The project overall objective is to create, develop and certify a new occupation and qualification profile on "Expert in Comfort & Healthy footwear manufacturing" and the correspondent flexible innovative training combining ICT and work base learning, which will respond to the identified skills/competences gap, improving the knowledge in this field, allowing SME and large enterprises to embrace the opportunity of growth offered by this segment of differentiation and strengthen the already market positioned companies of the segment. The training contents to be developed will allow to cope with the skills' gap as well as to provide opportunities to upskill already existing employees with the final goal of enhancing the added value of European footwear.
A transnational report that will identify and analyse the characteristics of footwear design in terms of the three pillars of sustainability: will consist in a diagnosis of training needs to fit the occupational/qualification opportunity in this field of action and to understand how the existing lack of related skills and competences can be overcome. The report will reflect multiple views, from the world of work, the entities involved in Education & Training and the possible target-groups and will provide recommendations to the methodology of training and of piloting. English Version
Executive Summary
New qualification profile “Expert in Comfort & Healthy Footwear Manufacturing”: The profile will follow a classical structure including all necessary requirements for its certification at national level in each country. It’ll describe activities, tasks, knowledge, skills and competences, qualifications, responsibilities, level of autonomy, level of decision, representativeness, of the expert on Comfort & Healthy Footwear Manufacturing, who should be capable of implementing in a work team, a strategy of differentiation based on comfort and healthy footwear in a footwear company. English Version
Training programme on Comfort & Healthy Footwear Manufacturing: will include a training programme including assessment and certification strategy aiming at meeting the development of all necessary skills and competences of the new occupation and qualification profile of Expert on Comfort & Healthy Footwear Manufacturing, bridged to learning outcomes with ECVET and with the Quality principles stated in EQAVET. The programme will contain learning units divided into learning sessions, with pedagogic objectives, training strategies and methodologies/approaches, time loads, entrance-skills to each training unit and alternative training itineraries to achieve the same learning outcomes. English Version
Executive Summary
Learning Units’ Contents – pedagogical material: This output will consist in the contents for the learning units on Comfort & Healthy Footwear Manufacturing within the necessary standard to be introduced in the e-learning platform. The output will also include materials for the work based training, assessment and certification tools.
b-learning course on Comfort & Healthy Footwear: it aims at developing skills and competences on the field of action and is targeted to the new occupational profile described above. In addition, some units of the course can be addressed to key-people in companies that lack the correspondent skills and competences, needed to improve the work of the new expert indoor. A demo and an user guide will be available.
Go to E_COURSE
For training the trainers material, go to Gallery
Manual for trainers / tutors: This output will consist in a package of methodologies and guidelines to support the trainers and tutors/coaches who will be involved in the piloting activities. The aim is to prepare the trainer team to monitor and follow-up the b-learning course, both e-learning and practical/work based components.
Manual for Trainers
Feed-back report on Piloting: will be a report on piloting activities, with all information gathered during the piloting phase in e-learning component and work based training.
Piloting Report
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Prototypes of comfort & healthy footwear: they are the materialized results of the piloting implementation of B-learning course on Comfort & Healthy Footwear Manufacturing, produced during the work based training.
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Dissemination & Exploitation Plan: will gather detailed information regarding the actions, activities and tasks and responsibilities, timelines, for the project, results, products, impacts, procedures and strategies for awareness-raising and communication and dissemination and exploitation. English Version
Quality Assurance Plan: This document will contain in detail, the actions, activities and tasks and responsibilities, including the board of key-indicators and criteria to evaluate the quality of the project outcomes and activities. English Version
Evaluation Plan: This document will contain in detail, the actions, activities and tasks and responsibilities of the evaluation plan. English Version
Profile and training recognized and certified
: consolidated document containing the profile and training curricula certified by the regulatory bodies in each country, included all the work of the recognition and certification envisaging the final certification at national level.
Go to New qualification profile & Training programme
News & Events
Events
Fit2com- Final Conference -Portugal
Workshop: A more comfortable and fashionable footwear for a healthier future
CTCP - Centro Tecnológico do Calçado de Portugal
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The results of Erasmus+ project Fit2Com – Skills Alliance for comfort and healthy footwear- were presented in a workshop on “Skills and Competencies of the future” last 27th September at Lineapelle Innovation Square, a new hub for inspiration and innovation at the Milan leather trade show. The project’s main outcome has been the development of a new profile, the “Expert in Comfort and Healthy Footwear Manufacturing”, and corresponding training programme to respond to consumers’ demand for more comfortable fashion shoes.
