Monitoring IRAN’s Shoes Industry in 2016

By: Javad Behabadi

Translation: Maryam Chaharbalesh

It was peculiar enough, the 2016. However, Plasco catastrophe, the sudden demise of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani and Abbas Kiarostami were unexpected and sorrowful occasions of the year. In addition, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (Barjam) comes to the first year of its birth, along with Trump won the United States of America’s Presidency election and started his mission in the White House.

In spite of all these challenges, economic outputs look promising. The figure anticipated for the export, entirely was met and with regard to international development tie an impressive improvement occurred, though for reaching sustainable advancements, Iran’s economy must stay in touch with key global partners, intensively; especially facilitating financial transactions with valid banks and working with high-tech companies are indispensible.

As far as the strong association between different areas, it is essential to discuss shoes industry in relation with other aspects. Mainly, as long as other industries, shoes market suffered a deep depression through these years. But amid of all challenges shoes manufacturers tackled some of their troubles by penetrating in emerged markets and gaining share market there, which was a great contribution for shoes exporters.

April:

Membership of ASSOMES (Association of Managers and Experts of Iranian Shoes Industry) In International Union of Shoes Industry Technicians (UITIC) perhaps was the most month determinant news, which grabbed the whole attention. Prior to Iran’s joining, the union had 27members.The major purpose of UITIC is making development in shoe know-how. Publishing seasonal newsletter as well as holding professional conferences with the issue of shoes industry are some of certain activities of UITIC. With regard to several experts’ opinion who considers global ties as contributing factor for Iran’s shoes industry, it is believed that such mutual collaborations can be helpful for Iranian shoes manufacturers to take extroverted approaches and reform their traditional structures.

Moreover, Assomes the first CEO meeting in 1395 was held in Melli Shoes holding. Manoocher Salehi -ex-president of Melli Shoes holding- hosted this meeting. Through this visit Assomes CEO Members got informed about the future Melli Shoes strategies.

May:

The third exhibition of Leather, Bag & Shoes Accessories was held in Tabriz from first to third of Ordibehesht. In addition to Tabrizian companies, some represents from Tehran, Isfahan, Ghom, Mashhad and Hamedan get featured their products. Also, Italians and Turkish companies presented their capabilities. The exhibition recorded an impressive rise in participants figures compare to the preceding year which caused great satisfaction of the visitors.

Also, it was the 23th birth of the Shoes Industry Magazine. Considering the short life of the majority of Iranian’s magazines, now, more than two decades constant publishing is a signal honor for the Shoes Industry Magazine. Discussing certain agendas of The Sixth National Conference on Shoes & Leather Industry was the other major issue of Ordibehesht. The meeting held in Tabriz while represents of variety of industrial associations related to Shoes & Leather industry took part in. Finally, members went for these agendas:

• Productivity
• Quality
• Price-fixed
• Exports

Beside all these events, the newly established shoe union of west-south of Tehran hosted its first meeting. This region is a pole of manufacturing shoes –especially sports shoes- in Iran.

June:

Let’s start this month with the key issue of 63th meeting of Assomes CEO. “While a fall in embrace of domestic shoes manufacturing among citizens is obvious, A Turkish company has ran 92chain stores whole the country. It is a growing concern which is not short of a serious threat,” this was the prominent message of the meeting.

Furthermore, “Bella Shoes” hosted its annual assembly, which came in a good deal of criticism over the performance of the previous management team.

Similar to former years, fluctuation in the price of raw material was still a concern for the shoes suppliers. But, for the first time ASSOMES mediated between influential partners in National Petrochemical Company which leaded to an agreement between Shazand Petrochemical Company and DOP producers. This was an attempt to support shoes industry and brought various advantages for shoes manufacturers.

Also, the 9^th Mashhad Shoes, Bag, Machineries and Leather were hold in June which presented some criticisms beside its advantages. On the one hand, experts believed such regional exhibitions fulfill regional rather than national interests; on the other hand, absence of gigantic brands was credible evidence for ineffectiveness of regional exhibitions. Also, the exhibition was scheduled for the time coincides with ICEF Turkey exhibition which enjoy a great number of supporters.

