President of the National Shoe Retailers Association (USA), Bill Boettge, announced in Las Vegas on July 31st that a delegation of 70 persons, representing 35 retail organizations connected with the entity will visit the Couromoda trade show held in São Paulo, Brazil, from January 13th to 16th 2004.

Th NSRA associated are flying to Brazil within the Buyer’s Project, developed by APEX - Export Promotion Agency of the Brazilian government and Abicalçados – Brazilian Association of Footwear Industry. The interest of these businessmen is to foster business connections with the largest possible number of footwear manufacturers in Brazil, not only with the lines volume/price, but also with the more sophisticated products. After visiting the Couromoda show (that will feature around 1000 exhibitors) the NSRA members will hold a seminar in a hotel on the Brazilian coastline.

The North American footwear market is the largest in the world. According to Peter Mangione, president of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA), the yearly turnover of the market runs in excess of over US$ 48 billion. Of this total, US$ 39 billion are handled by the members of the entity and another S$ 9 billion are controlled by independent retailers, members of the NSRA.

The information was released during the semi-annual meeting of the NSRA, which gathered 500 retailers at the Bally’s hotel in Las Vegas. Invited by president Bill Boettge, directors of Couromoda Waleska and Francisco Santos, made a presentation of their fair to the retailers and ratified that the Brazilian industry is in an outstanding position to meet directly with the needs of the North American retailers, namely in special products, with higher quality and added value.