Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso) Deputy Chairwoman and General Secretary, Nguyen Thi Tong, made this statement while speaking at a seminar jointly organized by Lefaso and the Vietnam Leather and Shoe Research Institute.

The seminar focused on launching a campaign to persuade creative local designers to participate in the Fourth International Footwear Design Competition 2012 in Asia region.

The event, to be organized by the Asia Footwear Association and other regional industrial associations, would be held in China from May 30 to June 1, 2012. It aims at finding the creative and professional designing talent and enhancing the design and production capacity in Asian nations, Ms. Thong said.

The competition would provide a platform to several enterprises and designers in the region to showcase their designs and styles, she said.

Vietnam’s leather and footwear industry has been trying to encourage firms and designers, particularly youngsters, to produce exclusive designs, so as to make it possible for the shoe makers to fulfil their orders directly without need for sub-contracting, she added.

Majority of the Vietnamese shoe makers greatly rely on imported raw inputs, equipments and accessories and designs and are required to sub-contract or outsource orders to their overseas partners in South Korea, Hong Kong and other countries.

Active participation of local designers can prove to be greatly beneficial to Vietnamese shoe industry, which still faces dearth of skilled and expert players, Tran Tuyet Mai from Vietnam Leather and Shoe Research Institute said.

Source: Fibre2fashion News Desk - India