July:

Among this year’s educative workshops, “The Customer-Orientation” exclusive for Melli Shoes Mangers was remarkable enough, which held in Tir in Tehran.

The 66^th ASSOMES CEO meeting, also, was another chief story of the Tir that grabbed much attention. CEO Members debated Iran’s shoes export’s figure which suggested a 10percent fall compared to the last year.

It was an inspiring news in Tir for shoe industry, when Abdolmajid Saeedi Nejad, director manger of Payam shoes awarded as a Veteran Manufacturer in the “Industry Day” by the ministry of “Industry, Mines & Trade”.

August:

The 18^th of “Tabriz international exhibition of shoe and bag”, which held in this month, was the turning point of this month. 140 Companies took part in the fair. Several business delegations, including a Russian delegation and a number of Italians visited the exhibition.

Simultaneously, Tabriz Chamber of Commerce hosted the first international “Shoes, Leather and related industry Conference” in August. A number of Turkish, Russian and Italians experts attended in the conference and delivered their speech with the subject of “mutual collaboration”.

Golnaz Nasrollahi, who has been worked as the senior manager in Iran’s Shoes & Textile industry for a long time, was one of the key lecturers of the meeting. She delivered a comprehensive assement from current situation of shoes industry and finally she announced that she is going to leave her governmental position after thirty years because of retirement.

After Tabriz exhibition, ASSOMES CEO had another meeting. The major issue of the meeting was “the way fighting the illicit trade in shoes”. Members, unanimously, believed they require clear &valid information; therefore they asked a research institute to conduct a survey on this issue. Also, members of the board discussed other research projects done by Ara Consultant Company, including future-study of Iran’s shoes industry which suggests valuable results.

It was opening ceremony of the 7^th Shima shoes chain in Tehran. Shima is one of the most well-known shoes brands that has been elected as Iran’s top exporter several times during these years. Shim’s new 400m extend store is placed in the Tehran’s downtown shoes, Sepahsalar Street.

September:

Finally, the report of the research project through “the way fighting the illicit trade in shoes” was published this month. This report provides shoe suppliers with an assessment of the current challenges also it includes a number of invaluable solutions that are developed by the researchers and can be helpful for this year.

Moreover, it was 70^th CEO meeting of ASSOMES which coincided with the last month of the summer. Iran’s Chamber of Commerce hosted the meeting. “Shoes tariffs”, “illicit trade” and “liquidity” were the major agenda of this month. “Naser Haj Hashemi” -the ex-president of the union of the shoes and rubber machinery- and Ali Ajdarkosh, the new-elected president  of this union were the special guest of the meeting. In this meeting Ajdarkosh mentioned that with the acquisition of an Italian brand, which they have ran it in Jolfa trade zone, they are likely to improve their production.

October:

The turning point of Mehr, as the first month of autumn, was a joint between shoes & leather leading brands and Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting’s (IRIB) top managers. IRIB offered considerable offers for TV advertisement.

Also, 70^th meeting of ASSOMES CEO was held in Mehr. With regard to the growing concern of the raw material, members discussed this issue, particularly the price of Hexanol which has a direct impact on the fixed price of the shoes.

Let us to close this report with a promising story. Unlikely the past years that top shoes manufacturers exporters were referred in the textile category, Shoes industry this year, for the first time will be assessed separately. It is believed that this trend will bring more chances for shoes exporters.

November:

A report published by Melli shoes in which interesting statistics in association with trend of sales of the company grabbed attention. 200 Milliard Rial sales forecasts for 1395 was one of the major points of this report. Hitting this amount will prove 61per cent growth compare to the 1394.

Also, in November the Assumes CEO’s meeting was held with taking part of two influential guests: CEO member of Atieh-Saba’s holding –owner of Melli Shoe- and the new president of Melli shoes who just after a week of his installation as the president of the company attended in this meeting to show his interest to have ties with ASSOMES and manufacturers

According to the complaints of shoes manufacturers about the payment policy of the ex-president of Melli Shoes, both managers expressed that in spite of their belief in terms of the necessity of making improvements in shoes industry particularly with regard to “price” & “quality”, they are not likely to pursue pressure approach on manufacturers.

