Green light at Mipel and Micam for ‘almost revolutionary’ recruitment plan
Edition 129 of leathergoods exhibition Mipel, and edition 101 of footwear event Micam opened together in Milan on February 22. The presidents of Italy’s associations for leathergoods manufacturer and footwear producers, Claudia Sequi and Giovanna Ceolini, welcomed exhibitors and visitors to the shows at a joint opening ceremony.
Italy’s minister for education, Giuseppe Valditara, was one of the guests of honour at the ceremony. The footwear, leathergoods and wider fashion sectors in Italy used his presence at Mipel and Micam as a platform for the formal signing of a new memorandum of understanding on education and training in their industries.
The aim of this agreement is to strengthen the links between Italy’s high-school-level technical institutes (ITS) and companies in leather and footwear. Footwear and leather companies believe this will make it easier for them to bring talented young people with digital skills into the workforce, which currently has an average age of around 55.
At the same time, these companies are committing to become more closely involved in the education ITS students receive, including sending their technicians into classrooms to contribute to the teaching programmes there.
“This memorandum of understanding is extraordinarily innovative,” Giuseppe Valditara said. “It is almost revolutionary.” He argued that, for too long, there had been a tendency to think that working with your hands was a sign of a lack of intelligence.
“This thinking has caused a lot of damage to our schools and to our companies,” the minister continued. “Handcraft is a wonderful expression of intelligence.”
Image shows Giuseppe Valditara with the president of Assocalzaturifici, Giovanna Ceolini.
Credit: Micam.
