Seventh World Footwear Congress takes place
The seventh World Footwear Congress, which was postponed from May because of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in February, opened on November 8 in Istanbul.
The theme of the congress was ‘Re-shaping the Future’ and it focused on discussing innovative strategies, industry trends, technological advancements, and sustainability issues within the footwear industry.
Experts from all over the world participated in the discussions, which included topics such as finding the right product, maintaining social and environmental sustainability, ensuring durability, and analysing the impact of global pandemics, supply chain disruptions, global warming and climate change, conflicts, raw material shortages, energy crises, economic downturns, and the threat of recession. The main question raised was whether conducting business as usual was sustainable in the long run.
The first day of the congress was divided into three sessions.
The first session, ‘Understanding Consumer Demands’, focused on considering the right product in terms of social and environmental sustainability, durability, price versus quality, and through different omnichannel solutions. The moderator for the session was Erhan Aslanogu, a professor of economics, and the panellists included Miguel Pomares, director of footwear at Ecoalf, Francesco Carpineti, co-founder of Future Fashion, Yuxiang Yang, footwear innovator at Li-Ning , Tahsin Akar, Vice general manager of Waikiki, and Kubilay Gençkan, Business Developer at Alibaba Turkey.
The second session, ‘Business Manufacturing Strategies for the New World’, focused on brand development or other sourcing options, as well as lean manufacturing and total quality management, and the benefits or instances of near-shoring. The moderator for the session was Erkan Zandar, chairman of the Aegean Leather and Leather Products Exporters Association. The panellists included Jonathan Ram, CEO of Clarks, Manfred Kroneder, vice-chairman of the board of directors of Deichmann, Burak Celet, CEO of DESA, and Julia Perez De Tudela Navarro, head of the kaizen department at Pikolinos Group.
The third session, ‘A Sustainable and Circular Industry for the Benefit of People and the Planet’ focused on innovation, technologies, and sustainable materials and processes. The moderator for this event was Federico Brugnoli, founder and CEO of SPIN360. Panellists included Yuly Fuentes-Medel, a senior advisor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Marco Guazzoni, the sustainability director of Vibram, Nicoline Van Enter, the CEO and co-founder of Footwearology, and Luca Boltri, the vice-president of UNIC.
The organisers also announced that they would use the congress profits to assist members of the footwear industry affected by the February earthquakes in rebuilding their businesses. Ahead of the event, the organisers were expecting over 400 participants to attend.
