Art, creativity, youth, innovation and more and more glamour. These are the key ingredients of the 87th edition of MICAM, the International Footwear Show, closing today at Fiera Milano (Rho) with more than 43 thousand visitors, in line with the February 2018 edition.
“But if we count individual entries, this edition has seen a 2.5% overall increase, with more Italian visitors, who made up for the drop in international visitors,” comments Assocalzaturifici Chair Annarita Pilotti. “This figure offers us two themes for reflection: the dynamics of buyers’ visits are changing, as they have less and less free time, and promotion of MICAM within Italy is working.
Among international visitors, this edition saw a boom in visitors from the United States (+35%) and Canada (+38%), countries which are demonstrating growing interest in European footwear, despite the fact that important competing trade fairs were held on the same dates in North America.
Historic European markets such as Russia, France and Germany have registered a double-digit drop in visitor attendance, the only exception being Spain, the most important country in Europe, with a 10% increase in visitor numbers.
“We are closing the 87th MICAM aware that we have transformed our event into a fashion incubator, always responding to the demands of the market. The event is not only an essential business platform for companies, but an aggregator of trends and new consumption habits,” continues Pilotti. “We now find the world's top footwear suppliers at MICAM, thanks to the presence of prestigious manufacturers from five continents: a thousand different interpretations of style and quality, all at the disposal of international buyers looking for trendy products in the middle price range”.
Promotion and protection of the excellence of Italian products are the true challenges facing MICAM. Because cultural identity, top quality, refined design and quality materials are what make Italian shoes stand out from the rest, with a business model indissolubly linked with the country’s culture and traditions.
“It is to protect our country’s economic and cultural heritage that I have asked Minister Luigi Di Maio, who attended the opening of MICAM, to introduce new measures supporting the footwear industry, and specifically asked him to give absolute priority to reducing the tax wedge,” concludes Pilotti. “Ours is an industry in which labour represents a very large percentage of the total cost of production, making labour costs particularly significant for us”.
But above all, MICAM represents a unique opportunity to discover and experience the creativity and values that characterise the industry through various original and entertaining events. These included a display area focusing on Emerging Designers once again demonstrating MICAM’s focus on youth and new talent, as well as buyers’ growing interest in the new generations now joining the industry.
This is why MICAM announced the birth of PLUG-Mi. The sneakers culture experience, a new B2C format focusing on the dynamic world of sneakers and targeting millennials, the inventors of today’s most revolutionary trends and promoters of new forms of consumption. The project, organised by Campus Fandango Club in partnership with MICAM and Fiera Milano, will be introduced in the September 2019 International Footwear Show.
Lastly, numerous initiatives have been launched, both within and outside the fair venue. Their purpose is not just to sustain and promote business but also to convey the passionate love for shoes that is felt both by those who create them and those who buy and wear them. MICAM focused specifically on the Far East, hosting five top Chinese influencers who were the stars of a seminar on “Social media and ecommerce: a Chinese marriage”, one of the most popular events among buyers and exhibitors.
Other important events at MICAM87 included a seminar on Sustainability which was very successful among members of the trade, demonstrating their growing interest in environmental issues.
MICAM will be back at Fiera Milano (Rho) September 15 through 18, 2019 to celebrate its fiftieth birthday with a presentation of the Spring/Summer 2020 collections, and will centre around the virtue of Beauty.
Press release
MICAM
Milano 25 February 2019