Winds of hope are blowing from Northern Italy. In total, Micam, Mipel, The One and Milano Fashion Jewels welcomed 40,821 trade visitors from 150 countries.

According to the organisation, the four events dedicated to fashion and accessories "came to a satisfactory close”. Of the 40,821 trade visitors, 45% came from abroad, mainly from the European Union, with France, Germany, Spain, and Greece recording the best results. Among the non-European markets, Japan, China, Kazakhstan, and the United Kingdom recorded positive results.

For the Italian footwear association that promotes MICAM, "Once again, the will to work as a system and to present themselves to the market together won out: holding fairs concurrently is, in fact, not only an aspect that strengthens individual events, by allowing them to enjoy wider visibility, but above all represents a tool to stimulate international demand, offering buyers and dealers from all over the world a unique opportunity to grasp so many different aspects of the world of accessories at one time”.

Organised by APICCAPS and AICEP with the support of the Compete 2030 programme, the Portuguese delegation at MICAM, the leading trade fair for the sector, consisted of 35 companies (compared to 33 in the same event last year).

"At a time when the sector continues to show signs of some inconstancy, taking part in MICAM was very important”, argues Luís Onofre. For the President of APICCAPS, "Portuguese companies must adopt an aggressive commercial attitude, as is already happening with our main foreign competitors, so that we can exploit business opportunities”. "We realise that the coming months will still be somewhat demanding, but we expect business to start bearing fruit in the second half of the year”.

Two newcomers
There’s room for newcomers in the Portuguese delegation. Nano Shoes and MITIK are brands of two companies with long experience in the footwear sector, but who have decided to take part in the world’s biggest footwear fair for the first time. They share the same goal: to conquer new markets.

"We decided to come to expand and promote the Nano Shoes brand”, explains Lígia Silva. For the responsible for A. Hernani, "This was the right time to strengthen our brand. We think we have a more attractive and modern collection, and we think it’s time to look for new markets, especially markets that appreciate the know-how and materials we use”.

Inês Pinho Mota explains that MITIK’s participation at MICAM "happens because we feel the need to expand our market and diversify our products. In recent years, we’ve been very focused on the children’s footwear market, which has always accounted for around 60% of our production. The remaining 40% has always been women’s footwear”. This is how the new brand MITIK, dedicated to the women’s segment, was born in the heart of Leal & Co. "Producing women’s shoes is a breath of fresh air”.

For the company from S. João da Madeira, the main objectives of attending MICAM are "to find new customers, new challenges and new products. We want to go beyond our borders and work with markets such as Japan or the United States”.

Not just that. "MICAM is an international trade fair. We want the end consumer to understand that MITIK is a brand of a company with 59 years of experience and that we are therefore capable of making a high-quality product, as well as projecting Made in Portugal across borders”.

For the head of Nano, the choice of MICAM was immediate. "We chose MICAM because we know it’s a global fair that attracts customers from all over the world, and that’s what we're looking for”.

Quality and added value are two of the premises of these two brands. Lígia Silva explains that "quality is extremely important. We’ve been trying to improve our standards. If more and more is going to be demanded of us, we want to be able to meet those demands”. Inês Pinho Mota agrees. "Portuguese footwear is very well positioned internationally. We must continue to improve the quality of production, for example by training our employees, so that our standards are always higher”.