As the footwear industry’s business association, FDRA prides itself on innovative and in-depth training and events on a wide range of issues important to our industry. Below is a full list of upcoming webinars, summits, meetings and workshops for the footwear industry. If you have any questions about these events, or would like to become a sponsor, please contact info@fdra.org
Events & Training
2018 Upcoming Events
FDRA’s Asia Footwear Production Summit
Shenzhen, China
June 20-21, 2018
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.
FDRA’s Footwear Sourcing Innovation Summit
New York, New York
July 23-24, 2018
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.
Shoe-Thru: An Educational Tour of the Portland Footwear Scene
Portland, OR
Thursday August 16, 2018
This is a one-day event where attendees hit the road to discover and uncover the many unique and innovative locations in the Portland shoe scene. We will load up a tour bus to see U.S. factories in action and tour several headquarters to get insights into our dynamic industry. Along the way, attendees will receive key briefings and updates on supply chain, sourcing, customs and trade issues, and get best practices on how to adapt.
Brews & Shoes Footwear Industry Networking Event
Portland, OR
Thursday August 16, 2018
This is an evening networking event (5-7pm) where footwear professionals across the industry in the West and Pacific NW can grab a brew and catch up. We will raffle off items and all collected proceeds will go to charity. Last year’s Brews and Shoes in Portland welcomed over 100 attendees!
Shoe Courses For Designers and Pattern Makers
New York City, NY – Boston, MA – Los Angeles, CA
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.
Footwear Materials Summit
Raleigh, NC
September 27-28, 2018
This is a two-day event 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!
Launching Soon
Footwear Trade Distribution and Customs (FTDC) Conference 2018
Long Beach, CA
October 21-24, 2018
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 a full day on customs classification issues and sample classifications. If you import shoes, you cannot afford to miss this event.
2018 Past Events
FDRA’s Customs and Trade Working Group Meeting
New York, New York
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
A one-day FDRA members only meeting featuring updates on current tax reform and tariff reduction initiatives in Congress. Discussions on current customs challenges, briefings from US Customs and trade experts, and discussion among colleagues on best practices and common solutions.
FDRA Footwear Compliance Forum
Boston, MA
Wednesday, February 28 2018
In the morning session, we will have updates from experts on product safety issues including global, federal and state chemical laws and have robust discussions among industry product safety professionals. The afternoon session will focus on factory compliance issues including hours, wages, and working conditions in addition to other important topics.
Brews and Shoes Footwear Industry Networking Event
Boston, MA
Wednesday, February 28 2018
This is an evening networking event where footwear professionals across the industry in the Northeast can grab a brew and catch up. We will raffle off items and all collected proceeds will go to charity. The initial Brews and Shoes in Portland had 100 attendees!
FDRA’s Footwear Executive Summit: The Footwear Retail Revolution
Washington, DC
Thursday, May 3 2018
A one-day summit (9am-4pm) 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.
NYC & Boston Footwear Construction Workshops
New York & Boston
Tuesday, May 15 2018 & Thursday, May 17 2018
This workshop features presentations and examples from manufacturing and materials experts. It will help attendees conceptualize the footwear manufacturing process, provide key updates and insights into pressing issues we see across the industry. This is a critical workshop for designers and product development teams who have not had such a manufacturing overview.
Brews & Shoes Footwear Industry Networking Event
New York, New York
Wednesday May 23, 2018
This is an evening networking event (5:30-7pm) where footwear professionals across the industry in the NYC area can grab a brew and catch up. We will raffle off items and all collected proceeds will go to charity. Last year’s Brews and Shoes in Portland welcomed over 100 attendees!
*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.