The spring edition the Lineapelle and Simac shows took place this week (May 6-8) at the Bologna Fiera exhibition centre in Italy.
Bologna was bathed in glorious sunshine throughout the event on what was the only bright point on a generally quiet fair. Business was generally slow due to a quiet global economy and the recent SARS outbreak in China.
Asian visitors did attend Lineapelle although the numbers were estimated as lower than usual. Some Asian visitors even wore face masks during the show.
The general discussion among attendees was the problems caused by SARS in Asia.
All the halls were filled with exibitors taking 50,758 sq m of floor space. Over 1,000 exhibitors were from Italy and 446 were foreign. The largest number of overseas exhibitors were from Spain, Germany, France, Portugal, Brazil and India. From the total number of exhibitors 633 were tanners.
Lineapelle also featured the usual trend selection area featuring novel leathers for the spring/summer 2004 fashion collections.
In a new departure, name badges were dropped in favour of a computerised ticket entry system. This will also be used in October.
Lineapelle is organised by the Italian tanners association, UNIC and Simac by the Italian footwear and leather machinery manufacturers association, Assomac.
