>> Business News June

TFL publishes every month business news with focus on the leather industry, on a worldwide basis.

Earlier start for Bright

The streetwear fair Bright will open one day earlier this summer to run in parallel with the big fairs Bread &Butter and Premium from 4 to 6 July. The organizers are again expecting as many as 330 exhibitors.

New autumn dates for Moda made in Italy

New dates for the autumn edition of the “Moda made in Italy” specialist footwear fair are 12 to 14 October 2012 in Munich. The fair will thus avoid overlapping with the “Oktoberfest” and with a further big event, Expo Real.

Zalando extends future warehouse in Erfurt

Online footwear dealer Zalando is to add a further two halls to its new logistics center. The hall currently under construction covers a floorspace of 78’000 square meters. Construction started in October 2011 and is due for completion in mid-2012. The two new halls now to be added have a floorspace of over 48’000 square meters and should be finished in summer 2013. The total investment for the expansion will be about 70 million Euro. Zalando has also announced that proprietary online shops have also been started up in Belgium and Sweden. To date the company has operated own shops in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Great Britain and Italy.

Wolverine takes over Collective Brands

Wolverine World Wide, the parent company of brands such as Merrell, Sebago, Hush Puppies and Cat, is taking over the Performance + Lifestyle Group (PLG) from Collective Brands, owner of the footwear brands Saucony, Sperry Top-Sider, Stride Rite and Keds. The takeover will cost Wolverine 1.23 billion dollars and boost the company’s annual sales by just under one billion dollars to a grand total of 2.5 billion dollars. Finalization of the transaction is scheduled for the third quarter of 2012.

Deichmann launches mobile shop

Deichmann is now offering its customers a mobile variant of its online shop www.deichmann.com. For the mobile version the online shop pages have been optimized for smartphones. When a page is called up the terminal and the operating system are identified, and the appropriately adapted web site is automatically presented. The mobile version of the online shop also offers a range of functions such as search functions, various payment options such as by credit card, pay on delivery or PayPal, and different views of the items being purchased. Shoes which have been ordered online can be returned to any one of Deichmann’s 1’200 branches. Deichmann now operates eight different online shops internationally. Besides in Germany there are digital branches in Switzerland, The Netherlands, Denmark, Great Britain, Austria and Poland. This year further new online shops will be opened in Sweden, Italy and Turkey.

OutDoor stays put in Friedrichshafen

The international specialist fair OutDoor is to stay on in Friedrichshafen after 2013. The biggest outdoor fair in Europe, it has been organized in that city since 1994. Last year its hosted 890 exhibitors from 40 different countries, plus 21’520 visitors from 91 countries. The next OutDoor will run from 12 to 15 July.

78^th Expo Riva

From 16 to 19 June the Expo Riva footwear fair will be held for the 78^th time in Riva del Garda. Within a net exhibition space of 32’000 square metres some 1’200 firms (800 from abroad) will showcase their collections, giving a foretaste of the spring/summer 2013 collections. There will also be repeat order offers for the autumn/winter season 2012/2013. The last Expo Riva brought 12’500 visitors to Lake Garda.