MISAF – The Milan Shoes & Accessories Fair – the exclusive footwear salon will be offering Asian producers their first opportunity to present their products to Italian and European markets with the aim of promoting mutual exchanges, collaborations and win-wins. Over 100 exhibitors will display thousands of shoes and footwear styles for all ages and tastes, including elegant, casual, outdoor, sports shoes and sneakers: the very best of Asian high volume production featuring excellent quality-price-design ratio.
The first MISAF show will debut in Milan in just over two months and will take place at Studio 90 of the East End Studios on Via Mecenate, from June 15 to 17. Milan was the obvious choice for MISAF, the Italian city being the capital of Fashion and Design; par excellence, renowned for its numerous trade shows and situated at the very heart of Europe, within easy reach from its surrounding countries as well as by international experts and professionals.
The event, organized by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce for the footwear import and export industry, and by Plum Solution, promoting a fruitful commercial exchange between China and Europe, MISAF will focus on Asian high volume footwear production, characterized by an excellent quality-price-design ratio, or as MISAF’s motto says, ‘Shoes for Everybody’..
MISAF’s first edition will be attended by more than one hundred exhibitors of footwear and accessories, presenting their goods to Italian and European visitors who will enjoy a wide selection of items in all styles and fashions, made for men, women and children, with a glimpse of Asian luxurious and exclusive items.
MISAF exhibitors not only include OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) but also ODMs (Original Design Manufacturers) presenting made-in-China creations, and including: Kangnai, one of the main brands for men’s footwear in China, with over 300 sales points in the country and 100 abroad, with such commercial partners as Hugo Boss and Calvin Klein just to name a few; Clorts, a brand for young people featuring groundbreaking sports and outdoor shoes; Sheme, the first Chinese luxury brand ever shown during the Paris, London and New York fashion weeks. Visitors will also enjoy items presented by Baolite, Zhongsheng, Runyin, Huali and other well-known Chinese firms that already collaborate with famous brands in European and US markets. This time, apart from being featured as valuable partners for private labels, they will also display their own branded items.
“This is the very first time that China penetrates Europe with an important initiative that will help our lines and styles become widely known. We aim at relaunching the image of Chinese footwear on an international level, showcasing our resources: large-scale industries, high quality and convenient prices, wide range distribution, comfortable items and good quality-price ratio,”– declared Ying Wang, Secretary General of the National Chamber of Commerce for Import-Export of Chinese Footwear – MISAF aims at becoming a professional springboard for standardized and large-scale footwear industries where producers, buyers, designers, brand operators, retailers and e-commerce platforms can form mutually advantageous relationships.”
About 5 million footwear operators produce almost 14 billion pairs of shoes in China, but after decades of steady growth the Chinese footwear market share in the EU and the US is marking time because countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and other South-East-Asian countries have welcomed industries with high work density while replacing the advantageous prices previously offered by Chinese producers.
An irreversible trend has therefore been launched to guarantee Chinese shoe industries access to high quality production marked by a good quality-price relationship
and achieved thanks to a successful production chain created over the years. It is crucial to increase the value of made-in-China shoes through new technologies and creative designs, so as to let them penetrate low- and middle-end European markets as well as cooperate with Italian designers and brands to bring about progress and development. Participants at MISAF will be given opportunities to reach this goal through ad-hoc solutions and collaborations.
“The show is open to the whole sector: commercial shoe companies, import and export, e-commerce, brands, buyers, agents, distributors, wholesalers, franchises, department stores, markets, sportswear shops, trade associations, manufacturing companies, design institutes, industrial parks for shoes and accessories; – commented Yin Xiaomei General Manager by Plum Solution – apart from having an opportunity of visiting the stands for three days, all guests will also be able to attend the scheduled events: conferences, conventions, trade shows and much more”.
EU statistics show that over the past three years the value of shoes imported from China has increased whereas the market share has simultaneously fallen. According to Chinese customs, the overall value of 2018 shoe imports and exports amounted to 51.6 billion dollars with a drop of 0,45% compared to the past year. Exports amounted to 46.9 billion dollars with a drop of 2.58% compared to the previous year. The value of the exports to the European Union amounted to 10.2 billion dollars and to Italy, 785 million dollars. Rubber shoes (300 million dollars) ranked first, followed by fabric shoes (251 million dollars) that alone represent 70 % of exports to Italy.
The overall value of Chinese imports amounts to 4.7 billion dollars with a growth of 26.67% compared to the previous year. Imports from European Union reach one billion dollars while imports from Italy represent 730 million dollars. Leather shoes took first place (536 million / 73% of the total value of imported shoes), followed by fabric shoes (159 million).
“Today’s data show that Chinese and Italian products occupy different segments of the markets, nevertheless they are complementary and collaborations between them can be envisaged and encouraged at MISAF.” – commented Li Shaofeng, Chinese Consul of Economic-Commercial Affairs in Milan.
MISAF will unfold from June 15 to 17 June, from 9:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.
For information and updates: www.misaf.it
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SEC SpA
Teresa Baroni, baroni@secrp.com
Barbara Brignoli, brignoli@secrp.com
