief
CMDsport reports that seven trade organizations – the Spanish Confederation of Commerce (CEC); the Spanish Association of Buying Groups (Anceco); the retail, service and restaurant associations Amicca, Comertia, Acotex and Eurelia; and the Spanish Federation of Home Appliance Merchants (Fece) – have submitted a formal letter to the Spanish government ...
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News briefs
Fesi guides members through the Covid-19 crisis
The Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry, Fesi, has created a Covid-19 Task Force to collect all kinds of information on what the European Commission and member governments of the European Union are doing in terms of regulations and financial help to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus and ...
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News briefs
Egyptian sportswear industry
The Egyptian sportswear manufacturing industry will be supported by a project, led by the International Trade Centre (ITC), that is supposed to create jobs and boost exports. The project is funded by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) of the Swiss Confederation and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency ...
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News briefs
Wolverine fined in Michigan
Wolverine Worldwide has agreed to pay $69.5 million to local authorities and the state of Michigan over several years to remedy water contamination from chemicals used in a now-closed tannery and other company-owned facilities in the state. On the other hand, WWW will get $55 million in a lump sum ...
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News briefs
Brooks Brothers countersues
Brooks Brothers has reacted to Brooks Sports’ suit (see our previous issue) by launching a countersuit, claiming that the latter may use the “Brooks” name alone only for athletic footwear, whereas the clothing company can use the “Brooks” name alone for all other kinds of products, including sports apparel, sports ...
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News briefs
Afydad pitches a pádel lobby
On Feb 25, at Madrid’s Instituto de Comercio Exterior, the Spanish Association of Sporting Goods Manufacturers and Distributors (Afydad) pitched what it called the International Pádel Cluster (CIP) to a gathering of about 60 professionals with ties to the sport. The CIP’s objective would be to federate the various companies ...
