CONTENTS
FROM THE EDITOR N
Footwear Shows
ow it’s April and the big European Autumn/Winter 2012/13 footwear shows are over for another year. Despite heavy snow falls and traffic chaos in France, Belgium and Germany,
around 21,300 trade visitors from just under 100 countries found their way to GDS Düsseldorf, which was quite an achievement, given the circumstances. Back in the UK, The Kensington Shoe Event, closed its doors on
March 19th on another successful show. Despite, the wintry weather over the show weekend, footwear buyers were in evidence and business was being done on the Tuesday when I visited the show. Popular with footwear and fashion buyers, the three-day Event has become a premier show for medium-to-high quality footwear, but it still remains delightfully compact and customer-friendly (more on page 24). At the same time, The London Shoe Show returned to the Copthorne Tara Hotel, Kensington. Several major brands were exhibiting this season. The number of styles, innovations, designs and footwear treats all
these footwear shows have to offer cannot fail to impress. For the next issue, I’d be very interested to hear from footwear retailers on your take on the recent shows and which footwear/accessories you bought and why? Also, any problems you may have encountered when buying footwear? We are ultimately all dependent upon each other in the footwear
trade. I would therefore like to make the following plea to the brands to support their local independent footwear retailer, following the Society of Shoe Fitter's successful Keep Feet 'Fit' campaign in March. This campaign was a tremendous effort on Secretary Laura West's part, and the brands will stand to lose many of their customers in future if nothing is done to keep doors open. If you’re looking for some great footwear buys, check out our
Editor’s Choice pages for our Best in Shows collections of both Men’s and Children’s footwear. We have a fabulous selection of shoes and boots for your customers, fresh from the shoe shows, selected especially for you by yours truly. Don’t miss our popular Best Sellers and Retailer of the Month
sections. Independent footwear retailers who would like their shop profiled in Footwear Today Magazine, might be interested joining our Best Sellers panel? I would be delighted to hear from you and tell you how you can participate and claim your free profile, my contact details are shown below. Finally, in this edition our intrepid footwear reporter Henry
Harington road tests bugatti - the fashion footwear brand, not the iconic car! He found the quality of the shoes, the softness of the leather and the admiring opinions of his friends to be sufficient endorsement.
Best regards,
Cheryl Taylor, Editor DL 01622 862962
E:
ctaylor@datateam.co.uk/
cheryltayloreditor@googlemail.com P .S. Following the hugely successful Footwear Industry Awards in
February, footwear companies are already signing up to sponsor next year’s Awards. Interested parties are advised to contact Sue Wiseman, Journal Manager
, on 01622 699185 for further details.
IFRA, BFA and Society of Shoe Fitters all support Footwear Today as a valuable forum for the footwear industry, helping to promote trade and keeping retailers informed about the latest products and developments.
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NEWS TEENAGE FASHION FOOTWEAR FOCUS EDITOR’S CHOICE (MENS BEST IN SHOWS) FASHION LAW MISFIT EDITOR’S CHOICE (CHILDREN’S BEST IN SHOWS) KENSINGTON REVIEW BEST SELLERS RETAILER OF THE MONTH
FRONT COVER:West Midland Shoe Company APRIL 2013
"Two new, fabulous cool Earth Spirit styles for 2012, Garland and Madison. Leather uppers,
flexible TPR soles and "Gelron 2000" memory foam insoles. "Comfort with attitude"
West Midland Shoe Company Ltd, Dovefields, Uttoxeter, Staffs. ST14 8HU. Tel 01889 561790
www.footweartoday.co.uk
Inside this issue:
Editor’s Choice: Best of Shows, Men’s Footwear and Children’s Footwear, Bugatti Road Test, Misfit, Fashion Law, Retailer of the Month and Best Sellers
EDITOR Cheryl Taylor:
ctaylor@datateam.co.uk FASHION LAWYER Stephen Sidkin FEATURE WRITERS Becci Knowles • Henry Harington • Dawn Smith • Vicky Kember • Joe Maggio • Emma Cooke • JOURNAL MANAGER Sue Wiseman: 01622 699185
swiseman@datateam.co.uk SALES EXECUTIVE Sam Baughan: 01622 699162
sbaughan@datateam.co.uk DESIGNER Steve Parks CIRCULATION
datateam@capsule-group.com PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Paul Ryder:
pryder@datateam.co.uk
Media Partner of the STAG Buying Group
Published by: Datateam Business Media Ltd, London Road, Maidstone, Kent ME16 8LY. Tel: 01622 687031 Fax: 01622 757646 email:
footwear@datateam.co.uk website:
www.datateam.co.uk
Subscription Prices 2013 Footwear Today Magazine Number of editions per year: 10 ISSN: 1475-8601 UK: £58 Overseas: £109 The Publishers cannot accept responsibility for any discrepancies either in copy or between products and/or services listed. Nor can they be responsible for illustrations and/or copy for products which lead to infringement of copyright.
APRIL 2013 • FOOTWEAR TODAY
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