NEWS BFA News Steptronic F ootwear win Northants Enterprise


Business of the year award for 2012 Businesses from across the county received awards at the


Northamptonshire Business in Excellence Awards. Organised by the Northamptonshire Telegraph and the Northampton


Chronicle & Echo, the awards ceremony took place at the Daventry Court Hotel.


A total of 11 awards were handed out on the night in categories including


creative business of the year and international trader of the year. BFA member, Steptronic Footwear won the 2012 Northants Enterprise


Business of the Year award for 2012. The judges viewed Steptronic success in selling to over 1400 shops/


stores in 19 Countries in just 4 years as worthy winners. David Corben, Managing Director of Steptronic said that the award was


great honour for his company. David was also pleased that all of his staff were at the awards ceremony and shared in what was a memorable evening for Steptronic.


For more information about Steptronic view the website: http://www.steptronicfootwear.co.uk/


Who knows who? SHOES-CONTACTS brings Businesses Together


GDS and m2b develop a New Business Portal for the Shoe Sector


SHOES-CONTACTS is a new business portal launched by GDS – the


international event for shoes & accessories and m2b for the shoe sector. The aim is to bring manufacturers and distributors/trading agents from the shoe sector together thanks to an effective matchmaking forum. The main idea is to help companies find suitable trading partners. With over 1,200 exhibitors and some 22,500 trade visitors from throughout the world GDS cooperates with the portal specialist m2b, which has already set up similar portals for a variety of different sectors.


The idea for SHOES-CONTACTS came to GDS Director Kirstin


Deutelmoser and m2b Managing Director Michael Plank after a long day at the fair: “Throughout the entire day at the fair people kept asking ‘do you know someone who can do this?’ or ‘do you know where I can find that?’” explains Kirstin Deutelmoser at GDS. “Especially newcomer companies from abroad were unable to gain a clear overview of the complex European market – yet generally you only have one chance at successful market entry,” explained Michael Plank at m2b.


The specialist has already successfully set up two platforms with a similar


format: SPORTS-CONTACTS (www.sports-contacts.com) and LIGHTS- CONTACTS (www.lights-contacts.com). At SPORTS-CONTACTS alone it has been possible to implement over 200 link-ups in the last five years.


The verdict from companies in the shoe sector is correspondingly


positive: “Matchmaking between industry and distribution agencies in the sports sector has been successfully established for years now throughout Europe thanks to the platform developed by Michael Plank.


Now the shoe industry can also benefit from this network especially


developed for the shoe sector, explained Hans-Hermann Deters, Head of Sales & Marketing at Ara Shoes AG.


The new SHOES-CONTACTS portal should go live by mid-November so that initial discussions can already be held at the forthcoming GDS running from 13 to 15 March 2013. The launch will initially start in six countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands and Poland. Later on the whole of Europe is to be included. The business portal for finding suitable business partners already boasts over 8,000 premium contacts at the kick-off.


www.gds-online.com www.globalshoes-online.com


Footwear production reached 21 billion worldwide in 2011


APICCAPS (Portuguese Footwear, Components, Leather Goods


Manufacturers’ Association) estimates production of footwear worldwide to have reached 21 billion pairs in 2011. Asia continues to be the powerhouse of the footwear industry, with an overall weight close to 90%. The continents’ weight is only marginally changed from the previous year, with Africa slightly increasing and others minimally decreasing. World footwear trade keeps its strong upward trend. Again in 2011, it set a


new record, with total world exports for the first time above 100 billion US dollars, up 15% from the previous year. The number of pairs exported almost reached 14 billion! Cumulatively, over the last decade, the quantity exported nearly doubled and its value rose by an impressive 143%. Export prices have also been going up. In 2011, the average export price


worldwide reached 7.39 USD, slightly overcoming the previous maximum of 7.31 USD reached in 2008. Over the last decade, this represents an increase of 27%. Asia dwarfs all other continents, as a footwear exporter, with 84% of the


world total. Europe is a distant second, with 11%. Although the general picture is basically unchanged from the previous year, North America slightly increased its share and overcame Africa in this respect. As a continent, Europe leads footwear imports, with seven European


countries among the world’s ten top importers. However, individually, the USA keep their undisputed leadership, still importing almost one out of every four pairs traded internationally. China is the world’s largest market for footwear, in terms of quantity,


closely followed by the USA and India. Compared to the previous year, the USA share decreased somewhat whereas those of the other two countries increased. World Footwear Yearbook APICCAPS and GDS has just launched the


World Footwear Yearbook 2012. An e-version of the 2012 publication may be downloaded at: http://www.worldfootwear.com/docs/2012WorldFootwearYearbook.pdf


8 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012 www.footweartoday.co.uk


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