The Philippine Footwear Federation Inc. (PFFI) will tap schools in Marikina City, the shoe capital of the Philippines, in its plan to further improve and professionalize the Filipino footwear industry and turn it into a global brand.
PFFI Director General Roger Py Py said that Filipino footwear designers have a lot of opportunities in the international market but lamented the fact that footwear designing in the country is not considered a "professionalized industry".
"In other countries, you can buy their designs. For example, in Portugal, they have schools for footwear. They come out with degrees and so we have a lot of people here to make shoes, but they are not recognized," Py said in an interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
The PFFI now aims to partner with different schools in the country that can offer courses with specialization in footwear.
Py also said that the PFFI is partnering with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for factory-level skills upgrading.
He added that they are eyeing schools in Marikina, such as the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Marikina and the Marikina Polytechnic College, for the said initiative.
Marikina Mayor Marcy Teodoro had previously said that the city government is continuously providing support to shoe manufacturers and shoe factories to give the city's footwear industry the needed boost after experiencing a sharp decline in sales and production for the past couple of years.
The PFFI's new initiative is said to be a big help not just in promoting the shoe industry in Marikina but also in the whole country.
The Filipino Footwear Design Competition, organized by the PFFI and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), is a culminating event showcasing the works of Filipino footwear designers after completing a series of footwear making workshops in partnership with Zapateria, the country's first creative hub for footwear design and development.