>> Business News June

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

GDS and Global Shoes embark on next round

Under the motto “Inspiration to go” the international shoe branch will again be meeting from 5 to 7 September at the fairs and Global Shoes in Dusseldorf. The focus this time round will be on footwear fashion for Spring/Summer 2013, embedded in the eleven GDS theme worlds. There will also be an extensive supporting program with fashion shows, lectures and seminars. Once again the GDS is expected to attract in excess of 800 exhibitors from more than 30 different countries.

Global Shoes will be running alongside the GDS. Under the motto “shoe fashion all along the line” the platform for volume providers will showcase a wide selection of shoes and leather goods for the volume market. The upcoming event again expects to host more than 350 exhibitors from all major footwear producing countries.

Modacalzado with new dates

The next edition of the Spanish footwear and leather goods fair Modacalzado+Iberpiel has been retimed to run from Saturday 22 until Monday 24 September in Madrid. The aim of this rescheduling is to make it easier for buyers to attend and to spread the flow of visitors more evenly over the three days. For visitors from abroad the fair will focus more strongly on buyers from South America and Eastern Europe. In addition, visitors will be offered a more pleasurable stay in Madrid by a range of activities organized in parallel with the fair. The projects, which have the backing of the Madrid Region and the municipal administration, include evening events, guided tours through the capital’s main stores with extended opening times and price reductions in hotels, restaurants and on public transport.

Zalando expands into more countries

In June footwear and fashion mail order company Zalando started up in Spain, Finland, Denmark and Poland. Prior to that, the Berlin on-line shop traded in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands, France, Great Britain, Italy, Sweden and Belgium.

Wanted: innovative ideas for recycling footwear and textiles

I:Collect AG and EPEA internationale Umweltforschung GmbH are to present for the second time the I:CO Award for fresh ideas in the field of footwear and textile recycling. In the words of I:Collect AG the international research prize is endowed with 5000 Euro and honors innovative research work aimed at permanently recycling textiles and footwear. The recycling exposés relating to the award can be submitted by 31 August, together with a two-page summary in German or English, under Info @ico-spirit.com.

2^nd Ifle Guangzhou – paralleling Shoez & Leather

The second edition of Ifle, the International Footwear & Leather Products Exhibition, ran from 30 May till 1 June simultaneously with the established materials fair Shoes & Leather in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. Still eminently manageable, the fair hosted 105 companies from eleven countries (China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam), sharing a gross exhibition area of some 6000 square meters. The event benefited from the Shoes & Leather fair located directly next door which attracted 965 exhibitors. After the doors had closed the organizer, Hong-Kong-based Top Repute Co. Ltd, reported that a total of 5500 visitors from 43 countries and regions had attended Ifle. One third of the visitors were from Guangdong province where numerous footwear firms are headquartered. Some 40 percent of the visitors came from other Chinese provinces and 28 percent from abroad, including a large number from nearby Hong Kong.

Expo Riva on last year’s scale

With 10,686 visitors the 76^th edition of Expo Riva Shoe on Lake Garda roughly equalled the number in attendance at last year’s summer event (10,711 visitors). Fair director Giovanni Laezza particularly stressed the fair’s highly international character and the presence of buyers from overseas, particularly the USA and Japan. 1244 exhibitors, including 893 from outside Italy, occupied around 32,000 square meters of floorspace. For the first time the Council for Leather Export India (CLE) with its 132 members occupied a hall of its own. From 5 till 7 July Expo Riva will run a second time in India as Expo Riva Shoe India. The aim, according to fair director Roberto Pellegrini, is to tap into new markets and further boost the fair’s international character.