Aug. 21 – “It is so hard to walk in a woman’s shoes. That’s why those shoes have to be really special, to walk with a happier sprint” used to say Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City. And who knows how many Carries there are out there, looking for those special shoes, maybe Italian ones, known for their quality, elegance and style. And Italy is ready to answer these calls with a growing number of international events promoted by Assocalzaturifici, the association representing the Italian sector. The organization supports the industry’s interests abroad. For this reason, after February’s successful participation in Fn Platform, Assocalzaturifici went back on stage at the Las Vegas Convention Center, where from Monday and until today 23 Italian companies display their men, women and children shoe collections. Italy’s presence in the US is particularly important, given that it represents the third market in value and the fourth in volume for exports, with an incidence of 9.7% on total export value and 6% for volume. In 2012, 12.9 pairs of Italian shoes were bought in the US, 2.5% more than 2011, for a total value of €743 million, 5.2% more than 2011 and 11% more than the pre-2008 levels. For 2013, the first trimester registered a small inflexion of 1% in value, due to a change in exchange rates more than product competitiveness, as the growing number of exported shoes demonstrates, with 3.8 million pairs, 5.3% more than the same period of 2012.