The presentation yesterday in Rome of its fourth Shoe Report 2012 to a group of high level members of the Italian parliament was the occasion for ANCI (the Italian association of footwear manufacturers) for a new round of constructive confrontations between the industrial and the political world. The italian footwear sector, according to the words of its president Cleto Sagripanti (photo), is sound and vital; the global figures, as outlined in the Report and in the presentation of its author, Nadio Delai , confirm, in 2011, a growth in some important indicators such as the export figures, both in volumes (+6.2%) and values (+14%) accompanied by a significant increase also in the trade balance of the sector (+10,5%), as well as in a marginal, yet relevant, growth in the global number of workers. Figures, that, despite the general concerns expressed by many operators in the final weeks of last year and related to the very negative economic outlook for 2012, contribute to a globally positive sentiment of the ANCI's companies. The past years, after the severe downturn of 2009, were used by many companies to restructure themselves and to strengthen their market positions; they were seen as an opportunity to change and as a chance to update to the new challenges companies will have to face in the future.
Nevertheless to better compete in the years to come and to allow the Italian shoe companies to maintain their competitive advantages, there are further actions in which the political world should support the italian shoe companies to ease and reduce the actual credit crunch situation that is endangering so many enterprises, to sustain the battle the sector is still fighting to defend the country of origin mandatory labelling, to enforce the reciprocity of import duties in the various countries and to enforce appropriate actions in favour of their internationalization, research and innovation efforts.
This calls for a new cooperation attitude between an industrial world that is capable to formalise and forward its requests to a political world that is ready to listen and to take over such requests. This was in the spirit of the words of the several members of both the low (camera dei deputati) and the high chamber ( senato ) who actively participated in the discussion and who promised their attention and their support to the many representatives of the italian shoe sector who were present at the important meeting that will become a regular event in the political work agenda of the next years.