The first edition, which is to be held at the Events Centre of the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (Fiergs), from the 21^st to the 23^rd of November 2023, will allow exhibitors to introduce their Autumn-Winter collections. The warmer season collections, in turn, will be presented at the second edition of the trade fair, taking place from the 22^nd to the 24^th of May 2024, at the Transamérica Expo Centre, in São Paulo/SP.

The idea for organizing this fair is not news, but it began to gain strength in 2020. "In the first half of 2021, we surveyed businesses in the footwear and retail sectors, concerning the best possible locations, dates and editions, for participating in physical fairs in a post-pandemic scenario. The results of this survey allowed us to begin working towards the organization of the Brazilian Footwear Fair", explained Haroldo Ferreira, Executive President of Abicalçados. Then, it was created a Fair Committee comprised of associates of all Brazilian footwear centres that helped define the project.

But as an association that represents the interests and concerns of its associates, Abicalçados acknowledges that it has no expertise in holding trade fairs. "So, we identified companies to assist us in this mission", added Mr. Ferreira, opening a competition between Brazilian and international promoters to organize the fair. Out of six elected, five sent proposals, "and the chosen one was NürnbergMesse Brasil", the country’s subsidiary of the German NürnbergMesse group, as it considered the focus on business, the need for a complete infrastructure and transparency, minding also to cost savings.

At the event, NürnbergMesse Brasil announced an investment of 1 million Brazilian Reais (184 thousand US dollars) per year to attract some of the main buyers in national and international markets. "This is already a practice carried out by NürnbergMesse in other events around the world to leverage businesses at fairs", pointed out the promoter's CEO, João Paulo Picolo, emphasizing that all investments are audited.