03/01/2025

IWA OutdoorClassics 2025 impresses with high visitor quality and global participation

Nuremberg, 2 March 2025: IWA OutdoorClassics 2025 has come to a successful close. With around 30,000 visitors over four days, the world's leading exhibition for the hunting and target sports industry once again emphasised its importance. Thanks to the newly developed legitimation, visitor quality was noticeably increased. IWA remains the most important event for the industry and trade, particularly at international level. Visitors from 126 countries came to Nuremberg, most of them from Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Switzerland, France and Spain. Exhibitors were enthusiastic about the busy and high-quality atmosphere of the exhibiton. The networking among experts and the close co-operation of all industry participants on relevant topics from the hunting and target sports industry is seen as particularly important. Around 75 percent of the exhibition space at IWA 2026 have already been sold for IWA 2026, underlining the confidence and anticipation for the next edition.

Visitors to the IWA OutdoorClassics stream towards the entrance. — IWA OutdoorClassics 2025 closes successfully

Focus on quality

The new legitimation for IWA 2025 placed a clear focus on the specialist trade. IWA presented itself as a lively workroom for the most important representatives from industry and trade worldwide. Not only was the exhibition pleasant and efficiently organised, but the exhibitors' stands and offices were always well attended. The high quality of visitors underlines the success of the new legitimation and the importance of IWA as the ‘place-to-be’ for the industry. The attractiveness of the IWA was once again demonstrated by the supporting events, such as the plenary session of the World Forum on Shooting Activities (W.F.S.A).

Exhibitor voices

“IWA 2025 has been a great success. The most important thing for me as the sales responsible for all of Europe is being able to meet with all the important European and international distributors. Almost all of them were here – it is a great chance to meet them all within a few days. It’s the most important show in Europe. Sig Sauer has been present on the show for many years, this year we are here in cooperation with our German Distributor German Sport Guns, and it is great to be here with them. The stand has always been busy. We will definitely be here next year, we had a good size booth this year. Of course it’s a decision for our marketing department, but maybe next year we will look at a few square metres more.”

Christian Hark, Sales Responsible Europe at Sig Sauer (United States)

“To be quite honest, so far so good with this year’s IWA. We have had a number of good quality meetings; it was perhaps a little bit less crowded than in previous years but overall, I am very happy with that. The most important thing for us in the show is to meet with existing customers and also to try and gain some new customers, and I would say that in general the quality of the customers here at IWA is way better than at some other show that I have done. I have done many shows in Germany and Austria recently and this one quality-wise is the best. The show also helps us be informed about new trends and see what other companies are doing.”

Luis J. Dirmeier, Sales Development Representative at Schmidt und Bender (Germany)

“IWA show was really good for us this year. We met several customers from many different countries and received some pretty good feedback from the people visiting and our stand, and overall, we made pretty good business. All the days have been quite busy for us even with our big team of around 15 people. It’s hard work for four days, but it is really worth it for us. Most of the customers who came to see us are very satisfied with our products but we also find the feedback we get from them very useful to help us develop new products in the future. Most customers tell us what they want and what they do, and we only need to listen.”

Peter Koch, Managing Director at NEXTORCH Deutschland (Germany)

“We actually hadn’t exhibited here since before the pandemic, so this is our first time back after a few years, but to be honest, it has been absolutely fantastic. We have been dealing with a number of existing customers while we have been here, touching base with them and building relationships, but there has also been an influx of interest from potential new customers. The interest that we have had also appears to be very meaningful. It’s been people from all over the globe, which has really been quite eye-opening. I feel like the show has had a really good feel to it and a really good atmosphere this year.”

Lewis Ramsey, UK Sales at Gamebore (United Kingdom)

“The show has really been amazing, we have made really good contacts with German retailers and also international retailers. We have met with old friends and made a lot of new friends too, and I feel like I really I got in touch with a lot of people and the right people – it’s been a blast. A lot of people came to us and said they knew our brand and they were happy to see us back, whereas some were very surprised to see us here – they knew us from general sports but didn’t realise we have been doing hunting gear since 1908. It’s a natural fit for us to be here, we will absolutely be back again.”

Marcus Ehlig, Sales Manager Southwest at Bergans (Norway)

“We are pretty satisfied about the show, maybe there has been a little less visitors than in past editions, but the quality has been good. We are meeting a lot of clients from all over the world, so we are pretty satisfied with it. Mainly we are meeting existing customers who are verifying their orders and things such as that, but there is also new space for some new clients and we have met with some who seem willing to make a cooperation with us. The show is not only important for Fiocchi but also the other brands in our family such as Perazzi and Baschieri. We did not showcase our English brand Lyalvale here, but we showcased them in a national show there.”

Francesco Gazzetta, Head of Sales Centrefire at Fiocchi (Italy)

“In these modern times when a lot of socialising in done in a digital way, for me, it’s really important to still have these in-person fairs. They give you a chance to have face-to face communication with customers and partners, which I believe is the best way. With face-to-face communication it is easier to solve problems together, but I think that more and more people maybe forget this. IWA is very important show for us – it gives us four days to have a lot of contact with important partners who we have had long relationships with, and also to find new contacts, which often happens in an organic way.”

Christopher Mijal, Managing Director of WAIMEX (Germany)

Voice of the event management Stefanie Leege

‘IWA 2025 was a complete success. Despite the challenges we faced this year, we experienced a exhibition that set new standards in terms of quality and internationality. I am particularly happy about the strong international presence, which has once again confirmed IWA as an indispensable platform for the industry. The positive feedback from our exhibitors and the numerous successful technical discussions are a clear sign that the IWA 2025 offered a perfect environment for the most important representatives from industry and trade.

I would like to thank all exhibitors, visitors and the entire team for their tireless efforts and support. We are already looking forward to IWA 2026 and are convinced that we will experience another successful IWA next year.’

IWA Knife Award

The IWA Knife Award was presented this year in the two categories ‘Outdoor’ and ‘Kitchen / Cookery’. However, a total of four winners were honoured. The jury presented a ‘Jurys Choice’ award and the trade visitors were also able to vote for their favourite. A total of 77 entries were submitted by exhibitors from 12 nations.

The winners

Outdoor category:

1st place: ACHA from Lionsteel
2nd place: Artemis from Eickhorn Solingen
3rd place: RANGER Bushcraft knife with fixed blade from Mercury

Kitchen / Cooking category

1st place: Coquus Chef's Knife from Due Cigni, Oreste Frati
2nd place: Trinciante Damasco from Coltellerie Maserin
3rd place: Nitro from Linder/Wanger

Jury Award Winner: Dvardala Axe from Hultafors

‘Trade Visitors Favourite": Colour Lovers from MAM Knives

Information on all submitted products as well as product information on the winning knives can be found in the press kit.

IWA Knife Award press kit, download (ZIP file)

Preview of IWA 2026

The positive exhibitor feedback is impressively underlined by the current advance sales for IWA 2026: Around 75 percent of the exhibition space has already been sold. This underlines the exhibitors' great confidence and anticipation for the upcoming trade fair.

Strategically, IWA will continue on its sharpened course: The focus will continue to be on quality rather than quantity, with a large selection of top brands and strong international participation.

Save the Date: The next IWA OutdoorClassics will take place from 26 February to 1 March 2026 in Nuremberg in nine halls on the same days.