Benedetto Eleuteri owns one of Italy's best known shoe brands, Pompili, which is still made in Italy, but his budget level Bi4 range is manufactured in China. "My shoes are now made with Italian styling, with the flair and panache of our creative designers, but in China we get low production costs. I have no complaint about Chinese workmanship", Mr Eleuteri says. "It measures up to our standards." Mr Eleuteri expresses his wider view by observing, "Greater world co-operation can solve many of our problems and exhibitions like this play an important role in bringing shoe-makers of many countries together".
Bringing people together held true - in more than one sense - at the Fashion Access Party. Held in a nearby night club the exceptionally well-attended event was the occasion for the prize giving of the new, on-line Design A Bag competition. Mr Paul Charron, Chairman Emeritus of fashion giant Liz Claiborne presented the awards. Mr Charron was in Hong Kong attending (and addressing) Prime Source Forum, a networking seminar event for the global apparel and fashion industry, organised by APLF and held in the same location and, over the same time span, as APLF - Materials, Manufacturing & Technology (MMT) and FA.
