43rd FIMEC (International Fair of Leather, Chemical Products, Components, Machines and Equipment for Footwear and Tanneries) is the only fair across the world to bring together the leather footwear industry’s entire operation in the same place. Its 43rd event is taking place from February 26 to 28, 2019 at the FENAC pavilions in Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. From manufacturing to logistics, the fair is the place where the industry strikes up deals and introduces new leather and fur products, chemicals, components, machines, equipment, and technologies meant for the entire footwear industry. As the industry’s largest fair in Latin America, the latest FIMEC drew in over 500 exhibitors as well as high quality, professional attendees from more than 37 countries.
FENAC’s executive-director Mauro de Paula pointed out that FIMEC represents the full might of the leather-footwear market. “FIMEC is built by many hands, given it has been supported by several industry entities from the get-go. We are quite optimistic about the fair’s 2019 numbers, which already seem likely to top this year’s. Our main mission is to allow business leaders and industry people visiting the fair to leave here with greater knowledge and more information. Our goal is to turn coming to FIMEC into a transformative experience, and to do that we offer inspiring projects that further knowledge to help business leaders find ways to improve their business,” Paula highlighted.
FIMEC Forum, a learning opportunity for visitors
A success at the latest fair, the Fimec Forum has been confirmed for the 2019 program. Devised to offer information and global knowledge for the leather-footwear industry’s advancement, the event is held alongside FIMEC and features Brazilian and foreign speakers renowned for their footwear industry expertise. Suane Lemke, coordinator of FIMEC’s Organization Committee, said the forum is meant to make the fair even more relevant by offering transformative contents. “The FIMEC Forum provides access to and networking with relevant people working in the international market. Our goal is to make the Forum a place where the industry gets to present ideas and innovations, and so we strive to fire up and inspire the market,” Suane explained.
In 2019, the 43rd FIMEC Forum will be taking place on February 27 from 9 am to 2 pm. It is going to feature speakers engaged in fashion and business called in to share their expertise and discuss relevant topics for the industry. One top name already confirmed is Thomas Michaelis, who will be speaking about “Textile coating: the impact from changing the solvent system to water-based chemicals on the industry.” Michaelis is Head of Textile Coatings for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Covestro (Germany). Another confirmed talk is “The future of design and manufacturing,” which will address consumer viewpoints to translate design ideals and bring them to the industry’s future. The talk will be given by Rob Bruce, a top creative leader dedicated to human-centered design whose design credits include brands such as Apple, Nike, Google and Coca-Cola. Also speaking will be Sergio Guimarães, a footwear industry expert with over 40 years’ experience in the world market working for brands like 9West, Disney and Nike.
The 43rd FIMEC Forum is sponsored by Transduarte and Orisol and enjoys master support from SEBRAE RS, Universidade Feevale, and leather-footwear industry entities.
FIMEC Studio addresses the relationship between generations in the digital age
The FIMEC Studio is a spot at the fair dedicated to fashion information and which provides a visitor experience for FIMEC attendees. In this inspirational environment designed by Studio 10 and Coelho Assessoria Empresarial, visitors get access to finished products made following fashion research based on consumer behavior. It is a fun learning universe filled with fashion trends that provide guidance for visitors’ creations.
In 2019, the 43rd FIMEC Studio’s theme will be Converging Relationships and address the various generations that, to a greater or lesser extent, participate in the virtual world. Such interaction generates new behavior which consequently creates new consumption characteristics. Therefore, raw materials and products are based on this virtual engagement background encompassing both natives to the digital age (Y-millennials, Z-centennials, the Alpha generation) and visitors to this age (Generation X and baby boomers). Designer and Studio 10 director Christian Thomas says this relationship between generations is the main topic of behavior studies to be carried out for the FIMEC Studio in 2019. “Technology is advancing and becoming embedded into human life. The interaction between different generations leads to new behavior which consequently creates new consumption characteristics,” Thomas pointed out.
The 43rd FIMEC Studio project was created by Coelho Assessoria Empresarial and its contents are under the responsibility of Studio 10 and Universidade Feevale’s Design Center. It will be run by FENAC at FIMEC.
Concept-Factory presents innovations for footwear manufacturing in real time
43rd FIMEC’s Concept-Factory shows real-time footwear manufacturing to help visitors understand how the technological processes and products on display at the event can be used. Put together by FENAC, the Brazilian Institute of Technology for Leather, Footwear and Related Goods (Instituto Brasileiro de Tecnologia do Couro, Calçado e Artefatos – IBTeC) and Coelho Assessoria Empresarial, the project will feature approximately 70 companies that supply from raw materials to production management and control systems, machines, and industrial waste disposal services. IBTeC’s Executive President Paulo Griebeler addressed the project’s theme for the next year. “‘Information technology at the service of the footwear industry’ will be the Concept-Factory’s theme in 2019 and we want to present some new concepts that have emerged from this digital revolution. We will be bringing machines, innovations, technologies, and sustainable processes and products for this market,” Griebeler explained.
