Don't be an Island. Join Your British Footwear Association.

As I sat at the table during yesterday's British Footwear Association AGM, I looked around the room and did some mental math. I was trying to calculate the combined years of industry experience that were gathered in that room.

It was somewhere in the region of 500 years.

And I thought to myself, why would anyone within the UK footwear sector not want access to this deep pool of knowledge?

Following the post Covid double-dip, we conducted a cost-cutting exercise to trim our business back to the slimmest operating model possible. This meant getting rid of anything that we deemed non-essential. All the nice-to-haves went. At that time, this included our membership of the BFA.

Fast-forward two years as we emerge from Covid's worst effects and once more establish a strong financial base, 99% of those hard cuts remain in place. A coldly pragmatic justification of costs is essential for any business in today's market.

We only reintroduced one cost, which we moved from the nice-to-have column into the must-have.

Our membership of the BFA.

But why?

When I incorporated Phoenix Footwear in 2009, we quickly carved out a niche in men's formal footwear and we enjoyed rapid success. My attitude at this time was to keep my head well below the parapet. My view was that all I needed was a small group of strong buyer relationships and any extended networking was unnecessary. I actively fostered anonymity.

It worked OK for a while.

It also masked the fact that the prospect of networking terrified me. Those people who could 'work a room' were of a different breed to me and the further I could keep away from anything that fell within the realms of networking, or what I understood networking to be, the better.

What I failed to grasp was that networking, or as I prefer to call it, connectivity, was not simply the establishing of business opportunity.

It was the human side of business.

The heart of everything.

Because one day, we will all look back on our careers, however successful we have or have not been. Where we worked, the countries we visited, the food we ate and the hours we burned. And what is the one thing that we will remember in our dotage? What will be the one memory of our long working lives that will cut through all of our triumphs and disasters?

The people.

The Footwear Industry, our industry, is made up of every type of person. And although, as affectionately described during the AGM yesterday, it is not what we would call a sexy industry, it remains full of passionate and dedicated individuals who, in the most part, are happy to share their knowledge in the cause of supporting others.

There have been other BFA events, but if I am to be honest, I had not previously felt worthy of sitting around a table with some of these bastions of our industry. I had felt that, due to my background in the less purist, white label side of the business, that my view would not carry enough weight. And perhaps that I had nothing to add to the word of fifth generation shoemakers. But I was wrong about that then and it would be wrong to think that now.

What struck me most about yesterday's meeting, as Jane Wilson gave her chairman's address, was the warmth of the occasion. This was an inclusive group, with a shared passion for our industry who were saying in clear terms, you are welcome here.

And you are welcome here too. Whatever the size of your business, whatever your needs, your experience, your background, you are amongst friends who want, above all else, for you to prosper.

If the British Footwear Industry is our trade body, then The British Footwear Association is its heart and soul.

Which brings me back to my question, why did I move our membership of the British Footwear Association into the must-have column?

Because this business is really tough, it can be incredibly lonely, and we cannot work in isolation. Because my annual subscription to the BFA represents incredibly good value. The resources that I can access are expansive and highly relevant. And, when I look back on my career, I want to feel that I was a part of something bigger, that I played my part and that I helped others play theirs.

That means that I need to be in the room where it happens.

We warmly welcome you to join us.

To register your interest, click here https://britishfootwearassociation.co.uk/member/

Or if you want to ask me questions about the BFA directly, just send me a DM.