The three-year project Fit to Comfort, funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus + programme, has been successfully completed and its outcomes were presented at Lineapelle Innovation Square in Milan by CEC General Secretary Carmen Arias and CTCP Director of Training Rita Souto on Thursday 27th November. The project aimed to support European SMEs to introduce more comfort and healthy features in their fashionable products with a view to enhancing their competitiveness and added value.
Our economy and society are swiftly changing mainly due to new technologies such as digitalisation. Consumers have become more demanding and have a longer life expectancy: being generally more knowledgeable and conscious about the planet, they are also more selective, want personalised goods and services, and put great emphasis on leading a healthy life. Therefore, they increasingly look for sustainable and healthy features in products to achieve a longer and healthier life.
The importance to healthy and comfort features in shoes was also underlined by a survey launched at the early stages of Fit2Com project to evaluate consumers’ needs. Results showed that consumers in Europe predominantly looked for comfort in shoes: 96% of 681 respondents selected comfort as one of the four aspects they value most in shoes, ahead of quality (81%), price (69%) and design (68%). Furthermore, the fact that 48% of the participants in the survey stated that the main reason why they do not find shoes was the lack of comfort clearly shows the need for a greater incorporation of comfort features in footwear production.
A second survey, launched by the project’s partners to assess companies’ approach to comfort features in their business strategy and their willingness to incorporate health and comfort features in their products, further confirmed the importance of comfort in shoes. They agreed comfort being the feature most valued by customers, as well as fitting being the feature their products could most benefit from. The survey also revealed that 70% of the companies viewed a shortage of workers with expertise in comfort footwear as the biggest challenge they will face by 2020.
On the basis of the surveys’ outcome, the project partners have developed a new profile, “Expert in Comfort and Healthy Footwear Manufacturing”, and corresponding training programme. The contents, available online in English, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian, comprehends 600 hours of training throughout 10 units. After completing the course, the new expert in Comfort and Healthy Footwear Manufacturing will have developed the necessary skills and competences to introduce Comfort and Healthy features in fashion footwear and will be able to improve the differentiation of products and the competitiveness of European footwear companies. The course is also of high value for companies’ employees, who can follow the programme or parts of it, and thus improve their skills in comfort and healthy manufacturing. Now that the training course has been successfully developed, the next and final step would be to have the new qualification recognised by each of the competent national authorities of Germany, Portugal, Romania and Spain, and integrate it in the corresponding VET systems, contributing in this way to enhance the footwear sector qualifications’ framework.
Fit2com- Final Conference
FIT2COMFORT AT LINEAPELLE
WORKSHOP SKILLS & COMPETENCIES OF THE FUTURE Lineapelle Innovation Square, Milan 27th September 2018 11:30-13:30
Rita Souto(Director of Training CTCP) will present the FIT2COMFORT project, a new profile, programme and training qualification
AGENDA
11:30 Introduction Gustavo Gonzalez-Quijano, Secretary General COTANCE
11:35 Digital Disruption in Fashion Digital Skills for the Textile, Clothing, Leather & Footwear Industries of the Future Lutz Walter, Director Innovation & Skills Euratex
11:50 9 Digital or Digitalised Occupations Federico Brugnoli, CEO SPIN360
12:05 Case Study: Fit2Comfort - A new Curricula and Programme Rita Souto Bizarro, Director of Training CTCP
12:20 Evolution of Market Needs Key Results of the Digital TCLF Forecasting Analysis Carmen Arias Castellano, Secretary General CEC
12:35 Industry Needs for Future Jobs Quantitative Assessment Laurent Zibell, Policy Adviser, Textile, Clothing, Leather, Footwear industriAll-European Trade Union
12:50 Bridging Training and Industry needs Training Gaps & Mismatches Gustavo Gonzalez-Quijano, Secretary General COTANCE
13:05 Debate & Interaction with the public & Validation of results Moderator: Gustavo Gonzalez-Quijano, Secretary General COTANCE
Comfort is cool as flat shoes cut it in the fashion stakes
Women swap skyscraper shoes for brogues and pumps as designers and style icons alike reject the agony of high heels
More shoe lovers opting for comfort
Comfy shoes are fast becoming the norm as more young Americans are choosing footwear that is both stylish and practical.
New research from Mintel reveals that 65 percent of buyers are most likely to select athletic shoes while 53 percent opt for casual shoes. By contrast, only 34 percent of customers prefer dress shoes.
Comfort & Convenience Are Two Musts for Fashion Brands to Compete With Sneakers
Theres room for optimism for the footwear industry, though success will require strategic changes. That was the message this morning at a presentation by The NPD Group Inc., which shared sales data from the holiday season and full-year 2017.
