*In what area will the MATREX exhibition be held and with how many domestic and foreign participants?
“First of all, you should know that we believe that MATREX exhibition will become a symbol of the self-sufficiency of Iranian shoe industry, and this will definitely happen. So that currently, we have about 21 foreign trading and manufacturing companies in MATREX, and more than 200 companies supplying all kinds of domestic and foreign related industries are present in this exhibition. As mentioned earlier, out of these companies, 21 are foreign ones. This means that about 10% of the companies present at the MATREX exhibition are not Iranian. This big event will be held in a space with an area of about 17 thousand square meters, while we also have an outdoor space. In this way, today, if we want to combine this exhibition with the shoe exhibition, we will see that it is on a par with the ISAF and Aymod exhibitions of Turkey. It means that after one year we have reached the result we wanted.”
*Considering that this is the first time such an event has happened in this industry, how and with what support did you manage to hold such an important exhibition?
“As you know, we are not just the executors of the exhibition, we are hardworking manufacturers of this industry, and therefore we are part of the shoe industry. On the other hand, since our friends in this area are our comrades in the whole country and even in other countries, they trusted us and accepted that we are all from the same family and we are supposed to be at the same table at the MATREX exhibition, that’s why, it can be said that the work is done from the heart and out of interest, and I believe that such a work will not be left undone.”
*Explain a little on the process of inviting foreign guests to this exhibition. How were you able to encourage these guests and foreign businessmen to attend this event?
“At the MATREX exhibition, we made a so-called “open-plan tour” for all the national shoe industry unions, and it became possible that any party they had and any desired manufacturers of their city could bring to this event. In addition, the accommodations and round-trip transportation are provided as VIP and free of charge for these dear ones, and the exhibition headquarters has undertaken all the expenses. In this way, our communication has been very good and nearly 600 people from the manufacturers of the whole country have been invited through the unions, and Qom province is the host of these dear ones. Of course, this only applies to cities such as Mashhad, Tabriz, Hidaj, Hamadan, Isfahan and other cities that are far from Qom. On the other hand, friends from Tehran, Islamshahr, and Karaj also announced their readiness to attend, while many of the mentioned distant cities have also been invited individually.
It is interesting to know that the shoe ambassador of Iran-Qom, who is also the MATREX ambassador today, has been present in all the provinces, and in this way we identified the manufacturers of all the cities and invited them in person. In addition, our cyberspace also advanced in a powerful way in the field of advertising and information. Thus, MATREX is an exhibition that everyone who is in the field of footwear-related industries and is a shoe manufacturer, knows the name of MATREX today. Notwithstanding, our estimate at the exhibition headquarters is that more than 90 percent of our country’s shoe manufacturers and related industries, even petrochemical units, knowledge-based companies and polymer companies, visit this exhibition.”
Last word
“We are especially grateful to our friends and colleagues who for the first time trusted the country’s first and largest exhibition of shoe-related industries and everyone came on site. We hope that through this bold and magnificent presence we will achieve the symbol of self-sufficiency of our country’s shoe industry.”
