Exhibitors' Statements on the 101st GDS

Abicalçados, BRAZILIAN FOOTWEAR Association, Heitor Klein, President, Brazil (Hall 11)
"GDS went very well. Its international flair is particularly important. We were particularly able to strengthen contacts with buyers from Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.”

Azaleia, Paulo Wolff, Marketing Manager International, Brazil (Hall 11)
"Visitor numbers and order volumes were very positive. We were also able to make very many new contacts. Countries of particular note here were Korea and South Africa as well as the Middle East.”

Bicolli, Bianca Collin, Owner, Germany (Hall 13)
"The Design Attack is a great event. We particularly liked the impeccable organisation. We were visited by key dealers.”

Birkenstock, Bernd Hillen, Head of Brands and Karen Riesner, Head of Domestic Sales, Germany (Hall 12)
"Our impression was positive - we took very many repeat orders. It was pleasing to see that in addition to attention from international trading partners, the interest taken by German trade visitors was also very strong. Repeat orders went well for us. The retail trade looks to strong brands with secure repeat order capability for standard goods. For us GDS is an indispensable platform to present ourselves to the national and international retail trade on a regular basis.”

Church's and Co. (Footwear) Ltd., Simon Attwood, Key Account Manager, Great Britain (Hall 9)
"We are very satisfied with the new location of our stand. For us GDS is a very important orders and information platform for forging new international customer contacts.”

Dunlop Green Flash Division of MARCO GmbH, Michael Dieken, Sales and Development, Germany (Hall 13)
"GDS is particularly interesting for international retailers as an orders platform. The trend is moving towards basics and the shoes now selling are ‘more low-key Located in an area with lots of open stands, we posted very high visitor numbers.”

Ferdinand Richter, Alf Netek, Managing Director, Austria (Hall 10)
"GDS now has a more interesting, compact and flexible arrangement. It has proved itself as a communication and event platform. We were very satisfied with visitor numbers and their willingness to place orders.”

Franceschetti, Kurt Gruber, Product Manager of Germany, Italy (Hall 9)
"We were very pleasantly surprised at the high number of orders placed. We are delighted at the new fair dates as these are very favourable for the retail trade. GDS is a great platform.”

Gerry Weber, Katrin Birk, Marketing/PR, Germany (Hall 11)
"GDS is a great presentation platform because both our national and international customers come to visit us here. Ordering behaviour of foreign customers is very good. The new boot/ankle boot trends, the new ‘black' plus rounded shapes and wedge heels went down very well with the retail trade.”

INCI, Ali Murad Kiziltas, President, Turkey (Hall 10)
"Our expectations were exceeded in terms of ordering behaviour.”

Janet & Janet, Jutta Wilms, Agents Germany, Switzerland, Austria (Hall 9)
"We were able to post very high visitor numbers and increase our volume of orders.”

JETTE Division, Rainer Zink, Division Director Europe, Germany (Hall 14)
"We were even more successful than in the last season. For us GDS is a very important trade fair date. Even textile buyers come here to round off their range with a shoe collection.”

Kenzo - Moschino via Falc S.P.A., Salina Ferretti, Export Manager, Italy (Hall 10)
"At our stand the positive mood in the retail trade translated into very good visitor numbers. GDS convinced us both as an orders and information platform.”

Klauser Modeagentur, Karsten Osterloh, Sales Agency, Germany (Hall 9)
"The retail trade is now open to innovation. Which means the general mood is also good. We had a good number of visitors to our stand and were delighted to be able to welcome top buyers. Visitors consist of 80% specialist shoe retailers and 20% clothing retailers.”

Lacoste, Conny Stöckl, PR Manager/Marketing, Germany (Hall 14)
"We are very satisfied. Visitor numbers are high. We are particularly happy with the earlier date and compact three-day duration that makes sense. We also use the fair for making contacts as well as for making appointments with our sales force.”

Lottusse, Carlo Avanzato, Export Manager, Spain (Hall 9)
"The retail trade is entering the new season in a good mood. We were visited at GDS by all major key accounts and retailers like Görtz, Breuninger and Prange.”

Magrit, Andrea Ferretti, Sales in the Germany-Speaking Area, Spain (Hall 9)
"At GDS we meet regular customers and add new ones to our books. We were also able to welcome very good national customers like Burresi from Wiesbaden, Elena with shops on Düsseldorf's Königsallee and Sigrun Woehr from Stuttgart.”

Manas S.P.A., Cleto Sagripanti, CEO, Italy (Hall 10)
"We rate GDS as a very good fair. Our visitors consist of 50% national and 50% international buyers. GDS runs at exactly the right time. A later date would mean a delay in delivery dates.”

