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n went from Canada into the Italian market last year.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
The first Expo Riva Middle East show, held in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates in January, proved positive for the 13 Brazilian companies that exhibited a
2 months.
AUSTRALIA
K-9 Concepts, Inc. has completed its acquisition of 100% of the outstanding membership interests of Australian casual footwear company Aussie Soles International LLC. The new company intends to build itself in
mayor of the city, Jair Foscarini, is analysing the proposal, which includes a request that the city authorities provide premises for the new factory. The company says it would use the new facility to produce footwear for different brands, sta
budget for the programme will be around $50 million. The minister said half of this would go into a federal government fund while the other half would be in the hands of state governments throughout the country. He said the most likely us
k for this year remains positive. Currency-adjusted global brand sales grew more than 3% to reach
€
2.7 billion, even brand sales in euros fell slightly. Footwear sales climbed 1.9% on a comparable basis to reach
€
1,477.9 million.
FRANCE
tes that sat just outside the collection of fashion events known as ‘Paris Capitale de la Création’, which yearly draws around 600,000 buyers. The next time Midec is held, in September, it will form part of this mega-event.
ITALY
Sports bra
France in March. They have predominantly blue uppers to match Italy’s colours, but have an amazing design on the sole. Inspired by the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in The Vatican, the boots depict the creation of mankind from one of Mi
gion of Le Marche has revealed that it invited the Russian delegation to travel south after the exhibition to attend a special workshop on local footwear offerings in a famous monastery in Fiastra. The Russian market has become one of the
with general elections in Spain. The opening day of the fairs, Friday, March 7 attracted 1,500 more visitors than the corresponding day last year. The organisers, Ifema, believe that this pattern repeated itself on the middle day, Saturday, lea
erall picture for the industry looks far from positive. According to the latest figures released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics, year-to-date exports for the first seven months of the fiscal calendar (July 2007 to January 2008) fell 2.3% to 7.
country. Bata, which currently has 237 retail outlets in Bangladesh, has announced that it will open 40 new stores in the course of this year. And rival Apex Adelchi has said it will open 20 new outlets to add to the 70 it has already.
CHIN
g Kong-based Yue Yuen Industrial and owned by Yue Yuen’s parent company, Pou Chen Group of Taiwan—is now around $210 a month. The average footwear worker’s monthly wage in the area is $135. There are 27,000 people working
e now selling our footwear to Costco, this is untrue,” said Ron Snyder, Crocs president and chief executive, in a statement. “We have not sold Crocs-branded products to Costco nor have we authorised any of our customers to sell our prod
nada, with leather footwear—along with wine—leading factors in the growth east-to-west. The government office said the two nations traded goods worth ?5.6 billion in 2007, an increase of 12.4% on the year before. Canadian imports of
n the United Arab Emirates in January, proved positive for the 13 Brazilian companies that exhibited at the event, generating a possible $8 million-worth of business. According to a report published by the Arab Brazilian News Agency (AN
n casual footwear company Aussie Soles International LLC. The new company intends to build itself into a “globally known brand of footwear and accessories for the fashion, surf, travel, and medical industries”.
BRAZIL
A footwear ma
ew factory. The company says it would use the new facility to produce footwear for different brands, starting with 1000 pairs per day and 200 workers.
MEXICO
Mexico’s economy minister, Eduardo Sojo, has confirmed in a radio intervie
e other half would be in the hands of state governments throughout the country. He said the most likely use of the money would be to construct modern business parks to house new and existing manufacturing firms.
GERMANY
German at
euros fell slightly. Footwear sales climbed 1.9% on a comparable basis to reach
€
1,477.9 million.
FRANCE
The new organisers of the Midec footwear event in Paris have declared themselves satisfied with the latest edition of the Paris eve
0 buyers. The next time Midec is held, in September, it will form part of this mega-event.
ITALY
Sports brand Le Coq Sportif has designed a new boot for the captain of Italy’s national rugby team, Sergio Parisse. The Number 8, who was
d by the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in The Vatican, the boots depict the creation of mankind from one of Michelangelo’s paintings there.