December:

A report including the annual shoes export forecast published in this month, for the first time. Report anticipated the amount of shoes export for 1395 in a range between 85-95Million $, which demonstrates a 10 per cent fall compare to the year of 1394. In spite of anticipation of this considerable decline, writers believed this deficiency can be compensated through two approaches: first by holding policy of stimulating export by the government and second developing new solution to get manufacturers involved to penetrate in the new markets.

Furthermore, the 73th meeting of Assomes CEO was held in 22th second of December in memory of “Haj Mohammad Taghi Torkaman” as a veteran & founder of“Amin Leather” brand. ASSOMES secretariat in this meeting, expressed that has been received an invitation for the “Afghan-Plast exhibition. In addition the board discussed the process of the study of “Identifying & Analyzing the Iran’s Shoes Industry Strategic Advantage, which was conducted by ASSOMES and monitored by the Industry, Mine & Trade ministry. It was stated, as well, that Golnaz Nasrollahi has embarked upon her new career as the minister consultant in the area of textile, garment, leather & shoes industry.

Holding the MPEX5 exhibition was the last but the most worthwhile news of this month. More than 2000 national companies in addition to a number of international enterprises took part in this event and presented their products & services related to bag, shoes and leather industry. International companies were from countries including China, Turkey, South Korea, Italia & Taiwan. It was believed that this exhibition proved a remarkable improvement compare to the last year exhibition.

January:

Iran’s chamber of commerce hosted the 74^th board meeting of the ASSOMES in January​. A meeting in which a range of significant issues was discussed. One of these issues was Pars Navid co’s offer. They explained their plan to compile a list of retailers in the national level for credit shopping and they expressed their interest to put the name of ASSOMES members in their list.

From educational aspects, also, this month was fruitful. The first course on shoe industry with coordination of ASSOMES was performed by Ara Consultant Company, while it enjoyed support of the Iran Small Industries & Industrial Parks Organization (ISIPO). Also a number of educational courses implemented by the hand-made shoes union which provide participators with the modern techniques in field of shoes industry.

February:

What are Iranian’s shoes manufacturers export target markets? This is a crucial question which a nine month statistic report replied that. The reported introduced Iraq, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Syria, Georgia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Russia& Kazakhstan as the main target market for Iranian shoes, respectively.

The early of the February was coincident with the 133th year of the establishment of Tehran Chamber of Commerce (TCC). The existing CEO of TCC took opportunity this date to award successful entrepreneurs & veterans in field of business. Senior administrations -such as the vice president took part in the award ceremony to show their respect toward veterans and to get excited the new generation to run new enterprises. Among the winners name of Abdol-majid Saeedi Nejad –the founder of Payam Shoes- was striking enough though he is also greatly famous for his involvement in pharmaceutical industries.

The 76^th CEO’s meeting was held in February while their main agenda was the national campaign in support of domestic shoes manufacturers. The campaign was called “I wear Iranian shoes” which initially commenced in Tabriz. The ways for extending the campaign through the country was the main concern. Beside, the assembly discussed the issue of the shoes export and the struggles which is involved with such as the fixed price and the price of the raw material. The meeting was comprised other agendas including: the executive process and the progress of the City Shoes, Melli Shoes’ ties with manufacturers and monitoring the trend of import.

March:

Let’s start this month with the message that Ali Lashkari as the president of the ASSOMES wrote for the Ali Fazeli, his counterpart in Iran Chamber of Guilds (ICG). A letter in which Lashkari appreciated ICG’s attempt to promote the national campaign of Iranian Shoes among the country. A campaign which growth in popularity in the Bahman .

Finally, a report on the issue of qualitative evaluation of the MPEX5 was published in this month. It was conducted by the Ara consultant company and its content was plenty innovative. Experts believe that such these investigative reports is helpful either to perform better exhibitions or to achieve more improvements in the shoes industry.