Four speakers have shared their knowledge on digital fashion and five professionals have participated in the round table, informing the businessmen, students and community managers of the footwear sector on digital fashion trends.
The Footwear Technology Centre of La Rioja, CTCR, has organized the fifth edition of its eShoe conference. Over 60 managers of footwear brands from the region attended this event, unique in the region and celebrated once a year in Arnedo. National and international experts discussed topics like the challenges of the shoe business, the need of creating a brand, promoting e-commerce and digitalization of companies. The participants of the round table on “Satus and perspectives of footwear in Spain: challenges and digitalization” were: Basilio García, the president of Aiccor and the CTCR; Sahara Juste, founder of Mencanta; Javier Lapeña, general director of Dolores Promesas; Camille Maciet, manager for Stylight France and Spain; and Jerome Cabnes, manager of Centric Software in the Spanish and French market.
During the round table, moderated by Pilar Riaño, director of modaes.es, García highlighted the limited resources of the Spanish companies facing the challenge of creating a brand, and joked: “although we can not be McDonald’s, we have some fantastic chefs”. The head of Stylight Spain added that the shoe “is one of the most difficult items to sell online”. Cabanes said that the footwear productive capacity in Spain is its great strength, as “having the supplier close is very important for hitting the market at the right time”. “The footwear sector is very powerful in Spain, compared with France, in the ambition of improving the process”, so Cabanes. Lapeña argues that “it is clear that you can make shoes in Spain”, as long as you manage to justify the price to the consumer. He warned that “it is a non-negotiable standard that the product is of good quality. Starting from there, what helps to sell at a higher price is the brand”.
Maciet confirmed that “where there is greater margin for improvement” for the Spanish footwear is in the aspect of internationalization. “In this regard the Spanish brands are still lacking, compared to the Italian brands” he said. On the other hand, the Spain area manager of Stylight added that the shoe “is one of the most difficult items to sell online due to the nature of the product, forcing companies to modernize their e-commerce”. Juste called for more “self-belief” in the value of Spanish footwear, as well as working harder on the creation of platforms adapted to mobile technology. Regarding the physical distribution network, the company predicted a proliferation of temporary stores and other similar initiatives.
Other participants that held speeches during the conference were Frédéric Alluin (Intelygenz), Marta Panera (Showroomprive), Angel Barbero (Tecnilógica) and Martina Arévalo (Amazon BuyVip). The official opening of the conference was given by Leonor González, Minister of Economic Development and Innovation of the Government of La Rioja, who noted that "the shoe industry must address the opportunities offered by the connected industry 4.0 to evolve and position itself as a strong and competitive sector, renowned internationally. In addition, new technologies have brought new products, processes and business models that make the survival of a company dependent on its ability to adapt to change".
In short, the V edition of eSHOE highlights, once again, that the e-commerce is key to the footwear sector and should be a priority area.
PRESENTATIONS
VIDEOS
PHOTO GALLERY
