Children have money, children have incredible power when it comes to shopping and shoe retailers still don’t appreciate them sufficiently.” Kids’ and youth market researcher Ingo Barlovic brought along a wealth of helpful tips for his approx. 150 listeners at the third Kids Business Brunch at GDS – International Event for Shoes & Accessories - suggesting how footwear retailers can turn children into customers. According to his data the 6 to 19-year olds in Germany have EUR 23.1 b at their disposal of which they actually spend EUR 22.8 b, EUR 4.42 on fashion. Yet shoe retailers, he said, were still not doing enough to turn this important target group into more loyal shoppers – despite the fact that 70% of the six-year olds already had an active say in shopping for shoes.  

Pleased with a positive result and largely exceeding the expectations of the exhibitors the 130th International Leather Goods Fair – I.L.M Winter Styles – finished in Offenbach today. Exhibitors at the three-day trade fair represented 215 companies coming from 14 countries and displayed what will be the trend in leather goods in the coming autumn/winter season.

The Düsseldorf shoe fairs GDS – International Event for Shoes & Accessories – and GLOBAL SHOES – leading trade show for sourcing – draw to a close after three days on Sunday evening with a predominantly positive summary. According to still preliminary calculations over 31,000 buyers came to the fair grounds, this means approx. 2,000 visitors or 6% less...

Foot problems are a big issue in Europe, where 35% of the population suffers of some troubles with their feet. Orthopaedic treatment is an effective and sometimes even the only way to solve these complaints. Another European problem is the increasing costs of healthcare. This gives both a chance and a risk for the footcare trade, which is aiming at improving the quality of its treatment as well as decreasing of production costs.  

On 1 June 2008 REACh entered an operational phase by implementing pre-registration. The aim of this article is to explain the obligations of the various types of company included in the scope of REACh and to suggest the action plans to be set up for each one.

One of the highlights of the upcoming GDS – International Event for Shoes & Accessories, from 13 through 15 March 2009, is the 10th edition of Design Attack. With Queen Alpin, visitors and exhibitors experience London as a firstclass ski location in the Alps. This season Design Attack again provides a contact and business platform for 100 young national and international designers with unique collections... 

Le Cuir a Paris (Paris fair of leather and fur) introduces the leather trends for summer 2010. For the first summer of the new decade, new rhythms appear and guide our desires for colours and textures. After a long period punctuated by narration, we are craving more abstraction. To express our desires for summer, nouns pair up with adjectives which strengthen meaning and accentuate the tension. This tension makes positive waves vibrate and reminds us of effects of light and shadow.

APLF in association with IFCOMA has launched "Footwear Materials Manufacturing & Technology Fair (fMM&T) in New Delhi, India from May 8 -10, 2009. With a huge population and the world's 4th largest economy by GDP (in purchasing power parity terms), a large domestic market is waiting to be tapped. Economic growth has meant greater disposable incomes. It is estimated that today 2.8 % of the population are able to spend over USD 30,000 a year on conspicuous consumption. That may not look so huge at first glance, but this is 2.8% of one billion plus. India's huge USD 5 billion footwear market is growing at around 10% a year.

The APLF (The Hong Kong international fair of leather, shoes, bags, materials and technologies...) gives seven different reasons how to profit from the financial crises. The financial crisis and the recession forecast by economic analysts look inevitable. In this article we offer some ways on how your company can profit from the Asian markets and in this way offset the negative aspects foreseen in the international media.

This year, The Jan Pivecka Foundation Award for young and beginning designers of shoes and leather goods has been presented for the second time. The winners of the year 2008 were announced on the opening ceremony of 32. edition of fairs STYL and KABO in Brno.