Footwear retailers from all over the world have decided to form a large global organisation, the World Shoe Trade Organisation. The launch of the group was announced recently in Italy, which will include retailers from Europe, United States and Brazil.

The new organisation was founded through an agreement involving retailers’ associations from 15 European countries (coordinated by CEDDEC – the European Confederation of Specialist Footwear Retailers) and will include amongst others, two leading retail organisations in the United States (the Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America - FDRA, and the National Shoe Retailers Association - NSRA) along with the Brazilian Footwear and Leathergoods Retailers’ Association (ABLAC).

Massimo Donda, president of CEDDEC, will initially coordinate the organisation, which will be structured over the forthcoming months and will be headquartered in Brussels. The World Shoe Trade Organisation (WSTO) will be officially launched at Couromoda 2006 (January 16-19 in São Paulo, Brazil).

The reasons leading to the creation of such a body are the same ones that many years ago led to the creation of CEDDEC: Operators feel the urge to know each other, to build relationships, to meet, discuss and face together, at all levels, all the existing problems concerning the footwear sector,” commented Massimo Donda.