Micam, the international footwear trade show, kicked off on Sunday and closed its stands yesterday (23rd September) at Fieramilano Rho. One could feel and see a few market signs alongside a specific intention: Italian footwear wants, first and foremost, “to secure companies”, as remarked by President Siro Badon. Operators still firmly hope that Micam will keep being a unique fair. Besides that, most of all, they do hope that, starting from next edition, scheduled on 21-24 February 2021, things will possibly go back to “normal again”. How about taking stock of the exhibition? It depends on expectations placed by organizers, exhibitors and visitors, who showed up at the Milan pavilions.
The context
Micam trend is not really the point. On this extraordinary edition, which relied on synergy with Mipel, TheOne Milano, Homi and A New Point of View, they could not possibly change the season trend or the financial statements of a business. A vast majority of footwear players are therefore rather concerned about what is going to happen next year. To begin with, they wonder about the future of their workers, who will have to deal with free layoffs. Not to mention companies, which must face a question: will the market recover or not?
To secure companies
“At present, entrepreneurs are striving hard to secure their own companies, focusing on strength, honesty and legitimacy. It does not really matter, for the time being, whether it depends on third party manufacturing or production for one’s own brand or for other strategies as well. Entrepreneurs are doing their best – emphasized Siro Badon, president of Assocalzaturifici and Micam –. Factories must keep going, regardless of the pandemic, regardless of anything. They need pairs of shoes to keep working”. The manager and entrepreneur highlighted a couple of issues, namely current assets and credit access: “Some people claim it is extremely difficult to make innovation and investments at this moment: they are right. There are no assets. The government did not allocate any non-repayable funds; they rather told entrepreneurs to run into debt in order to get cash availability. What would you do if the government gave you one million euros for free? I would carry out a long-term project to spotlight an overview of the industry in the next five years. Conversely, we have currently no plan and we have to make adjustments as necessary”.
Picture taken from Imagoeconomica
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