Milan show brings shoes back into fashion

The figures for the last Micam do not add up. The Milan event on 3–6 September recorded 44,688 buyers, which is 5.2% more than attended the February show. However, the calculation has been based for the first time on the number of certified accesses and not, as in the past, on unique visitors. Had a retailer passed through the fair’s gates three times on the same day, he would have been counted thrice over. In any case, personal testimonies are a better measure of a show’s success.

Micam is now a leading international event that captures the attention of global buyers, from Europe (visitors from Germany grew were up by 27%), Asia (increases of 30% and 37% from China and South Korea respectively) and Russia, where buyers confirmed the curtailed budget of previous editions, and Ukraine finally resurfaced.

The event is not immune from the global fairs crisis, the strategic importance of which is currently being discussed everywhere, which is why the organiser (Assocalzaturifici) will be trying out a new layout in February 2017 that will emphasise high-end companies and Italian manufacturing.

Stylish company

Next summer’s Micam, meanwhile, will be on 17–20 September, opening a train of events that continues with Mipel and then Milan fashion week, before concluding (if current dates are confirmed), with Lineapelle. Achieving this sequence of events was not easy, despite the fact that its proposal by the president of Assocalzaturifici and Micam, Annarita Pilotti, was approved by a large majority of the associated footwear producers.

Fashioning a future

Putting the fair back a couple of weeks in the calendar enables it to dovetail with the fashion season in Milan, which runs until 26 September. This ought to strengthen footwear and leather goods’ affinity with buyers at the fashion shows, thereby easing the reliance of the event on large retailers and the big players in the causal/comfort sector.

The Milan fair will also now avoid the post-holiday period and won’t be repeating the mistake of opening on a Saturday (this was an unsuccessful experiment tried for the first time this year to maximise the space available in the Rho-Pero building).

The footwear industry has had an uncertain time of it recently; attention has been directed towards the costs in order to meet the demands of increasingly distressed wholesale customers.

“The shops had a difficult summer that was characterised by lower sales compared with 2015, and in this situation it is absolutely necessary to maintain prices,” explains Enrico Paniccià, CEO of Giano, a €10-million company that produces licensed La Martina and Harmont & Blaine products.

“Crises mean a reduction in quality,” confirmed Pakerson owner and Assocalzaturifici vice-president Andrea Brotini. “If the most famous luxury brands don’t recover, hardly any of the Italian SMEs will. The only positive signs are coming from online sales, which have tripled in terms of turnover in the last two years. “

The consensus is that reduced consumer purchasing power brought has hit sales of mid-range products, forcing companies to accelerate delivery times in order to refresh shop windows faster and get full-price new shoes to stores as quickly as possible.

Those who produce outside Europe, meanwhile, are bound by shipping times, and so must keep dropping prices in order to achieve acceptable margins by the end of the season. In general, companies are attempting the impossible task of reducing costs without affecting quality, or having to review their organisation and planning.

“Companies need to streamline internal processes to avoid sample loss to help create synergies between customers and suppliers, starting from the purchase of materials,” says Stonefly owner Adriano Sartor. “It is not easy, but it is necessary.”

As for the high-end, the negative trend in sales for the most important luxury brands may be explained by small producers who stubbornly believe in their collections and are trying to sell department stores the same quality shoes at lower prices, undercutting the big names by at least 30% in many cases.

“There is space to grow, especially in the US. This year increased revenues have increased, while subcontractor-work share has fallen from 40 to 25%,” says Pasquale Della Pia, owner of Dei Mille. The next Micam and Mipel takes place on 12–15 February 2017.  ?