Thursday, February 18, 2021 - 18:53English

 

MICAM Milano is ready to return in digital form: from 8 March to 8 May the virtual doors of the MICAM Milano Digital Show will open once again, with the aim of offering dealers from all over the world a comprehensive and solid platform on which to do business.

Following the first edition in September, which was attended by over 2500 international buyers and showcased 154 brands and over 53,000 products, the forthcoming MICAM Milano Digital Show will present trends for F/W 21/22 and all the latest developments in the quality footwear sector.

The MICAM Milano Digital Show provides brands and buyers with a platform enabling them to meet and communicate with each other easily and effectively. Buyers will be able to browse collections in a user-friendly environment, ask to be connected with the brand, choose between linesheets and product catalogues, personalise and finalise orders directly on the platform. International footwear brands, for their part, have privileged access to MICAM Milano’s worldwide community and can take advantage of its promotion channels to acquire new contacts, invite clients directly to the platform and use the most advanced digital management tools to customise their products. An experience that is entirely geared towards facilitating business.

For Siro Badon, MICAM and Assocalzaturifici Chair: “The situation is still difficult but we have to try and seize the opportunities. As MICAM, and in our role as an Association, we intend to continue to stand alongside footwear companies through the MICAM Milano Digital Show. We are working on enhancing content thanks to MICAM X and on making the platform easier to use by guiding buyers and exhibitors step-by-step. The platform has rapidly become a virtual meeting place for the world’s footwear community. The pandemic – Badon goes on to say – has in actual fact helped to accelerate digitalisation in our industry and update the way we do business. At the same time, we are fully aware that we cannot abandon the traditional physical trade fair because physical contact, in-person interaction between buyer and supplier is a vital aspect of our business. In fact, we are already working on a new, traditional edition of MICAM, to be held from 19 to 21 September: an event that has always represented the best of madein-Italy proudly and vigorously, and which I am confident will mark the beginning of a new era, a fresh start for the footwear industry worldwide”.

Alongside the range of merchandise on offer, there will be no shortage of virtual, highcontent events, thanks to MICAMX, the MICAM laboratory dedicated to innovation and cutting-edge ideas in the footwear world. MICAMX will complete the virtual experience offered by MICAM by representing an ideal bridge between the industry’s present and future and by enabling all those involved in the supply chain to share their know-how.

Prominent speakers and leading experts will discuss sustainability, new trends and materials in a packed calendar of meetings, workshops and events which will animate the MICAM Milano Digital Show from 8 March to 8 May 2021.

MICAM WINS CREATIVITY INFLUENCER AWARD

The MICAM in Wonderland campaign, created for MICAM Milano by the MM Company with accounting by Laureri Associates, has received yet another prestigious prize: an Honourable Mention from the judges of the IDA International Design Award 2020 “for the excellent design and extraordinary originality within the ambit of trade fair events”.

To win in the social media world – according to the CEO of MICAM Milano, Tommaso Cancellara – you need enticing story-telling: a complex, composite narrative that accompanies the user, even those working in a B2B context. Thanks to the shots taken by photographer Fabrizio Scarpa and the series of short-films directed by Daniele Scarpa, we accompanied our followers through a fully immersive experience, integrating their smartphones with the physical fair. The aim was to involve the public by drawing them into the set and enhancing their experience.

The IDA Mention, added to the ICMA Awards gold medal, quite rightly ranks MICAM as a protagonist and influencer of the ‘new creativity’.

A SNEAK PEEK AT THE NEW TRENDS

The trends revealed by forecasters WGSN exclusively for MICAM, provide a preview of the characteristics of the footwear that will feature in the course of the MICAM Milano Digital Show, as well as the latest trends that will be discussed at the MICAMX seminars. According to WGSN, while sustainability becomes a non-negotiable necessity, we try to evade reality by rediscovering history and myth, but also by exorcising our fear of the present moment by inventing other-worldly situations full of characters that would be perfectly at home on the set of a horror film. 

The fashion trends pinpointed can therefore be grouped together into three main themes: Conscious Clarity, Phantasmagoria, and New Mythologies

• A LITTLE LESS FOR EACH OF US, A LITTLE MORE FOR EVERYONE

Sustainability has become the rule and no longer just a buzz-word to bandy around, or a concept developed by some niche brand. Which is why all eyes are on long-lasting products that go beyond the concept of seasonality and trends and testify to a new Conscious Clarity.

In the world of women’s shoes, this value becomes a guide to the future of design. It introduces a real cult of moderation and restraint, inspired by the “limitarianism” theory, which promotes the redistribution of rights and wealth amongst peoples. Fashion responds to this social ferment by embracing the beauty of living with fewer objects: the “less is more” approach will be a feature of 2022.

Minimalism will be a must for men as well. Classic, timeless shapes are revisited using simple materials. The trend will be towards a quilted effect and silhouettes reconstructed like architecture.

• HARSH REALITY, YOU DON’T SCARE ME!

The present climate of uncertainty has led us to seek refuge from reality and everyday life in alternative, even ‘horror-film’ type scenarios that are increasingly reflected in products. It is the desire for … Phantasmagoria. Aim: to exorcise our present-day fears, by using aesthetics and taste to control even the most extreme and difficult circumstances.

In the world of women’s footwear, details and colours combine to create dramatic effects resulting in a product mix that is seductive and disturbing at the same time. References to all that is mystical also lead to “otherworldly” embellishments.

In men’s shoes the tendency is towards a baroque style that is never banal, expressed in the form of luxurious materials and precious detailing that hark back to the past and create a dramatic effect suitable for dressy or grand occasions.

• EVERYONE IS THE AUTHOR OF HIS OWN MYTH

Warriors and Amazons, all protagonists of their own battles and of myths that are rooted in the past and continue to the present day.

Natural materials, together with the colours of autumn, are at the centre of the evocative New Mythologies trend: the power of antiquity influences design, reconstructs myths and legends of the past in a new era, just as designers look back in order to project themselves forward.

Antique and worn-looking metals will be fundamental for this trend. It will be imperative to emphasise the origin, tradition and craftsmanship of products and work with artisans to create memorable objects.

But attention will also go to reducing waste and to sustaining a new aesthetic code based on “makeovers”, contributing to the creation of new design and business opportunities by re-using materials in stock.

BUSINESS IN THE FOOTWEAR INDUSTRY GETS GOING

So, far from standing still, MICAM continues to follow fashion, and goes digital in order to do it better. The appointment for buyers and exhibitors is from 8 March to 8 May 2021 on the MICAM Milano Digital Show.

Press release

MICAM

Milano, 18 February 2021