Mephisto, Prof. Dr. Konrad, Board Spokesman at Mephisto S.A., France (Hall 12)
"The 101st GDS went well. We rate the fair very highly as an orders and information platform. It is ‘the' yardstick fair.”

Primigi, Giuseppe Papa, Marketing Director, Italy (Hall 10)
"The sector is getting a good foothold in the market Sales trends are thoroughly positive. We are always in search of new materials and innovative design - we have a 90% success rate with new products We are able to develop a good sales network here.”

Put on your Pearls Girls!, Karin van Noort, Owner, Germany (Hall 13)
"The response to Design Attack was just great. We produced a hand-made installation especially for ‘Viva Las Vegas' - which utterly delighted visitors and the press. The Design Attack is an excellent presentation platform for creative minds.”

Red Wing, Fred Bschaden, Sales Manager Germany, Germany (Hall 13)
"The trend is very clearly going in the direction of ‘pecos' or cowboys' work shoes as worn in the film ‘Brokeback Mountain'. Chelsea boots are also ‘in'. Sneakers are less in demand. Also selling very well were Japanese biker boots. The Design Attack event is just fun and different.”

René Lezard, Thomas Bergbauer, Product Manager for Accessories and Shoes, Germany (Hall 9)
"This was our first GDS. We are very satisfied. Here we meet international specialist retailers and key accounts. GDS is an important and powerful trade fair for business and information. We have a showroom in the city. Though we did still opt to exhibit at GDS as the fair offers a different kind of international platform. GDS is also important in terms of meeting retail halfway on time management.”

Ricosta, Ralph Rieker, Management Spokesman, Germany
(Hall 10)
"GDS is a very important event for us. The new KIDS Special went down fabulously as a great extra event. Many of our customers reacted very positively to our WMS circuit - the response was great.”

Sinella Gallery, Jeronimo Jiménez, Owner/Managing Director, Spain (Hall 9)
"GDS went well for us. We can meet customers here we cannot reach at other fairs.”

s.Oliver und comma, Dr. Thomas Nassua, Managing Director, Germany (Hall 14)
"Already on the second day we were able to post double-digit increases to orders. We rate GDS as a very useful platform with correspondingly high visitor numbers. We see the trend going towards very sporty styles and boots. Really feminine themes are less in focus.”

Spazio Specie, Beppe Specie, Owner, Italy ( Hall 9)
"We particularly liked the good organisation. We are attending the event with around 30 firms, thereby also giving young (and some still unknown) designers the opportunity to make contacts and draw attention to their work.”

Swiss Masai, MBT Physiological Footwear, Andreas Dittert, International Marketing Manager, Switzerland (Hall 12)
"For us GDS is a decisive platform for buyers and the press. We get feedback here so we can track the direction the sector is going in. GDS will be of central importance for us in future too.”

The Art Company, Tania Hercé, Sales, Spain (Hall 13)
"Our location right next to the Plaza tripled our visitor numbers. Buyers especially from Norway, Finland and the Netherlands placed very large orders.”

Theresia Muck, Eckhard Muck, Owner, Germany (Hall 12)
"We were able to welcome many new customers who showed avid interest in placing orders. The first two days were particularly successful. The new location of our stand in the ‘Wellness Special' segment significantly boosted visitor numbers and sales.”

Treble & Bass, Tanja Blömer, Design and Owner, Germany (Hall 13)
"We make many key contacts here, especially to stores that sell both shoes and clothes. Exchanging ideas and experience is very important in this business.”

Trippen, Carola Gause, Public Relations, Germany (Hall 9)
"Our stand was well frequented by visitors from Germany, Hong Kong, the USA, Taiwan, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark. Generally, a good atmosphere is prevailing on the international market. We rate GDS as a good orders platform.”

Unisa, Thomas Stein, Sales Manager Germany, Spain (Hall 10)
"Response to our products at this event is utterly positive. Although the date was disputed we suffered no customer setbacks. We were able to improve order results significantly. Visitor numbers were excellent. Buyers came from France, Portugal, Scandinavia and Poland amongst others.”

Werner, Edela Land, Director, Brazil (Hall 11)
"We were very pleasantly surprised by the high numbers of visitors. We were virtually able to double our order volume with new customers from Germany and the Middle East (like Dubai and Israel).”

Wortmann KG, Dr. Giovanni Lacatena, p.h.G Managing Partner, Germany (Hall 11)
"Willingness to place repeat orders is very high. We are very satisfied with international visitor numbers and orders. The mood here is better than the real climate in the sector.”

Zuckerbrot & Peitsche, Julia C Feikens, Managing Director, Germany (Hall 13)
"We had international visitors from Italy, Asia, Holland and Switzerland.”