RUSSIA
The impressive delegation of Russian footwear buyers attending the Micam exhibition in
hop on local footwear offerings in a famous monastery in Fiastra. The Russian market has become one of the most important for high-end Italian leather shoes in recent years.
SPAIN
The organisers of the spring edition of Madrid’s leather
nding day last year. The organisers, Ifema, believe that this pattern repeated itself on the middle day, Saturday, leaving lower numbers on Sunday as buyers from Spain wanted to be at home to vote.
PAKISTAN
Although Pakistan’s footw
tics, year-to-date exports for the first seven months of the fiscal calendar (July 2007 to January 2008) fell 2.3% to 7.9 million pairs worth $ 63.4 million, down from 8.6 million pairs worth $64.9 million in same period of the previous year.
B
se of this year. And rival Apex Adelchi has said it will open 20 new outlets to add to the 70 it has already.
CHINA
Workers in a factory in southern China who make footwear for Nike have been given a big increase in their salaries. Accordi
0 a month. The average footwear worker’s monthly wage in the area is $135. There are 27,000 people working at the site, producing 14 million pairs of Nike shoes a year.
UNITED STATES
The maker of colourful plastic shoe brand Crocs
have not sold Crocs-branded products to Costco nor have we authorised any of our customers to sell our products to Costco ” He added that when Crocs had found instances of resellers supplying it had ended its relationship with those
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2
MEXICO
The federal economy ministry has
wasted no time in confirming that it will impose
antidumping duties on footwear imports from
China in the early part of 2012. A tariff
agreement on imports from China of products
including footwear came to an end on
December 12. Minister for the economy, Bruno
Ferrari, met with footwear industry leaders in
León in the days following the change. After the
meeting, both the minister and footwear
industry associations made statements to
Mexican media confirming the start of a formal
process to impose antidumping duties on
Chinese shoes coming into the country.
ETHIOPIA
Chinese footwear
company Hujuan is to begin operations
in Ethiopia. Hujuan commenced
investment activities in Ethiopia in
October 2011 and is in the final stages
of constructing a factory in Dukem.
The factory is expected to produce
3,000 pairs of shoes per day for export.
Hujuan anticipates that production will
begin in its Ethiopian factory early in
2012, according to Berhanu Nigus,
head of quality testing and certification
services at the Leather Industry
Development Institute.
TUNISIA
Tunisia’s National
Leather and Footwear Centre has
reported that the country’s total
value of leather and footwear
exports for the first 11 months of
2011 stood at $637.1 million,
compared with $587.8 million
during the same period of 2010,
representing an 8% increase.
RUSSIA
ANCI, the National
Association of Italian Footwear
Manufacturers, has said events it held in
Russia, Kazakhstan and the Ukraine
towards the end of 2011 to promote
shoes made in Italy went well. At the
events, 23 Italian companies were able to
present their spring-summer 2012
collections to customers from across
eastern Europe and central Asia. ANCI
president, Cleto Sagripanti, said that
following “a two-year crisis period”, the
market in this part of the world was once
again showing keen interest in quality
Italian shoes.
SPAIN
Spain’s national statistics
institute, the INE, has published figures
that show the level of investment the
industries in the country’s fashion-
focused manufacturing sector (including
footwear) put into research and
development (R&D) in 2010. While
garment manufacture reduced its R&D
spend by 12.3% and textile manufacture
also registered a fall (of 7.8%), the
footwear and leather sector bucked the
trend by increasing its spend on R&D by
3.6%. Of the three industries, footwear
and leather has by far the smallest share
of the total research spend (16.7% of the
total at
€
14 million), but at least the
message that R&D can lead to future
success still resonated with footwear
manufacturers and tanners in 2010.
PORTUGAL
For the first
time ever, the Portuguese
footwear industry has a
positive trade balance with
Italy. Industry body Apiccaps
has reported that in the first
nine months of 2011
Portuguese shoe
manufacturers shipped two
million pairs to Italy for a
combined value of
€
39.8
million. Over the same time
frame, Portuguese wholesalers
and retailers imported
1.8 million pairs from Italian
manufacturers, with a value
€
39.76 million.