Exhibition of leather footwear made in Spain – manufacturers seek distributors in Serbia

The representatives of 25 footwear manufacturers from Spain opened the two-day exhibition of their products yesterday (March 31st, 2009) in hotel Continental. Spanish companies aim at finding distributors in Serbia, and most of them are in our country for the first time.

The Commercial Manager of the Federation of Spanish Footwear Manufacturers, Javier Garcia Lilo, says that they made a selection of brands that cover almost all segments of the market. There are manufacturers of both men’s and women’s leather footwear, footwear for day and night, boots, sports footwear, sleepers and leather bags.

- Our idea is not to sell footwear at this exhibition, but to promote the quality of Spanish brands. We export over 120m pairs of shows a year (90% of production), while 90% of our companies manufacture their goods in Spain and they did not move their production units to the Far East or northern Africa like some manufacturers from other European countries. We export 70,000 pairs of shoes to Serbia every year, but our opinion is that that’s not enough – Lilo points out.

He says that large number of distributors in Serbia are familiar with Spanish footwear, and he reminds that Spain is the world’s second largest manufacturer of footwear, right behind Italy, but the quality of Spanish footwear is equal to the quality of Italian footwear because, among the rest, they use the same leather and offer similar design.

Lilo adds that certain companies found the distributors not only for Serbia, but also for the regional countries, on the first day of the exhibition. As far as prices of Spanish shoes are concerned, Lilo says that they will range between 140 and 150 EUR in the stores, while the boots for women will probably be a bit more expensive.

The exhibition is open between 10 AM and 6 PM today, and some of the brands that can be seen there are: "Callaghan", "George`s", "Hispanitas", "Pretty Ballerina", "Zampiere".