The Outdoor Trade Show 2026

Just back from this year's Outdoor Trade Show in Liverpool. To my surprise this was the 20th show. I didn't think there had been that many. As always there was plenty to see and plenty of people to chat with, often the only time I meet them face to face each year.

Three days in this vast hall with its temporary outdoor gear village.

Amidst all the new gear it was good to see Keela promoting its Legacy Project, which is about restoring, repairing, and reworking items so they last longer. 

Paramo has long been a leader in environmentally friendly gear. This year they showed a prototype jacket made with fully recyclable components. The jacket has no zips but all the features you'd expect. Production isn't planned to start until autumn 2028 though. However some of the design features such as zip-free waterproof pockets will appear on other garments as early as next winter. This sounds an excellent project.

Paramo prototype

Here's a look at a few new items I found interesting. I'm writing an over view of the show for The Great Outdoors magazine (last year's review here) and I'll be reviewing some of the gear over the next year. Many items won't be available until next spring or even later so don't expect to see them in the shops for a while.

The last few years have seen many new stoves arrive and there were two more good-looking ones at the show. Soto had a regulated stove that runs off plug-in horizontal canisters. The only stove I'm aware of that ran off these long narrow canisters was the Primus Grasshopper back in the 1970s. That stove used the canister as one of the stove legs. 

Primus itself had a winter/cold weather version of the new Lite Ultra  (which I'm currently testing). The Ulti Lite has a regulated radiant burner.

There were many new sleeping pads on display and some ultralight closed cell foam ones from Big Agnes caught my eye. There hasn't been anything new in this area for many years, all the attention going to inflatable mats. Big Agnes is a new lighter weight foam that is said to be as durable as heavier ones. Mats made from this are also more compact when packed, which will be excellent. An even lighter foam, is coming too. A full-length mat made from this will weigh just 99 grams!

The weights of some inflatable mats are coming down too. Sea to Summit's Ultralight Ion R5 mat only weighs 315g while having an R-Value of 5. It's also very compact.

Rab has revamped its sleeping bag range, something that seems to happen quite often. Completely new is a quilt in the ultralight Mythic range.

Of the many tents on display Robens has an ultralight trekking pole solo model, the Via 1, which is available now and which I have on test.

At the other extreme of backpacking tents Terra Nova had the Odyssey 1 and 2, which are designed for winter mountain use. The design is clearly derived from the Hilleberg Soulo, though with some different features. The solo Odyssey 1 is also lighter weight and less expensive (though by no means light and still costly).

Finally I liked Xtorm 3in1 Travel Charger, which combines a power bank and a wall charger. This looks excellent for long trips where both those are needed.

I wrote about last year's show here.