The Future Footwear Factory was the main topic of the key note speeches with lectures focusing on consumer trends, production 4.0 with heavily increasing automatisation, communication of machines and products, robotisation, individualisation of products, new materials, new product concepts, services, as well as the vital importance of training and further education in the footwear industry.

The factory visits showcased some of the top companies of the Tamil Nadu region: Farida Group (Kenmore Shoes) as well as the shoe production of the KH Group and the tannery BBK Leather Private Ltd.

The UITIC awards were presented to the Hungarian shoe expert Ferenc Schmel / UNIDO and Andreas Tepest (Deichmann).

To conclude, UITIC’s president Yves Morin said that the UITIC executive committee was highly satisfied with the event in general and with the quality of the lectures, and he expressed great praise to CLE (Council for Leather Exports), the organisers of the latest edition of the Congress. 

As part of the Chennai edition, it has been announced that the Congress of the UITIC will return to Portugal, after Porto has hosted the event in 1996. The upcoming congress will be jointly organised by CTCP and APICCAPS, the Portuguese Footwear, Components and Leather Goods Manufacturers’ Association.

Leandro Melo, General Manager of the Portuguese Footwear Technological Centre commented: “CTCP is accepting this challenging of bringing back the UITIC Congress to Europe with great pleasure. It will be an honour for Portugal to host another edition of the Congress and we will try our best to deliver the best possible Congress. CTCP is evaluating the necessary financing conditions and will try to gather all the necessary funds to respond affirmatively to this challenge.”