Footwear: US imports down, Japanese ones on the up

United States – a healthy market for footwear? No, imports fell in the first six months of the year. Japan in crisis? No, shoe purchases from abroad increased in the first half of the year. Unstoppable China? No, footwear exports between January and June collapsed. Let’s start with the USA, responsible for 20.8% of world […]

CLEAR: the roadmap to the shared document on leather chemicals

Sorting out the protocols and existing guidelines and those already being applied by the big leather brands. Selecting the best of all of these in every field and developing new ones in those areas where they don’t exist. Drawing up a document that sets out the agreement between brands and suppliers on issues involving chemicals […]

Guess what Bob Dylan’s got to do with footwear (and Spanish leather)…

Bob Dylan’s grandfather was a shoe manufacturer, and Bob contributed (perhaps unknowingly) to launching the Clarks brand and has written songs about shoes. The new Nobel Literature laureate’s paternal grandfather, Zigman Zimmerman, lived in Odessa in Ukraine, where he had a large shoe factory. He fled to the USA as a victim of the 1905 […]

Maserati and Zegna are renewing their partnership: premium leathers and chevron patterns for the new collection

The collaboration between Maserati and the Ermenegildo Zegna brand is continuing and becoming stronger. After the capsule collection of leather clothing and accessories produced exactly a year ago, the two luxury brands are now presenting “Zegna-Maserati SS 2017” in parallel with the arrival of the Suv Levante in the United Kingdom. The new collection, available […]

A world of fakes: from Europe to Guangdong, seizures worth over €170 million

In 2015, EU customs intercepted 41 million fake products, up 15% on the previous year. The economic activities most damaged by the assault of counterfeit products are, together with those for body care and eyewear, those in the fashion industry. Counterfeit footwear worth €58 million, clothing products worth €48 million, bags worth €57 million and […]

Milan Fashion Week: footwear trends on the runway

Clogs and slippers. Thick soles and pointed toes. More than a fashion trend, originality starred on the runway in Milan Fashion Week, starting with Gucci’s super-wedgies and going on to Cavalli’s (Tyrolean-style) sabots and the (particularly imaginative) clogs from D&G. Tons of trim and accessories: feathers, furs, colored laces. Example: Diesel Black Gold high-rise boots […]

Thus spoke Diego Della Valle: “You can do everything with leather”

“The Tod’s collection shows how anything can be made with leather”. And leather was the material of choice to celebrate Tod’s’ timeless icons: bikers, pea coats, jackets and T-shirts, mini-dresses and shirts, with saddler stitching and fringe, all made strictly with premium leathers. Not to mention bags and footwear. The collection was unsigned but designed […]

Lineapelle, the balance is positive: +9% visitors compared with September 2015. The number of foreign visitors has increased. The tanners: “We will see the fruits in 6 months”

Lineapelle drives hard on the “+” sign. In a trend that clearly goes against the flow of the current market situation, the most important international event in the leather sector yesterday closed the doors on the Autumn/Winter 2017/18 edition, racking up 9% more visitors (21,184) than in September 2015, with a significant increase in foreign […]

Increase in foreign visitors to Lineapelle: +13%. Buyers from 110 countries

Double-digit growth for the turnout of Spaniards, Chinese and Koreans. The influx of buyers from France, the US and Japan shows a significant increase. The presence of Greeks, Czechs and Ukrainians doubles or triples. A slowdown, however, is noted in visitors coming from Russia, Turkey and Hong Kong, due to the well-known economic or commercial […]

Lineapelle: “Personalisation with the skill of fine craftsmanship.” Hand-made, an added value offered by Italian tanneries

Hand-buffered, hand-crumpled and hand-painted, the leathers proposed in this edition of Lineapelle increasingly offer works of fine craftsmanship, conveying the added value and uniqueness that distinguish the Italian product from the production of the rest of the world. Italian tanneries are proposing leathers produced with a careful eye on detail, often hand-crafted to produce materials […]

Seen on the catwalk in Milan: leather from clothes to bags. The latest idea of Gucci by Alessandro Michele amazes

Milan Fashion Week draws to a close with the great labels relaunching their style, expressing renewed creativity and confirming their excellence. And while we are talking about excellence, we cannot fail to mention leather as a reference material. Whether we look at the ultra-colourful drawings and prints from Moschino (on jackets, shoes and clutch bags) […]