News
Italy is leading on the world market of medium and high class footwear
| Italian footwear industry is world leader in medium and high class footwear section. According to the president of the Italian Association
of footwear manufacturers (ANCI) Antonio Brotini, the main competitors of Italian footwear makers on the world market are Spain and Portugal. And while the Italians specialize in producing medium and high class footwear, the competitors mainly produce cheaper footwear of medium class. As regards Germany, Mr. Brotini states that there is no domestic footwear industry in Germany, and the footwear marked "Made in Germany" is manufactured to German orders in Portugal. Mr. Brotini describes the so called "German footwear" as good quality medium class footwear. And, according to him, the difference between Italian and German footwear is approximately the same as between an Italian and a German. Italian footwear is very gay, and German - very dull. As for France, Mr. Brotini thinks that there are very few footwear producers left - all the most well known French brands are produced in Italy (such as Chanel and others). The USA, the biggest footwear buyer on the world market, mainly purchase footwear from China (1600 million pairs were imported from China in 2001). At the same time in the list of the biggest buyers of the Italian footwear USA stands second after Germany (Russia occupies the 12th place). According to growth rate of footwear purchases from Italy Russia is leading with considerable gap, the import of footwear from Italy to Russia in 2001, as compared with the previous year, having increased by 24%. The other important fact, from the Italians' point of view, is structure of footwear, imported to Russia. Russia stands second after Japan according to the average price of the purchased Italian footwear. In 2001 it amounted to 43.5 euro per 1 pair, which is approximately 30% above the same index for such importing countries, as USA and Germany. And statistics show that the average price of footwear imported from Italy is growing from year to year. This confirms that the Russians are oriented for footwear of higher class. According to retail traders about 80% of "lux" class footwear sold in Russia is Italian footwear, retail price for such footwear in Russia being 200-300 per cent higher than the selling price of Italian manufacturers. Italian manufacturers have been creating special collections for the Russian market considering the specific character of the market and preferences of the Russian consumer. In the near future they are planning to spend considerable means for advertising and promoting their production on the Russian market. Confirmation of the serious Intentions of the Italians is the fact that the Fair "Obuv. Mir Kozhi" held in the Moscow Eexpocenter" at the end of March was visited by almost 100 Italian companies more than last year. In order to fight with fake shoes, which flooded the Russian market, the Italian government has adopted a decision to transfer the name of manufacturing country from the sole to the inner part of the shoe. It is interesting to know that Russia not only imports the footwear from Italy, but also sells to Italy footwear produced at home. It is mainly children's footwear. At the Italian market one can also find cheap footwear of Chinese origin, which is mainly sold at markets. Source: Newstime №103 dtd 11.06.02. Vedomosti dtd 03.06.02 17.06.2002 |
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RUSSIAN LEATHERNET
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