Aegean Leather and Leather Products Exporters' Association organized the national participation organization of Turkey for the 7th time in the "Expo Riva Schuh Fair" held in Riva Del Garda, Italy between 14-17 January 2023. Shoe and leather goods sectors, which achieved an export of 1 billion 541 million dollars in 2022, set an export target of 2 billion dollars in the 100th year of the Republic. While 41 Turkish shoe exporters participated in the fair with Turkey's national participation organization, the total number of Turkish companies participating in the fair reached 118. The Turkish leather industry made a show in Italy by showing the largest participation in the fair after the Italians. Aegean Leather and Leather Products Exporters' Association President Erkan Zandar, who shared the knowledge that the Turkish shoe industry is taking firm steps forward by increasing its exports every year, and that they are promoting their new collections and models in Italy, said: He stated that they created the basis for great opportunities for Turkish exporting companies that want to increase their share.
Target market, Italy Pointing out that Italy is one of the largest leather product importers in the world, Zandar said, “Italy imports over 10 billion dollars of footwear products annually. The Turkish footwear and leather goods industries see Italy as one of the most important target markets to reach the target set within the framework of the 2023 export strategy. The Turkish shoe industry increased its exports by 21 percent from 1 billion 5 million dollars to 1 billion 219 million dollars in 2022. The exports of our saddlery industry, on the other hand, increased by 34 percent from 243 million dollars to 325 million dollars. Italy's share in this success was 80 million dollars. Italy is the second country after Germany in the exports of our saddlery industry, while it has ranked 7th after Germany, Russia, Iraq, Ukraine, Spain and Romania in shoe exports. In 2023, we aim to increase our shoe and leather goods exports to 2 billion dollars with the virtual reality-oriented promotion projects we will do at Expo Riva Schuh Fair, Kazakhstan Trade Delegation and Metaverse. Our Ministry of Commerce determined Italy as the 'Target Market' in 2023. In this way, the amount of support for our fair increased from 3 thousand 600 TL per square meter to 5 thousand 840 TL. On behalf of all our exporters, we would like to thank our Ministry of Commerce, which has included Italy, England and France among its target markets upon the request of EDMIB.”
Metaverse, the new route of leather exporters
Aegean Leather and Leather Products Exporters' Association, which signed the world's first virtual fair during the pandemic period, broke new ground at Expo Riva Schuh Fair. For the first time, EDMİB paved the way for exhibiting shoe products of exhibitors to be displayed to the visitors of the fair in the EIB trend area with augmented reality technology in Metaverse environment. Aegean Leather and Leather Products Exporters' Association President Erkan Zandar said, “As EDMİB Board of Directors, we have a young staff that closely follows the innovations in the world. At the fair in Italy, we enabled our companies to present their products at our virtual stand in addition to their physical stands. We will present the new opportunities that Metaverse offers to business life to our exporters at the next fairs. We believe that these innovations will be the driving force in reaching our export targets.”
