SAPICA: A history of work, tradition and organization

The history of the footwear industry in Mexico is an ongoing one. The oldest data regarding shoe manufacturing from the Municipal Historic Archive of Leon, the main shoe-producing city in the country, dates back to 1645.
Since the 18th century, Leon has had footwear production as one of its most important activities, although the economic mainstay of the region was agriculture.

At the end of the first decade of the 19th century, around the years 1808 and 1809, Leon shoemakers started to form a guild, as weavers and tanners had already done in 1765.

When the city was flooded in 1888, locals suffered one of the greatest disasters in their history, and many shoe manufacturers were forced to migrate to Puebla, Mexico City and Monterrey. The 332 producers who remained in the city received financial support from the Central Aid Committee. It can be said that, after that catastrophe, the local shoe industry was reborn with new energy.

Even though the shawl-making industry was the most prominent one in the city, by the decade of the 1920s the shoe guild was strong enough to become organized. On May 26, 1926, they constituted the Leon Union of Shoe Manufacturers.

Upon the entry of the United States into the Second World War, the shoe industry of that country quickly converted to the production of military footwear. The civilian segment of the market was covered by Mexican producers, allowing Leon’s shoemakers to transform from an artisan level to industrial processes, already at export quality.

When the Law of Chambers of Commerce and Industries was issued on April 29, 1942, the Regional Footwear Chamber of Leon, with 80 members, was authorized and given legal status and existence.


SAPICA’S Background

Up to the middle of the 20th century, according to Leon businessman José Abugaber Sara, local shoe factories promoted their products on an individual basis. At the end of the 1950s, officers of the National Footwear Industry Chamber, headed at that time by a producer from Mexico City, Anuar Nasta, started organizing a show for their footwear following the American model of commercial fairs, which were very successful in that country, with the most important footwear exposition in New York.

In 1956 a grand exhibition took place in the luxurious halls of the Del Prado Hotel in Mexico City. Companies from the capital attended, as did firms from Leon, Guadalajara, Monterrey and other cities around the country. Also taking part were representatives of the tanning industry and suppliers.

Due to the success of this event, after several years of annual presentations its location began to rotate among various cities. At this point the Regional Chamber gained momentum and exports gained in importance. In 1964 the Mexican Association of Exporting Shoe Producers was born and by 1966 the Regional Chamber had become the State Chamber.

In that same year, from Sept. 25 to the 28th, the 10th National Footwear Show took place in Leon. Thanks to its success, edition number 12 returned to Leon, now called the Mexican Footwear Industry Show. This show was heralded by the local press as the one that would demonstrate “all its industrial potential in the most ambitious exhibition to date.”

It took place from June 28 to July 1 of 1969, and thanks to the several million pesos in sales revenue from shoes, machinery, leather and other materials, it was considered the best show of its time. It also enjoyed the participation of companies from England, France, Italy, Germany and the United States.

The National Show eventually ceased to exist because of differences among the different chambers. Nonetheless the model was so successful that the León producers adopted it for their own exhibitions.