SAPICA: The Footwear, Leather and Fashion fair internationalizes trends and businesses of Mexican footwear
The event will take place between Tuesday 7th, Wednesday 8th and Thursday 9th March 2023 at Poliforum León exhibition center in Guanajuato. On this occasion, the event will be celebrating its 88th edition and its 49 years of history.
The Chamber of the Footwear Industry of the State of Guanajuato (CICEG) -organizer of the show-, announced a participation of more than 350 exhibitors and more than 2,000 brands, thus gathering around 90% of the Mexican footwear offer and also international firms.
In addition to buyers from all over the country, SAPICA will attract visitors from various regions of the world, with an estimated attendance of more than 3,000 people from 30 countries, looking for networking and business.
In this sense, visitors will be able to learn about the best seasonal collections in footwear and leather goods, contacting manufacturers directly and having the opportunity to compare prices and products, and evaluate the direction of the sector.
In the next March edition, the exhibition offer will focus on the trends for Autumn/Winter 2023, in a diversity of products that includes all lines and styles of footwear, together with an abundant proposal of leather goods. The exhibited articles will respond to the latest fashion trends, and will be made of leather, synthetics and textiles.
The footwear offered will present various construction systems, such as conventional glued, direct injection, vulcanized, American welt, full plastic, California, sewn on last, goodyear welt, opanka and lockstitcher.
It will have the intention of expanding creative horizons, which alludes to the dissolution of ideological barriers and the borders between the physical and digital, in addition to making visible the fusion of a lifestyle that combines indoor with outdoor.
Currently, fashion is influenced by Artificial Intelligence and the Metaverse and with trends defined with concepts such as "Fake exotics", "Retro denim", "Galactic silver and metallic tones" and "Deep black", added to a marked interest in sustainability.
According to the SAPICA manifesto: “We live in an hyperconnected world where there are no boundaries anymore. It´s time to explore, to look for adventure and create new narratives. It´s time to discover new horizons, to recreate reality and lose the fear for unknown. Release your creativity, spark innovation, stimulate change!”
The programming related to presentations on topics of interest to the sector will include the participation of renowned and experienced speakers.
As always, SAPICA will be held in the city of León, the country's traditional production hub of footwear and leather goods.
In this sense, the state of Guanajuato represents around 80% of Mexican manufacturing, out of an estimated total of 224 million pairs produced in 2022, according to preliminary figures reported from CICEG, the entity that groups footwear industrialists.
Once again, internationalization is part of the development of the sector. In this regard, exports reached some 36 million pairs last year, with sales exceeding 80% of the total destined for the United States.
"We see that part of this effect on the growth of exports is due to the need of the big international brands to diversify their sources of production and leave Asia, so that Mexico has a great opportunity for development", CICEG reported.
Specifically in SAPICA, the visibility towards international markets is carried out with the support of SHOES FROM MEXICO, a program for the promotion of exports and solutions for foreign buyers, together with the Coordinator for the Promotion of Foreign Trade of the State of Guanajuato (COFOCE).
The post-pandemic years have generated strong commercial and productive changes in the international footwear industry, which has affected traditional producing areas, such as Asia (due to health, logistics and cost issues), complicating a regular supply to important footwear consumer markets.
It is for this reason that countries like Mexico fit into the trend of "nearshoring" -outsourcing and proximity of production- for high consumption markets, such as the United States, to which exports grow.
Currently, the Mexican industry serves numerous American brands and operators, in a period of sustained growth, and SAPICA becomes the ideal meeting point to ratify the trend.
Recognized for its traditional hospitable vocation, León is one of the most representative cities of Mexican identity. For this, in addition to participating in SAPICA, national and international visitors will be able to discover and enjoy its rich historical heritage, through numerous tourist circuits, and its exquisite gastronomic culture in a wide variety of restaurants scattered throughout the region.
