Participants from footwear associations, chambers and federations, businesses and companies, representants from trade fairs and technological centres and consultants had the opportunity to dedicate two days to a deep reflection centered on some of the pressing issues impacting the industry, strongly enhanced by the contribution of speakers from 18 countries.

The three core themes under discussion were: Global Footwear Consumers with Different Expectations, Access to Markets and Footwear Manufacturing, the three pillars in which the future challenges of the industry seem lie.

Opening the congress works, Professor Alberto de Castro presented some topics around the trends for the next two decades within the footwear industry. The Professor highlighted the impact of demographics and new markets emergence, as well as the power of brands, the dynamics of the online sales and the impact of the sustainability-elated issues in footwear production.

Several voiced the need to facilitate free international trade in a fair environment. Matt Priest, President of the Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America highlighted the impact of high tariffs imposed on shoes entering the US, the main importer of footwear (22.3% according to the World Footwear Yearbook). Xiaobing Tang, adviser at the World Trade Organization called for the reduction of tariffs, an opinion echoed by Domenico Fornari, Head of Economic and Commercial Section of the Delegation of the European Union in Mexico.

The growing importance of the online and the need to look into the internet as a omnichannel tool has also been a hot topic during the congress. Companies and brands defended the need to integrate the online channel in their overall strategies. Mr Eric Claude Paquin from JB Martin (France), Mr Basilio García Morón from Callanghan (Spain) and Danny Lam from Cornerstone International group (China) shared their particular experiences.

The social responsibility topics were also under discussion during the World Footwear Congress with Mr Yves Morin from the Footwear, Leather and leather Goods Technology Center (France) stating that “A company may not sell more for being ethical, but can sell less if it is not”.