French stroke

The French pavilion, presented at the MosShoes exhibition from September 28 to October 1, gave Russian buyers an opportunity to look at French shoe fashion through the prism of many desires. Desire for comfort with low-heel Gep sandals and soft Samson sandals, desire for luxury with transparent Azuree shoes, desire for home comfort with soft Rondinaud slippers or lavender Wapiti, desire to travel with flexible TBS, desire to move with sporty Méphisto, desire to return to childhood along with toy Noël.

Text: Maria Vostokova

According to the organizers of the pavilion of the French Federation of Footwear and the Mission for Economic Affairs of France, desire is “a landmark word for the 2010 summer season, thanks to which you can look at French fashion differently”.

This season 10 of the French companies represented their wishes at the exhibition: Azuree, Gep, Mephisto, Noel, Pindiere, Rondinaud, Samson, Sledgers, TBS, Wapiti. They all exhibited collections of various styles and functional areas: from exquisite and luxurious shoes of a high price segment, casual shoes and sports collections loved by active residents of megalopolises, ending with comfortable home slippers and children's colorful shoes.

Newcomers to the French Pavilion included TBS and Wapiti. The first one last season acted as an independent participant in the exhibition, but eventually joined her compatriots. “This year we decided to enter MosShoes as part of the French Pavilion, as the practice of other companies has shown that it is more effective,” says Stephan Kuran, export manager of TBS. - Every year we start our exhibition season with a Paris exhibition. We continue it on GDS and MICAM. MosShoes is the fourth presentation for us, an opportunity to introduce ourselves on the Russian market. " TBS is lucky in the main. Unlike most of her colleagues in the pavilion, she already has a representative in Russia and is sold in large retail chains, for example, in City-Obuv. TBS prioritizes sports footwear, including sailing footwear. “Russia is a big country and there is where to prove yourself,” continues Monsieur Couran. “We consider our Russian customer to be cultured, educated and elegant. Good taste, love of beauty - that, in our opinion, unites France and Russia. That is why we offer the customer only the best quality. ”

The peculiarity of TBS shoes is a polyurethane sole, which gives special flexibility to shoes for sports and outdoor activities. At the same time, the sneakers comply with all the ergonomic features of the foot. Nevertheless, Mr. Kuran sadly notes about the quantitative decrease in orders: “Apparently, the time of crazy orders has passed. Customers are more discerning today. The new economic situation, in which we all found ourselves, has put a lot in its place, - continues Stefan. - Some brands have left the market. For example, those that did not produce a very high-quality product, or those that illiterately positioned themselves on the market. "

The second newcomer of the pavilion - Wapiti - speaks more categorically about the market situation: “Slippers are always needed”. The basis of the assortment of the brand is “footwear for comfort and well-being”, in other words, home shoes and slippers. Particularly interesting among them is the so-called series of "authentic" home shoes made of environmentally friendly material with extracts of lavender oil, aloe vera and bioceramic capsules. Home shoes also include youth high-top sneakers, originally designed to be worn indoors. However, as Wapiti admits, at the request of some buyers, the brand will slightly modify the model, putting it on a thicker sole, which will turn the sneakers into a full-fledged street shoe.

Hello Kitty home shoes have been re-introduced by Rondinaud this season. “We have been manufacturing footwear for over 50 years,” the company says, “and we are very interested in the Russian market. First of all, because such shoes will be popular here. The Hello Kitty brand is known and loved in Russia. Our company has entered into a license agreement with the copyright holder, which also works for Russia. " The company admits that, despite the brightness of the collection, few are seriously interested. This is partly due to the price, which is significantly inferior to Russian home shoes. The approximate retail price of the products starts at 600 rubles. Therefore, no matter how the company wants to enter Russian supermarkets, for example, Auchan (by the way, Hello Kitty slippers are successfully sold there in France), it will be relatively difficult for it to do so in practice.

Another French company that deserves special attention is Azurée. Specializes in evening shoes, which can hardly be called ordinary. Azuree sews transparent, invisible shoes from three-layer vinyl, which stretches under body temperature and completely follows the shape of the foot. In Azurée, they say that guests of the Cannes Film Festival love such sandals, primarily because the shoes do not distract attention from luxurious evening dresses. Due to their transparency, the shoes help to create the impression of lightness and gracefulness of the gait, and the crystals and rhinestones with which they are decorated add mystery and make you hold curious glances on the shoes. Oddly enough, in Russia Azurée shoes are presented not in the Central region, but in the Rostov region. According to the Russian representative of the brand, fans of such non-standard sandals have already appeared in the region. And if at first they caused a shock, then today they are already beginning to get used to them and usually buy after the first fitting.

Nevertheless, despite the positive attitude of the French Pavilion exhibitors, this year there were slightly fewer of them. Representative of the French Federation of Footwear in Russia Katerina Mamatova believes that this is by no means related to the falling interest in the Russian market among French footwear producers: “Many companies are still looking at the new economic situation, defining their guidelines and tactical actions in the new market. We expect that next time the French Pavilion will be replenished with other exhibiting companies, including newcomers. "