4/2/2025 Hunting Outdoor Target Sports Articles

Debut Delight? What 5 First-Time Exhibitors Thought of IWA

We all remember our first time, right? The butterflies in your stomach, the sweaty palms, the nervous tension in the air. Excitement and anticipation keeping you on edge. Will this be the day that changes your life? Will you look back on this day fondly and remember it for a long time to come? I am, of course, talking about the first time visiting IWA OutdoorClassics. For many people in the hunting and shooting industry, that first time really does change their lives, and then becomes a regular thing that they, nor their businesses, can live without.

Two team members from MTS posing with the shooting targets they make.

Jakub Stadnicki (left) brought his range of versatile shooting targets to the Newcomer Area.

Making your debut at a huge exhibition like IWA OutdoorClassics is a big deal. To have a successful exhibition involves meticulous planning beforehand, many hours of hard work at the event itself, and also a tiny amount of luck that you will meet someone who could become your next serious partner. There’s no way you can get everything perfect on your first attempt – there will always be things you want to do bigger or better next time – but you will only ever be a first-time exhibitor once. Can you remember what that feeling is like? With seemingly limitless avenues of potential stretched out before you? To help you remember, we spoke to five first-timers from IWA OutdoorClassics 2025 to get their impressions.

Original LÖWE, Germany

This German company founded in 1923 may be familiar to you – it’s well-known and long-established in the world of pruning shears. However, Original LÖWE recently began receiving messages and enquiries from hunters who were using their famous shears to open up and cut the game they had shot.

“We picked up this idea and we modified some of our shears to develop a new range that is specific to the hunting market,” explained Finn Isernhagen, Global Key Account Manager for Original LÖWE. “Now, we have four different shears specifically made for different types of cutting game. The main advantage our shears have is that they can create a very smooth and clean cut, even on bone, which means you don’t need to saw, which can create splinters.”

Finn Isernhagen and Kevin Kalitzki posing on the Original LÖWE stand at IWA 2025.

Finn Isernhagen and Kevin Kalitzki represented a new line of hunting specific products from Original LÖWE.

This market-led interest was a compelling enough reason for Original LÖWE to dip their toe in the IWA waters, with the aim of trying to grow this new market segment in other countries besides Germany at the forefront of the team’s mind.

“Our first aim of being here is to increase awareness about our product. It’s a tool that will make a hunter’s life easier. We also have excellent after-service and repairs with parts made in Germany,” said Finn. “I think we have had a lot of good conversations with people all over Europe who might be interested to pick this up. We also spoke to several different media, which will help us increase our profile.”

Carbonomix, Slovenia

One key to being a successful newcomer at IWA is having a product that catches the eye – and that was certainly the case with Slovenia-based Carbonomix. This company specialises in carbon and carbon/Kevlar hybrid stocks for several big-hitting hunting rifles including the Blaser R8 and Blaser R93.

Anja Pitamic and Nace Mihelic holding a carbon rifle stock.

Anja Pitamic and Nace Mihelic show off Carbonomix’s eye-catching carbon stocks.

“Our stocks were designed with Alpine hunting in mind because they are very lightweight, and in these kinds of conditions, every gram counts,” says Nace Mihelic, the Designer and Master Builder at Carbonomix. Nace should know, he’s a very skilled Alpine hunter himself. He established this company five years ago and decided this year was the right one to attend IWA.

Nace continued: “Our goal at the show was to find some new distributors and also to tap into the German market. We already have good international representation, especially in Scandinavia, but we can always find more, which is why we are here. We have had some very interesting conversations; we are really happy about some of the new connections we have made. We will consider returning next year too.”

MSC Cofek, Croatia

As one of only three Croatian companies exhibiting at this year’s show, MSC Cofek must have felt like they were really flying the flag in the Exhibition Center. This family business has more than 60 years of experience in manufacturing but only started its airgun pellet brand in 2017.

Three members of the MSC team posing on their stand at IWA 2025.

Milan Cofek (centre) and the MSC team who travelled from Croatia to be at IWA OutdoorClassics.

“Our aim of being here is to grow the business and show ourselves to the world – as we are a relatively new company,” said Milan Cofek, the company’s CEO. “Our reputation is good in Croatia so now we have to show ourselves to other markets.”

MSC’s pellets are designed for sport shooters of all types, from beginners to advanced shooters. The brand used IWA as a way of building on its already strong reputation in Croatia and echoing that out to neighbouring countries in Europe.

Milan added: “Our reputation is good in Croatia so now we have to show ourselves to other markets. We have attended this show many times as visitors, so we knew it was an important event for the industry. This Newcomer Area is a good idea for us, it helps us to have a presence at the show in a good location.”

Aimlink.ai, Denmark

With just a television screen and a couple of smartphones on their stand, Danish company Aimlink certainly attracted my attention as I walked the Newcomer Area – just what do these guys do? A target detection app for smartphones and tablets is the answer, with the ability to use wireless cameras to get direct feedback on your target shooting and record it in a log.

“You can do it this way, or if you don’t have a camera and you only have a paper target, then you can take a picture of it and then it will calibrate and see where your shots are. You can also manually enter where your shots hit,” explained Aimlink’s Alex Bessermann. “You can then save all this data in a log and keep track of your shooting over time, compare and compete with friends, or use your data to help you improve your shooting with an AI coach.”

Two staff from Aimlink posing on the company’s stand at IWA 2025.

Alex Bessermann and Jens Bo Friis from Aimlink used the show to learn more about the needs of the market.

For Aimlink, being at IWA was as much about fact-finding and research as it was about meeting new potential customers. The company was seeking to speak with brands, shooting clubs, and the industry at large to get feedback on the needs of the market.

Alex continued: “We want to find where the bridge is between hardware and software products in the market, and how we can use our data to help the shooting community enjoy themselves and improve their skills.

“We want other clubs from other parts of the world to find us and so far, we have had success in that. We’ve had people from Germany, Turkey, Greece, Oman, Northern Africa and some others. Not only are these great business connections but their feedback is also very useful for us – we are gathering information on how we can evolve.”

MTS Shooting Targets, Poland

Attracting visitors to its booth with an array of colourful shooting targets, Polish company MTS seemed like it had a very fruitful debut at IWA OutdoorClassics. The company produces a wide range of polymer targets, steel targets, and moving targets – all made at its facility in Poland.

The company’s owner Jakub Stadnicki explained: “We have been on the market for around 11 years and we are still coming up with new ideas and new products. Our hope with being here is to find some new markets for our products – that is the main reason we decided to be here. We already sell to quite a few European countries but we want to get interest from other places.

“We’ve been speaking to a few shooting ground owners and shooting clubs – our targets are very convenient for them because there is a lot of interchangeability with our system. We have been here as spectators in the last few years, so we knew exhibiting here would meet our expectations – we are happy so far, it’s the best option to promote your company in Europe.”