Shoe units to take part in Italy expo

Footwear exports account for nearly half of the industrial strength of Agra with nearly 200 footwear export units marketing their products in the European and middle-eastern countries.

But, despite being on the front-foot in terms of quality, the Agra shoes lag behind in marketing, where China still leads the business.

To increase the visibility of Agra footwear in the world market, 35 footwear exporters will be setting up their stalls at the 67th Expo Riva Schuh, the biggest international footwear trade fair, to be held in Riva del Garda, Trentino, Italy, from January 13 to 16, under the aegis of the Agra Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Chamber (AFMEC).

According to Captain Ajit Rana, Chairman AFMEC, the stress of the footwear exporters in this year's expo shall be on presenting the "Winter Collection" of footwear, both gents and ladies, comprising of long boots etc. and hopefully, the Agra exporters shall be able to bag major export orders from overseas clients through this expo.

He said that currently, the international footwear trends were undergoing major changes and the footwear to be displayed in the expo by the Agra exporters had been designed accordingly to reflect the changing trends.

Notably, the Agra footwear exporters have been participating in the Italy footwear expo for quite some time.

Roger Exports, a major footwear-exporting company of Agra had participated in the 64th Expo Riva Schuh but this time, apart from Roger Exports, 35 other footwear exporters including leading footwear exporters like Dawar Exports, Virola International, Metro & Metro, Leather Linkers & Gupta Overseas shall be participating in the expo, considerably increasing the strength of the Indian delegation which shall also comprise of exporters from other cities like Kanpur & Chennai.