The fall/winter shoes collection of Brazil will be shown to shop owners in the national and international markets as of next week in the city of São Paulo.
Couromoda, the International Shoes, Sportsgoods and Leathergoods Fair, which will take place from Monday, January 16, to Thursday, January 19, at the Anhembi exhibition center, is to be visited by 63,000 guests, amongst them 4,500 importers from 70 countries.
The exhibit normally becomes a business place for Brazilian factories and foreign shopkeepers. Many small and medium sized national shoes companies enter the foreign market through the fair.
In 2006, Couromoda will show the collections of 3,000 brands of shoes and artifacts by 1,200 exhibitors. Brazil is currently the third largest shoes producer in the world and the fourth largest exporter.
Last year, Brazil broke the record in shoes exports, with revenues of US$ 1.88 billion. Some 190 million pairs of shoes manufactured in national factories were sent to foreign markets.
The Brazilian leather-shoe chain, which includes from the leather tanneries to the retail points, has a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$ 24.7 billion and exports US$ 4.2 billion, according to information from the Couromoda president, Francisco Santos.
Last year, as well as record exports, the sector had an increase in between 7% and 8% in national sales, according to the president at the Brazilian Association of Shoe and Artefact Storeowners (Ablac), Antonio Espolador Neto.
Shoe consumption in Brazil is of 2.3 pairs of shoes per inhabitant per year. There are in the country 40,000 points of sales for shoes, which earn US$ 11.8 billion per year. Brazil has 1,600 small, medium and large shoes factories.
Fair Days
Couromoda is going to gather from the large factories to the small and micro sized companies. Amongst the exhibitors are names like Azaléia, Grendene, Klin, Arezzo, Dakota, Pegada, Sândalo, Samell, Beira Rio and Dupé.
The number of international leaderships in the sector that will be at the fair is a record. Amongst the visitors will be the president of the National Shoe Retailer Association of the United States, Phil Wright, and the president of the European Confederation of Shoes Retailers (Cedecc), Yorjö Gorski.
Couromoda, as well as a sales point, is a space for discussion for the sector. This year will be promoted, on the 15th of January, one day before the fair, the 10th Brazilian Shoe Congress, which should receive 600 participants amongst retailers and industrialist, at the Elis Regina auditorium, at the Anhembi exhibition center.
Couromoda
Date: from 16th to 19th of January
Location: Parque Anhembi – São Paulo
Telephone: (+55 11) 3897 6100
E-mail: couromoda@couromoda.com.br
Website: www.couromoda.com.br
Anba – www.anba.com.br
