The overall objective of the CEC (European Confederation of the Footwear Industry) is to boost the competitiveness and sustainable growth of the European footwear through two lines of actions: the promotion of its interests and values with regard to policies and regulations of the European institutions and international organisations, and the identification of funding opportunities for specific actions that serve to reinforce the recognition and added value of European footwear. The first, often known as lobby activities, are more known in general by European companies, like for instance the defence of the mandatory origin labelling on products, or the intervention to accelerate the signature of satisfactory Free Trade Agreements with strategic markets like EEUU and Japan.

However, the funding opportunities and related ongoing activities are more unknown by companies. Consequently, the CEC has chosen this September edition of theMICAM to present and disseminate the ongoing projects and initiatives at their own stand.

The CEC is currently engaged in three EU projects from different Commission programmes. Two dedicated to fulfil educational needs, and a third one dedicated to develop a specific tool for the calculation of the carbon footprint.

Step to Sustainability (Lifelong Learning Programme)
The Step to Sustainability project aims at creating, developing and piloting a new occupation and qualification profile and the correspondent training course on sustainable manufacturing in footwear in order to take advantage of the opportunities coming from a successful implementation of a sustainable strategy.  A survey initially done to footwear companies illustrated the needs and knowledge they had in this field. Two levels of occupational profiles based on the European Qualification Framework have been developed as well as the corresponding training units. The consortium has now opened a Call for Expression of Interest at the project website www.step2sustainability.eu, in which companies can apply to be part of the pilot exercise and follow training on of the training modules free of charge. With this proposal, the partners will ensure that the training material responds to the users’ needs.

     

High-End Shoe (Erasmus+ Programme)
The overall objective of the High-End Shoe project is to maintain and strengthen the high-end and luxury footwear production across Europe, and to promote new generations of highly-skilled manufacturers thanks to the creation, development and pilot of an innovative and flexible ICT based training in footwear manufacturing. In consultation with companies leading this category of products, the partners will assess and identify the knowledge, skills and capacities needed to manufacture such footwear. The outcome will be the basis for the update and review of the occupational profile “Training Manufacturing/ Tailor-made Technician” and the creation of the corresponding training content targeted to VET students, future designers, technicians, and entrepreneurs in the field of footwear. More information is available at www.highendshoe.eu.


CO2shoe (LIFE+ Programme)
The calculation of the carbon footprint is a challenge for many industrial sectors, particularly because they often include a wide range of components and/or stages in their manufacturing processes and during the process lifecycle. In addition, there are many calculation methodologies in use and under development, which result on large differences between the results obtained according to the methodology employed. Faced with this situation, the CO2Shoe project aims at developing a specific carbon footprint calculation tool for the footwear sector, which allows companies to measure the greenhouse gas emissions(GHG) produced when manufacturing a pair of shoes. With this tool, companies will be able to identify the aspects of the manufacturing process that need to be addressed in order to optimise their resources, decrease their energy consumption, and consequently, reduce the GHG emissions released into the atmosphere. More information is available at www.co2shoe.eu.

                

When participating in European projects, the CEC accompanies and provides assistance to other footwear stakeholders from the start of the project idea and conceptualisation: in the presentation of the project proposal, and, if selected for funding by the Commission, in the implementation of the activities together with the rest of partners of the international consortium.

The CEC will be present at theMICAM footwear trade fair from the 1st to the 4th of September with a stand located on Hall 3, besides the stands of other footwear associations, with an aim to disseminate information on its European Commission projects and other relevant activities.

For more information about CEC please visit their website.