Professional Development & Events
Boston Brews & Shoes Footwear Industry Networking & Charity Event
Boston, Massachusetts | Wednesday, March 6, 2019
A networking event for footwear professionals across the industry in the Boston footwear community. Come, grab a brew and catch up—we will raffle items with all collected proceeds benefiting the Two Ten Footwear Foundation.
Footwear Innovation Working Group Meeting
Wilmington, Massachusetts | Thursday, March 7, 2019
FDRA MEMBERS ONLY: Please join us at this important meeting (At the NE Materials Show) to look at key issues impacting our industry and innovations providing solutions. We will discuss 3D issues: software, implementation, standards, and more, as well as new sustainability initiatives changing how we design and produce shoes.
Global Footwear Executive Summit
Hong Kong | Tuesday, March 12, 2019
This special event for factory executives and footwear company professionals in Asia will cover the shifting sourcing landscape, innovations and automation taking place in factories, and compliance and quality control best practices driving factory improvements.
THE Footwear Executive Summit: Transformation
Washington, DC | Wednesday–Thursday, April 3–4, 2019
The summit for executives, directors, and managers. This year will feature keynotes and industry panels on how changing consumer demand is causing retail shifts, as well as politics and trade keynotes. Last year’s event had nearly 200 attendees.
FDRA 75th Anniversary Party
New York, New York | Tuesday, June 4, 2019
Celebrate 75 years with FDRA!
Sourcing & Sustainability Summit
New York, New York | Monday and Tuesday, July 22–23, 2019
This summit will help sourcing and supply chain execs, directors and professionals understand shifts to footwear production from experts and industry leaders. This year will focus on factory automation and innovations changing the footwear development and production process.
Footwear Materials & Innovation Summit
Portland, Oregon | Tuesday, August 13, 2019
This event is for for materials specialists, designers, developers, and sourcing teams. We cover material trends, sourcing insights, challenges and best practices in managing and commercializing materials. Feature speakers include industry leaders and professors leading cutting edge research into the next wave of materials development. Networking events and material research and production labs tours included!
Footwear Trade Distribution and Customs (FTDC) Conference
Long Beach, California | Sunday–Tuesday, October 27–29, 2019
The largest and longest running footwear conference in the USA. This event includes 3 days of in-depth discussion on supply chains from ports and service providers, trade and import compliance, and customs classification issues and sample classifications. If you import shoes, you cannot afford to miss this event.
Fashion Footwear Design Summit
New York, New York | Tuesday, November 12, 2019
This fashion footwear design summit is focused on helping development leads and shoe designers explore and understand new software, tech, trends and tools changing how we design shoes in a speed-to-market world.
Shoe Courses For Designers and Pattern Makers
New York City | Boston | Los Angeles
The Arsutoria School believes that a career in the field of shoes must be funded on a deep knowledge of the product. Arsutoria offers courses in the field of shoe design, shoe pattern making and shoe manufacturing.
Past Events
African American Footwear Forum and Celebration
Washington, DC | February 20–21, 2019
Inviting footwear professionals and supporters to a forum to share stories, ideas and to create a dialog around the influence, leadership, and passion provided by African Americans in the global footwear industry. Explore ways to collaboratively establish industry goals in the development of African American talent at all levels.
Footwear Retail and Government Relations Working Group Call
Thursday, January 31, 2019 at 2:00 pm EDT
FDRA MEMBERS ONLY: Please join us for a Retail Working Group and Government Relations Working Group Call on Thursday, January 31 at 2:00 pm EDT. On the call, we will discuss developing strategies to combat unauthorized sellers on third party websites, managing relationships with e-commerce partners, and reviewing USTR Special 301 report comment priorities.
Sourcing, Supply Chain & Factory Compliance Working Group Call
Wednesday, January 30, 2019 at 2:00 pm EDT
FDRA MEMBERS ONLY: Please join us for a Sourcing, Supply Chain & Factory Compliance Working Group call on Wednesday, January 30 at 2:00 pm EDT. On the call, we will discuss FDRA’s Shoe Waste initiative, the launch of an RFP, and other priorities for 2019.
Footwear Customs & Trade Working Group Meeting
New York, New York | Tuesday, January 29, 2019
FDRA MEMBERS ONLY: Please join us at this important meeting to look at key customs and trade issues impacting our industry. We will cover a range of topics including the new Congress, MTBs, athletic classification, as well as have a robust discussion on challenges and collective solutions. Bring your new samples for free classification!
*Refund policy for FDRA events:
FDRA will issue no refunds for cancelled registrations for its summits less than 30 days prior to the event date (this includes FDRA’s executive summit in DC, Asia summit, sourcing summit, materials and innovation summit, and FTDC). There are no refunds issued for cancelled registrations less than 48 hours from workshops. FDRA members can transfer their registration to another attendee for the same event. Any questions on this policy should be directed to Andy Polk.
View FDRA’s 2018 events archive.