Footwear Exchange (FE) is a platform of people from all around the world who make the footwear, leather and allied industry work.
FE is a platform for the people who wear footwear, use leather accessories and who make them.
FE is a platform of footwear, leather and allied industry designers, academicians, business leaders, policymakers, brands, retailers, marketers, producers, workers and footwear lovers.
Footwear exchange is about taking a systematic approach to sharing the knowledge that people acquire through their work experiences, successes and challenges around the world.
The main purpose of footwear exchange is to connect footwear, leather and allied industry practitioners and lovers with each other so they can discuss their work, learn from one another and achieve improvements in results. Sharing knowledge, especially experiential knowledge, is a key ingredient in innovation.
To achieve these objectives, footwear exchange makes use of specific tools and approaches. They also include platforms that enable online networking and knowledge sharing across geographic and organizational barriers, supporting communities of practice to grow, co-create solutions, share successes and key resources.
A key function of footwear exchange is to promote the uptake and use of the most effective knowledge exchange through provision of guidance and standards, partnerships to support effective networks, and provision of training and advice.
The benefits of footwear exchange include savings of both time and money, and improvements in effectiveness — including capacity to develop new and better approaches to overcome challenges.