Turkey: Qatari manufacturer buys shoes for over $11,000

ISTANBUL A specially designed €10,000 ($11,077) worth women's footwear by Turkish manufacturer Bayram Polat was bought by a Qatari shoes manufacturer in 8th Istanbul Shoes and Leather Goods Fashion Fair. Bayram Polat, a 30-year shoe manufacturer in the sector, designed a special women's footwear for the fair. The handmade custom shoes jewelled with precious stones drew the attention of visitors in the fair. A Qatari shoes manufacturer bought the unique women's footwear by paying €10,000 ($11,077). Approximately 1,500 foreign businesspeople from 65 countries and 100 Turkish shoes manufacturers are participating in the fair, held on Nov. 5-8. Erkan Demir, chair of the company organizing the fair, provided information on the shoe-making sector. The goal of the sector is to export shoes worth $1.5 billion this year, he said. "Within the first four months of this year, $400 million worth of shoes were exported. Exporting shoes worth $1.5 billion is not an unrealistic goal," Demir added.