2023 risks of becoming a negative year for the global footwear industry. During the first semester, in fact, the main manufacturers around the world have recorded a significant decrease in export. Pou Chen’s layoffs are a negative sign for 2023, which is expected to be worse than 2022. In fact, the previous year’s growth for […]
Orders from the automotive industry are down, and Prevent Leather closed its Visoko factory in Bosnia Herzegovina. August 31st was the last day of work for 150 people. German enterprise Prevent Group has 18 plants in the country (for a total of 6,000 employees), and it’s said that there is no further wish to cut […]
The new Gucci will come on 22 September. The first collection signed by creative director Sabato De Sarno will be on the catwalk in Milan. It will herald the restart of the brand, which is still missing one piece: a CEO to replace Marco Bizzarri. The brand’s new course will begin with the product: it...
In 2022, the price of leather shoes increased less than that of shoes made of other materials. In contrast to the +0.8% for leather, there is +14.4% for rubber and plastic, and +3.2% for textile. The gap increases even more if we look at the trend over the last decade: +10.5% for leather shoes; +62.8%...
Italy confirms itself as the place for quality shoes. That’s how it can keep up with global powerhouses, meaning the Asian countries for manufacturing, the US for consumption, and some European nations for the commerce portion. “In 2022 the country recorded a 14% increment in revenue (13.3 billion USD), thus returning to pre-pandemic levels”, writes...
Starting this year, the Florentine leather goods company Il Bisonte is supporting the US Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), an organisation committed to restoring and protecting the brand’s iconic animal, the buffalo. The brand founded in 1970 in Florence by Wanny di Filippo and now owned by Look Holdings (its historic Japanese distributor, listed on the […]
The ultimate goal is to create a leather district. Tannery included. In the meantime, artisans are being trained in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. It was Gianluigi Mignogna, 48 (pictured top left and bottom right), who has been running a leather workshop in Campobasso for 23 years, who thought of this. For 10 days,...
Wolverine World Wide has divested the US business of Wolverine Leathers to New Balance for about USD 6 million. It is now “evaluating alternatives for Wolverine Leathers’ non-US business”. Wolverine Leathers has tanning and colouring contracts with tanneries in the US, Vietnam, Thailand and China. It manufactures in five locations worldwide. It claims to be […]
Shoes’ exports in 2022 reached a new record. The overall value was 175.2 billion USD, the highest yet. A result achieved not thanks to volumes, but to the average sale price: 11.54 USD per pair. It equals a 6.5% increase on 2021 and +38.2% if we look to 10 years ago. As far as countries...
The numbers tell us why the US market is so important for the footwear segment. And, why Africa’s growth must be watched carefully. In the USA consumption of shoes grew 12.7% in 2022, which allowed the country to reconquer its place as 2nd largest shoes’ consumer, behind China and ahead of India. These were the...
The German market is in crisis, but not for everyone. Great attention to price from buyers who are on the hunt for the most suitable product for their customers. These are the signs coming from Germany, where the fair Shoes Düsseldorf, which opened on Sunday 27 August, closed on Tuesday, 29 August. The fair acts...
The back-to-school season will be the first test to understand the health of the US market. But it is at Halloween that we will know whether a real downward spiral of consumption has been triggered in the States, or whether it is a physiological rebound after the post-Covid revenge shopping. US retail is experiencing a […]
August is rarely a news-filled month for the fashion industry, but this year it’s different. While a first shake-up was provided by Kering (on July 27th), which paid 1.7 billion euro for 30% of Valentino, August 10th was also an impressive day. Tapestry decided to resolve Capri Holdings’ competition with a simple approach: by acquiring...
The financial statements of the two groups that made the news cycle for their merger was – to put it lightly -, shadowy for the April to June period. Tapestry did worse than forecasted, while Capri Holdings published numbers better than expected by analysts, but still below those of the buyer. Weighing down both entities […]
Ralph Lauren‘s strategy is based on sustainability, the Metaverse and price increases. But it has a very big problem to deal with: in Canada, they accuse it of sourcing in China from companies that use Uyghur forced labour. But that does not detract from the fact that its quarter results (April to June 2023) were...
Leather, also Italian, to climb the ladder and raise the quality of espadrilles. This is how the brand Clara Duran wants to distinguish itself in a very crowded market segment. Especially in its own country: Spain. Clara Duran is in fact an artisanal shoe brand based in the industrial zone of Cehegín, in the region...
And, well, the glittering machine of the vegan revolution never goes on holiday. In the middle of August, Stella McCartney is at it again: in her search for the ideal material to replace leather, she is now aiming for Mirum. Producing the material (super-sustainable, claims the British brand with its usual modesty) is a US […]
Leather in green cars fits us not well, but very well. We have been writing about this for some time, and the latest market moves confirm the assumption. Recently Bentley, which has already committed to using certified leather, announced the adoption of materials from chemical-reduced tanning formulas. Similarly, Lamborghini presented the concept of its first...
Pittards is up for sale. The crisis of the British leather group (with a 200 year history) has worsened. The attempts to find new financial resourced proved vain, and the company that was trying to find 1.5 million UK pounds only gathered 204,000. The company employs 150 people in the UK and 900 in Ethiopia....
Asia and handbags. These will be the first targets of Gianvito Rossi‘s expansion under the new ownership of Richemont. The conglomerate confirmed “that it has acquired a controlling stake” in the Romagna-based shoemaker. The eponymous founder will retain a stake in the company and continue to develop the brand. The announcement confirms rumours that Richemont,...
