Survival of the fittest at Global Shoes
Global Shoes, which is run concurrently with GDS, is expecting a 29% drop in exhibitors at this year’s event because of the global economic downturn. However, 310 exhibitors from 19 countries will be showcasing a range of goods and organisers claim all the “market leaders” will be present.
Kirstin Deutelmoser, director of Global Shoes, said: “Global Shoes continues to be a representative reflection of the market for volume business even though this business has been massively hit by the shock waves of the global economic crisis for months.
In China alone, hundreds of manufacturing sites stopped operations over the past months and many countries have seen considerable shifts in their exchange rates while key export markets like the USA or Russia are rock
bottom.
We are currently experiencing radical market adjustments, primarily in Asia, which only leaves the really strong and fit-for-the-market suppliers alive.”
She adds that in a few months or years, the volume market which has not been at all transparent until now, will become clearer and more manageable. According to Ms Deutelmoser, retailers will particularly benefit from the current developments at the end of the crisis.
The two fairs will take place at the Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre from March 13-15.
