Portuguese footwear association APICCAPS will debut fashion and designer footwear brands as part of a special “Made in Portugal” initiative during Project Sole in New York (July 22-24) at the Jacob Javits Center. The installation highlighting Portuguese footwear brands will provide retailers and buyers a visual snapshot of the country’s best contemporary brands. Brands will include Brusque, Carlos Santos, Cloud Footwear, COM – Creation Of Minds, Coxx-Borba, Dromedaris, Felmini, Flex & Go, Fly London, Lemon Jelly, Mocc’s and Boat Dock’s.
“We believe Portuguese footwear exports to the U.S.—which in 2017 reached 70 million euros—can double in the coming years,” states Luís Onofre, president of APICCAPS. “Our idea is to make a global presentation of the Portuguese footwear. We’re sure that when the American customers discover the quality of the Portuguese footwear they won’t trade it for anything else.”
“We have been working with APICCAPS to get the factories and brands ready to do business with USA brands and retailers,” states Leslie Gallin, president footwear, UBM Fashion. “With all of the chatter regarding tariffs, now might be the right time for retailers and brands to look at Portugal for production and product.”
Following the Project Sole exhibit the Portuguese trade commission will show at the FN Platform show in Las Vegas (Aug. 13-15) where nearly 20 men’s and women’s brands will show their Spring/Summer ’19 collections—most for the first time.
