A significant reason for the success of Fashion Access is it's sheer diversity. That's reflected in the international scope of exhibitors but also in who they are and what they do.

The fight-back by high-end shoe manufacturers from southern Europe and elsewhere to open up the potentially vast Asian market is well under way.

APLF will launch a new exhibition focusing on India’s burgeoning shoe manufacturing industry next year, in the Spring of 2009.

Like everywhere else, in Iraq the local shoe making industry is under threat from Chinese imports. There are some other difficulties too.

It is not often that you go to an awards ceremony and realise that you have to go out and buy a book (or buy it in electronic form from Amazon to read on your Kindle).

It may be too early to know the full effects of the massive earthquake that hit China but, as this article that appeared in the on-line version of Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, even Guangdong - a province well outside the stricken area - is affected.