Beth Goldstein, industry analyst and executive director of NPD, pointed out that overall, sales numbers rebounded during the holidays, offsetting months of slow declines. Some of the strongest-performing product categories were women´s apparel, toys, consumer technology and sneakers.
5th partnership meeting - Date: 7th & 8th November 2017-IED Innovation Lab - Madrid -Spain
Did you know that cork-based shoes are healthier and more comfortable?
As light as resistant. As natural as sophisticated. As traditional as timeless. Cork can always make a perfect fit. At least is what they believe at Amorim Cork Composites
Cork is chosen by the footwear industry because of its properties. But its not only leading world brands in the footwear and luxury fashion accessories sectors that are using cork. It also has orthopaedic, podological and comfort applications, used in insoles, soles, middle soles, footbeds.
As a natural material with unique characteristics “ lightness, thermal insulation, breathability, impermeability and high compression and recovery capacities “ cork is an exceptional raw material for different applications, complemented by its excellent sustainability credentials. This makes cork a highly innovative contemporary raw material that can easily be adapted to a wide variety of different manufacturing processes.
Amorim Cork Composites brand, Footcork uses these characteristics to develop innovative cork materials and solutions for the footwear industry, accompanying the latest trends.
Walking comfort and greater health guarantees higher quality of life, and with that in mind. Footcork uses highly flexible thermoformable materials carefully selected from the finest raw materials to satisfy the most rigorous requirements of orthopaedic patients. The key goal is to reduce and prevent foot problems, protecting the foot in critical anatomic spots.
Portugal is main cork exporter in the world with a share of roughly 65% in the international trade. Excports are expected to have reached 940 million euros in 2016.
Heels for an active lifestyle. Women's shoes stand firm in a world filled with sneakers and moccasins. On a special occasion, they are simply unavoidable. Some fashion people walk every day on heels shoes.
4th partnership meeting - 23th - 24th May 2017 - Bucharest, Romania
14 science-backed reasons to disconnect over the weekend
Step away from your work emails! If you're guilty of putting a few extra hours in at work, whether in the office or on your sofa with your smartphone, this infographic explains exactly why you may be doing more harm than good.
What do consumers look for in terms of comfort in shoes?
The European Confederation of the Footwear Industry will present, at the Press Walk of the upcoming GDS Shoe Fair in Dusseldorf, the results of a survey to consumers indicating their needs and desires in terms of comfortable and fashionable shoes. The survey is part of the European Erasmus+ project, Fit to Comfort, whose objective is to develop a professional qualification profile and training programme that will fill the current skills and competences gap in comfortable footwear manufacturing in Europe.
A survey conducted by the European Confederation of the Footwear Industry (CEC) and its partners under the Erasmus+ funded project Fit2Com clearly indicates that European consumers look for shoes which are both comfortable and fashionable, but they do not always succeed because comfortable shoes are generally unattractive whilst fashionable shoes are often uncomfortable. The detailed results of the survey, which exposes what consumers look for when shopping for shoes, will be presented and explained at the GDS shoe fair in Düsseldorf, Germany, on Tuesday 7 February 2017.
The survey was designed to measure consumers´need for comfortable shoes, and to better understand which comfort-related features they most value. With a growing ageing population, comfort and healthy features are at the forefront of consumers´ requests, and it is expected that this trend will increase when analysing the results of the survey. Indeed, a big majority of interviewers indicated having back and/or foot problems, suggesting a need for adapted and comfortable shoes. However, many respondents confessed their difficulties in finding the right shoes.
With the Fit2Comfort project, the European project consortium, led by the Footwear Technology Center of Portugal, expects to bring more comfortable yet attractive shoes to the market by developing a professional qualification profile and corresponding ICT and work-based training programme, which will provide the relevant skills and know-how to incorporate comfort features in the manufacture of stylish shoes. By indicating which footwear features are the most relevant to consumers, the survey results will help the project identify such skills and include them in the professional training programme.
Thanks to this new qualification and training course, the added value of European footwear will increase, and consumers will have more choices of comfortable shoes from which to select and buy. To learn more about the project Fit2Com, please visit the website at http://www.fit2comfort.eu/
Fit2Comfort project presents first results - GDS,Germany
The European project Fit2Comfort, which aims to create, develop and certify a new occupation and qualification profile on Expert in Comfort & Healthy footwear manufacturing, will present its first results in the GDS fair, on 7th February 2017 9:45h at the Press Center of GDS fair, Dusseldorf .
