We met up with some historic Obuv exhibitors to ask them what they thought of the results of this past edition. Here is what they told us…

“We recorded a slight drop compared to previous editions – commented Giovanni Fabiani, owner of the self-named brand – Affecting the outcome was the current situation in the market, which today is overflowing with products, but also the climate of uncertainty surrounding the soon to be introduced new customs regulations. The result was a kind of waiting game played by Russian customers. Instead, the situation with Russia’s neighbouring countries was different and characterised by a better performance: this was true of Kazakhstan and especially Ukraine, which is on the road to recovery with a clear upward trend”.

“After twenty years of participation in Obuv, we have seen it and heard it all… – commented Loredano Corvaro, head of foreign sales for Vittorio Virgili – Our expectations in preparing for the last edition were not so high: we knew that it was not going to be the most productive edition, also in light of the results of Micam. In fact, there was a drop in turnout and we met up with only a few customers, who all had the usual problems… from the other end, sales trends are down everywhere and in Russia it makes no difference. Over the last few seasons, Obuv has become the kind of fair where business is done with already existing customers and new contacts are not made. Since it is a fair that wraps up the season, only smaller-scale customers participate”.

“The last edition of Obuv was strange – declared Roberta Menatta, head of the Russian market for Fabi – before it started, we were not expecting great results, but in the end, we managed to end the fair with results that went beyond our expectations. Our traditional customers placed their orders, even if they were for smaller quantities than in the past. This, however, was compensated for by the re-entry of old customers, who we had not seen for the last few seasons. So, altogether, we are satisfied with the business done. Certainly, we are still quite far from the results we used to achieve prior to the crisis, but considering how the market is today, things went quite well”.