Think footwear, think France—that’s the message Première Vision Accessories and Première Vision Leather is sending to the global footwear community with the launch of Shoe Focus, a new addition to the Sept. 14-17 show in Paris dedicated entirely to footwear.
Shoe Focus will offer buyers at the cross-disciplinary forum an opportunity to shop for technical and decorative components alongside textiles and leathers for their Fall ’16 collections. Components span heels and soles to glitters, laces and studs from 24 international exhibitors, including performance sole manufacturer Vibram, and Suolificio Veneziano, the maker of luxury soles for Christian Louboutin, Chanel and Jimmy Choo.
“The main objective is to make the visit of the buyers and designers from the shoe sector more efficient,” said Céline Bertrand, Première Vision Accessories show manager. “In the Shoe Focus zone, they’ll find all the experts of the technical components and will have easy access to the fashion information that will help them develop their shoe collections thanks to the trend forum located in the center of the zone.”
The idea to introduce a dedicated footwear space stems from actual demand from visitors working for the shoe market. “They found that the offer for technical components at the show was rather limited compared to the rest,” Bertrand said. Indeed, so far Première Vision Accessories only presented ornaments. However, the 2014 acquisition of the neighboring show Cuir à Paris, which now goes by the name of Première Vision Leather, made Shoe Focus a natural next step.
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“We quickly understood the importance to capitalize on the synergy between the two shows—PV Accessories and PV Leather—and their complementary offer for the shoe sector,” Bertrand said.
The show expects buyers and designers from brands that work in the shoe sector exclusively (Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo, Clarks, Birkenstock, Stuart Weitzman, Cole Haan, Sam Edelman, Nine West, Donald J Pliner and Converse), and brands that develop a shoe collection as a complement to their core business (Dior, G-Star, Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors). Bertrand said she also expects designers working for “highstreet” and mass distribution brands like Zara, Mango or Minelli to attend.