It will be presented the FIT2COM project and the results of the survey to consumers on footwear comfort demands.
3th partnership meeting -7-8 february 2017 - Dusseldorf, Germany
How comfortable are your shoes?
Questionnaire to consumers With this survey, the project partners want to collect your opinion as a consumer about the footwear offered in the market, especially concerning fashion and comfort.
The survey will take you less than 5 min.
Take your language version questionnaire here
Thank you in advance for your collaboration
Inspired doctor launches line of high fashion heels
Inspired by Victoria Beckham's public statements that she no longer can wear her signature[...]
The European footwear sector continues growing steadily, being responsible for the 4% of the worldwide footwear production, employing more than 260.000 people distributed by approximately 25.000 companies, mainly SMEs, adopting a development strategy based on higher quality of products and services, flexibility and short time to market, product differentiation and added value. The consumption will continue its growth pattern thanks to the increase of population, longer life expectancy, and consistent improvements in earning power. According to the United Nations' World Population Prospects Report, people over 60 who is increasing at a rate of 2.6% per year, comprise one of the world's fastest-growing consumer demographics, resulting in new consumer demands in relation to comfort and healthy footwear.
As stated in the 2014 Report of the European Textile, Clothing, Leather, Footwear Sector Skills Council, the longer life expectancy represents an enormous opportunity of growth for the European Footwear Industry which should be embraced by SMEs and large enterprises, working toward the mitigation of the new target-group's emerged needs.But the use of healthy and comfort footwear is not restricted any longer to repair injuries or mitigate pain. The preventive factor is also determinant in the purchase of adequate healthy and comfort footwear for all ages. quebra_coluna With a consumer more and more concerned about his health and ensuring a good quality of life when ageing, comfort & healthy footwear is and will be more than ever, requested by youngsters.
Comfort and heathy footwear is multifaceted, involving footwear design and engineering, manufacturing techniques, biomechanics, medical/therapeutic knowledge, etc. The need of a professional profile in the comfort and healthy footwear and correspondent training is recognized by the footwear stakeholders including ESCO experts (European Skills Competences project), to be covered by NACE classification standard.
This sector skills alliance, constituted by entities related to Footwear and E&T system decided to assign the challenge of creating, designing, piloting and certifying a new qualification profile and correspondent ICT and work base training, to address the identified skills/competences gap in the comfort & healthy footwear. Impacts will be visible in competitiveness, entrepreneurship, employability and higher level of qualifications in the sector. The final product will be available in German, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish and English.
Objectives
Specific objectives and aims of the project are the following:
To develop totally innovative contents in the field of comfort & healthy footwear manufacturing, supported by the most recent research and development results in the field, and involving technical aspects, introducing innovative materials, components, specific manufacturing techniques, innovative fitting techniques;
To improve key competences regarding comfort & healthy footwear manufacturing, which represents a skills' gap in the Footwear sector;
To contribute to the enhancement of the employment level in the sector;
To provide a new qualification, certified at national level in 4 countries (Portugal, Spain, Germany and Romania) and a future international qualification to be recognized at European level, in line with the ECVET and EQAVET approach, through the structuration of learning outcomes;
To create awareness among European companies on the potential of growth that comfort & healthy footwear offers to European footwear strategy, based on product differentiation, quality, personalization, flexibility and fashion design;
To increase the level of differentiation of European footwear industry and to improve the number of comfort & healthy brands.
To improve entrepreneurship in this field, supported by new business models and a very "close to market" approach;
To rethink "comfort footwear" assigning the strength of the European design, introducing fashion features sometimes forgotten in this segment of footwear, improving the attractiveness of comfort & healthy footwear for all ages.
To reinforce the European footwear component industry level of innovation, namely in terms of nanomaterials, electronic features, and others;
To disseminate the products and the knowledge developed at European level through a robust communication strategy supported by the constant involvement of the stakeholders in each phase of the project;
To establish a network of footwear stakeholders in order to potentiate their know-how and influence and impact in the footwear sector at regional, national and European level, promoting the adoption and the mainstreaming of the final results.
To establish an alliance in footwear stakeholders and VET T system – the project consortium - for the sustainability of the qualification created and certified, seeking the continuous improvement and update.
Partners
The partnership involves organizations with different expertise and objectives such as research centres, vocational/education centres, university and regulatory bodies from Portugal, Spain, Germany and Romania and the European Confederation of Footwear Industry settled in Brussels.
Results
News & Events
Kick-off meeting 27th & 28th January 2016 – S. João da Madeira / Porto, Portugal
