FRANCAL receives around 53,000 global visitors

19 Jul '10

4 min read

Finishing up on July 8th, FRANCAL 2010 – 42nd International Shoes and Accessories Fashion Fair received 53,000 professionals during its 4-day of realization. From this total, 27,327, over than half of all visitors, were national and international buyers, the main target audience of the trade show.

FRANCAL is the most important Brazilian trade show of the sector by volume of business generated for the second semester of the year, a period where retail in Brazil has the best results because of the longest and best-selling season of the year, spring-summer, whose collections are responsible for eight months of sales at stores.

To the foreign market, Francal´s remarkable representation of the Brazilian market is shown in its diversity of launches during the event, where the Brazilian design, tropical culture and charm of the spring-summer collection can be seen in different products.

In the evaluation of the fair's president, A.J. Abdala, the Brazilian product was responsible for the success of FRANCAL 2010. “The product launches met the market's expectations in terms of quality, design, and diversity. Brazil knows how to make products for the summer. This is the main characteristic of our country, which is tropical and where its designers have creativity and incredible talent. It's in the Brazilian DNA. If the buyers find the right product for their market, they will buy it and that is what we saw during the four days of the fair. The shoes and accessories made in Brazil today are fully aligned with the leading international fashion trends without losing their genuine characteristics.”

Industry expects growth in the second semester
The president of the Brazilian Footwear Industries Association (Abicalçados), Milton Cardoso, believes that FRANCAL 2010 really established itself as the fair that initiates business activity in the second semester. “There is an off-season period from June to August and the companies need to start moving inventory, which is what happens after sales negotiations during the fair”, he explains.

Since summer is the longest season of the year and Brazil is specialized in that niche, consumption will surely increase, in the director's opinion. This points to the expectation of growth in footwear production in the country, which should be 5.5%. If confirmed, close to 890 million pairs will be produced by domestic manufacturers this year.

Exports
One of FRANCAL's great attributes is to open foreign markets for a large number of companies – especially smaller businesses which are unable to participate in the largest international fairs in the sector. This is owed to the large volume of importers who visit the event.

FRANCAL 2010 received 1,703 international buyers coming from all five continents. This public is attracted to the trade show through a series of actions continuously developed by the promoter on the international scene, such as the participation in major world fairs, advertisements in the most important publications around the world and direct marketing actions such as sending personalized direct mail, badges and electronic newsletters.

More Textiles News - Brazil...