The new president of the European Footwear Confederation, Rosana Perán from Elche, has identified “industry 5.0” as one of the great challenges of the coming years, a “new industrial revolution” based on business transformation from one point from a humanistic point of view.
President of the Spanish employers’ association, the Federation of Spanish Footwear Industries (FICE), and vice-president of the Pikolinos Group (founded by her father, Juan Perán), this woman from Elche was elected this Friday as president of the European employers’ association, replacing the Portuguese Luis Onofre. during the general assembly of the CEC, held in Elx, to represent a group that brings together 19,000 shoe companies on the continent that employ around 240,000 people.
In his first speech at the head of the CEC, he pointed out that “the footwear industry has learned that it is not only responsible for its decision-making but also for what its suppliers do”, and has conspired to work together so that the shoe be a value chain.
For Perán (Elx, 1975), “the evolution of people and continuous improvement result in a business transformation” which, in turn, is based on the human, technological and sustainable facets.
He has advocated a commitment to transparency in the sense that “companies must be transparent in their practices and efforts in social sustainability” and has warned that they cannot “overlook the role played by consumers.”
“Consumption must be responsible, opting for brands committed to social and ethical sustainability, and we are seeing that new generations are much more aware of this aspect, even though the product may be more expensive,” he stressed before adding that it is “committed to the sustainability of footwear companies, to the triad of continuous improvement, purpose and transformation, and to advancing an industry, that of footwear, of which we are very proud.”
The president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazón, has expressed his pride that a woman from the Community, in this case “a great woman from Elche”, “becomes the European president of footwear” and has considered that it reflects the weight of Elx as “irreplaceable and extraordinarily necessary capital” for its “great shoe industry.”