Coelho Assessoria Empresarial’s Director Luís Coelho says the project has been evolving constantly over the years. “We are getting to the Concept-Factory’s 10th year and the project’s evolution is clear as, over this time, we have earned the respect of FIMEC itself and of the market. So much so that we have been able to expand our area and move the project to a better location given the project’s importance at the fair and in the market,” Coelho pointed out. Next year, visitors to the fair will see a truly innovative factory in terms of management, with machine and equipment integration systems that increase manufacturers’ productivity and ensure real-time production performance control.
In 2019, the brands manufacturing at the fair will be Calçados Kildare from Novo Hamburgo and Calçados Arezzo from Campo Bom. The two factories have come up with innovations especially to present them at the project. Arezzo’s CEO Cisso Klaus says the Concept-Factory’s and 43rd FIMEC’s highlight is the entities’ unity. “Sharing knowledge and information is essential but the special thing we have here is the entities working together towards a common goal. The industry needs to adjust to it and walk beside us. This is our main strength to bring back the pride in being shoemakers. As long as we focus on that, there will be no division, just unity,” Klaus pointed out.
Additionally, the Concept-Factory will feature a manufacturing unit run by Senai which will make women’s wedges entirely designed by students from the SENAI Institute of Footwear Technology (Instituto Senai de Tecnologia do Calçado) following an internal contest. To ensure the output of 900 pairs of shoes from brand Arezzo, 450 from Kildare, and 900 from SENAI over the fair’s three days, the Concept-Factory will employ 60 workers. In addition to students from SENAI’s Footwear School, the project will be hiring workers looking for a new job in the market.
Concept-Factory master partners include Calçados Arezzo, Calçados Kildare, BASF, and Covestro.
SOLA Project presents solutions for improving the industry’s productivity
Further advancing the partnership set up over the years at 43rd FIMEC, in 2019 the Brazilian Association of Footwear Manufacturers (Associação Brasileira das Indústrias de Calçados – ABICALÇADOS) will be presenting its automated logistics system (Sistema de Operações Logísticas Automatizadas – SOLA) at the Concept-Factory to show logistic processes being controlled in an automated manner via barcode reading and RFID. ABICALÇADOS’ consultant Igor Hoelscher, head of the SOLA project, explains the system has come to meet the footwear industry’s need to improve its productivity, streamline processes in order to lower costs, and secure full traceability by adopting methods that integrate and add efficiency to the links along the chain, from raw material suppliers to retailers. “At the fair, interested business leaders will have the chance to learn about the control system with traceability and cloud computing principles in place to monitor supply, losses, and finished product output in real time,” he explained.
According to Hoelscher, with implementation costs compatible with a company’s size, savings and productivity increase are huge, especially because errors are mitigated throughout the process and information is delivered quickly and seamlessly for sales departments to improve their sales. “The process has been drawing the attention of major manufacturers. However, our main challenge has been getting to the retail industry, which requires rework on re-tagging procedures that disregard manufacturers’ controls and labeling. The adoption of patterns allows for integration along the chain and scale gains, and consequently lower costs. Not to mention the business impact of a fashion product which nowadays, instead of circulating quickly, remains standing still for a long time while client procedures are followed,” the consultant concluded.
Business rounds expand networking at the fair
Business rounds will also be taking place at the 43rd FIMEC. Another FF Exchange event will be held by ABICALÇADOS via the Future Footwear, a program run in collaboration with industry entities ABRAMEQ (machines), ASSINTECAL (components), and CICB (leather). The initiative is a speed networking-type business round where participants have three minutes to present their products and begin negotiations. This time, the project will bring together (key) footwear retailers and the chain’s suppliers so they can make the most of their time and meet as many people as possible to strike deals, thereby bringing all of the chain’s links closer.
Another initiative is the Buyer Project carried out by By Brasil Components, Machinery and Chemicals as an effort to encourage exports made in collaboration with the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Agência Brasileira de Promoção de Exportações e Investimentos – Apex-Brasil) and ASSINTECAL. Over the event’s three days, about 600 business rounds are expected to be held between project participants and 10 buyers from Argentina, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and India. Deals are expected to top last year’s USD 15 million.
About FIMEC – The 43rd FIMEC (International Fair of Leather, Chemical Products, Components, Machines and Equipment for Footwear and Tanneries) will take place on February 26 through 28 from 1 pm to 8 pm at the FENAC pavilions in Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). FIMEC is held by FENAC S/A, sponsored by Transduarte, and supported by the Novo Hamburgo City Administration and the following industry entities: ABICALÇADOS, ABQTIC, ABRAMEQ, ACI-NH/CB/EV, AICSUL, ASSINTECAL, CICB, FIERGS, and IBTEC. www.fimec.com.br