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ent 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 at th
onths.
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 into
yor 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, startin
get 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 use of
r 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
The
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 brand
nce 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 Miche
n 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 mo
h 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, leavin
ll 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 7.9 m
ntry. 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.
CHINA
W
ong-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 at th
w 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 products
a, 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 Itali
e 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 (ANBA)
asual 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 manuf
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 interview th
ther 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 athlet
ros 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 event in
yers. 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 act
y 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 Mila
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 an
ng 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 footwear
, 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.
BAN
f 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. According t
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 has
ve 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 cus
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WORLD FOOTWEAR | MAY/JUNE 2012
News
BRAZIL
The local chamber of commerce
in Spain’s main footwear manufacturing
province, Alicante, is to run a trade mission
to Brazil for local footwear components
suppliers. Companies had until the end of
April to sign up for a place for the visit,
which will take place between June 25 and
29. The visit will coincide with the Francal
footwear exhibition in São Paulo (June 26-
29). The chamber of commerce said the
aim of the mission was to help Spanish
companies in the sector establish new, and
consolidate existing, commercial
relationships in the Brazilian market.
DENMARK
Danish fashion footwear
brand Lola Ramona has ended a
commercial agreement with specialist clog
brand Sanita. In a statement, the
companies said they had brought the
agreement to an end on April 1, with
Sanita saying it wanted focus on
strengthening its core business. At the
same time, Gitte Sandquist, owner of the
Lola Ramona brand, has set up a new
company, THIS, to help “strengthen the
design profile” of Lola Ramona. Sanita has
confirmed that it will complete orders it
received before April for shoes in the Lola
Ramona autumn-winter 2012-2013
collection; THIS will handle orders
received from April 1.
GERMANY
The CEO of German
sportswear brand adidas has said the
company plans to reduce the size of its
product portfolio by a quarter to
improve overall corporate
performance. Herbert Haine said that
adidas currently sells 46,897 different
lines, many of which do not deliver the
desired results. “Twenty percent of our
products account for roughly 80% of
sales,” he said. “We need to remove
the products where margins and
volumes are too small. We will reduce
our collection by 25%.”
SERBIA
Italian footwear brand
Geox is to invest in Serbia, setting
up a new factory in the southern
city of Nis. Reports have
suggested that the new Geox
factory will employ as many as
500 people. Geox founder, Mario
Moretti Polegato, said during a
visit to Serbia at the end of April
that he was keen to expand the
business into new countries. He
also said that low labour costs
were an attraction.
PORTUGAL
Portuguese footwear
brand Fly London increased its sales by
17% in 2011, in spite of Portugal being
in the midst of a second year of
punitive recession. Total revenues
reached
€
28 million. It was a
particularly good year for the brand in
the US, with sales there increasing by
60% compared to 2010, and Fly London
expects another good year there in
2012. The company believes it can sell
100,000 pairs of shoes in the US this
year, about 15% of its entire output,
which in 2011 was 700,000 pairs.
SPAIN
Two of Spain’s biggest
trade unions have accused footwear
manufacturers there of going back
on a commitment to review shoe
industry workers’ salaries and have
said they intend to take industry
bodies FICE, the Spanish Footwear
Industry Federation, and AEC, the
Spanish Association of Footwear
Component Manufacturers, to court.