A footwear and leather fair will be held in Sri Lanka, February 7 to 9, 2020. The aim is to promote the country’s leather goods to international businesses, including the Indian market. The trade show intends to present the country as an ideal sourcing destination due to its strategic location, skilled workforce, well developed infrastructure, and ethical compliance record. The trade show will feature a wide range of product categories including footwear, leather accessories, travel goods, components and accessories, machinery, raw materials, and other related services. The show will exhibit only finished goods made in Sri Lanka but international businesses can showcase raw materials, machinery, and components. Along with stalls to showcase products and brands, the event will also feature a designer award ceremony, fashion show, and best stall competition.

The industry hopes to attract large-scale orders by reducing lead times with locally-sourced fabrics instead of importing fabrics. Although Sri Lanka has faster shipping times to the US and EU markets, due to its strategic location, apparel exporters are unable to capitalise on this as the country has to import fabrics from overseas, which contributes to a significant increase of lead time. With locally-sourced fabrics, exporters can target much bigger orders and will also be saving a lot of foreign exchange spent on fabrics as the local value addition increases.