Installer Show 2024 and some great tool finds!

As you know, here at Shadow Foam we love all things either tool, or toolbox related. So it's never a chore to visit some of the best tool exhibitions and trade fairs around the world. It is, however, much easier when they're located right on our doorstep in the UK. So we recently had the pleasure of another short road trip to Birmingham, this time for the InstallerSHOW 2024.

About the Installer Show

This is marketed as the must-see event if you're in any of the heat, water, air or energy sectors since they claim 20,000 installers, specifiers, and decision-makers visit the show every single year. For us though it was all about the tool hunt. We obviously did find a lot of brands and tools that we already know or have, however it did indeed turn out to be a real hotbed of new, quirky or innovative products. This really did make it a good event and a real worthwhile trip for us.

Who was there?

Trade fairs like this one are equally a great networking opportunity. Plus the perfect way to put faces to names, meeting of a lot of the people we're already working with. It was great to catch up with the ROTHENBERGER UK team for example. We started getting to know them better when we designed our Shadow Foam inserts for their Rocases. So it was brilliant to see some new tool innovations from them, and we did make a couple of purchases while we were there. Additionally the Big Wipe team are always great to see and the interactive demos they do to showcase their fantastic product never cease to amaze us.

A lot of the usual names were there as you'd expect, and no tool fair is complete without the presence of the big brands. KNIPEX Tools UK Ltd  are a firm favourite so it was great to see them, and after an insightful visit we unsurprisingly came away with some goodies.

Any hidden gems?

We so often find that the real magic and big finds are hidden amongst the big names at events like this, and that's why we leave no stone unturned on these trips.

It was great to see Nerrad Tools and DART Tool Group , we made some great finds on their stands. It was also good to learn about Hippo Bags from the Hippo Waste team too.

We met so many fantastic ambassadors from many brands and all ranges of business. It's this diverse yet relevant range of exchanges at events like this which make them so worthwhile for us. Not just in terms of further building our commercial knowledge, but also in influencing our own offering and range of products too.

We already knew Unilite of course, but meeting them at the show really cemented what a great business they are with some brilliant and handy products. Not at all surprisingly we came away from their stand with a bit of a haul. Also, it was a real pleasure to chat with the Band of Builders team to learn a lot more about their great work.

Playing the World number one at Darts

As a real leftfield experience, having a game of darts against World Champion darts player Luke Humphries at the Installer Show was a little unexpected. However it was brilliant to meet him alongside the team on the Smart Impressions stand.

As a former roofer, Luke knew his tools, but on the day who came out on top as the best darter in our little head-to-head? Watch here to find out!