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WF FOOTPRINTS
HAPPENINGS, PEOPLE AND PLACES
5
MAY/JUNE 2012 | www.footwearbiz.com
One interesting development to have
come out of this is that exclusive
distribution in the US and Canada of the
new Angry Birds shoes will be in the
hands of the Rich Footwear Group, a
new company formed by the former
president for wholesale at Brown Shoe,
Gary Rich.
Two former Brown Shoe senior vice-
presidents, Paul and Richard Shapiro,
have joined Mr Rich at the new company.
On announcing the news, Gary Rich
said: “After a two-year hiatus, I am
thrilled to be back in the footwear
industry and to be able to announce our
partnership with Cortina-Leomil Group
to bring one of the fastest growing
brands, Angry Birds, to the footwear
market. With an incredibly strong brand
to start, we look forward to a long
partnership with Cortina-Leomil.”
SHOES AIM TO MAKE
OBAMA PRO US FOOTWEAR
A member of congress from the US
state of Maine took advantage of a visit
from President Barack Obama at the end
of March to present him with a pair of
athletic shoes, produced locally by
sports brand New Balance.
Congressman
Mike
Michaud
explained that the idea behind the shoes
was to urge the president “to require the
defence department to comply with
current law and outfit service-members
with domestically produced footwear”.
Mr Michaud collected the shoes, which
have ‘President’ printed on the heel of
the left shoe and ‘Obama’ on the right,
after a tour of New Balance’s
Norridgewock facility, which has
recently increased its workforce.
He said in advance of the president’s
arrival: “Politicians love to talk about
what they’re doing to create jobs, but
this is one concrete change that could be
made right now to create jobs here in
Maine. I look forward to seeing the
president to urge him to make the
defence department comply with
current law and provide US-made
footwear to our service-members.
Taking this action would be consistent
with the president’s stated goals of
boosting the US manufacturing sector.”
The current law Mr Michaud referred
to is the Berry Amendment, which
obliges department of defence to buy
certain categories of products from US
companies. The Maine politician is
trying to have a new act passed to make
it clear that the Berry Amendment has
always applied and continues to apply
to shoes.
At odds with the retail-focused
industry body the Footwear Distributors
and Retailers of America, Mr Michaud
also argues that a proposed multilateral
free trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific
Partnership, should not undermine the
US footwear industry.
“New Balance holds the distinction as
the only athletic shoe company that
currently manufactures footwear in the
US,” the congressman said. “The
company has over 800 employees at
[three] Maine facilities in Skowhegan,
Norridgewock, and Norway.”
FEDERCALZATURE RE-
ELECTS PRESIDENT
Well known Italian footwear industry
figure Massimo Donda has been re-
elected as president of the Italian Shoe
Trade Federation (Federcalzature).
At a meeting in Milan during the
Micam exhibition at the start of March,
Mr Donda was re-elected to the position
for the next four years with 77% of
members’ votes.
Federcalzature represents more than
11,000 points of sale for Italian footwear,
retail, wholesale and import-export
companies. It is a founding member of
CEDDEC, the European Confederation of
Shoe Retailers Associations.