A Two Steps from the Future Exhibition
24 Nov, 2025
At MUDE, Lisbon
In recent years, the Portuguese footwear industry has undergone a profound structural transformation. On 28 November, an exhibition opens to the public that makes this shift visible — a transformation led by APICCAPS, the Portuguese Footwear, Components, Leather Goods Manufacturers’ Association, and by CTCP, the Portuguese Footwear Technology Centre. Curated and developed by Associação ModaLisboa, the exhibition at MUDE – the Design Museum – brings together the results of cooperative, scientific, technological, and material research that has repositioned the sector as an international benchmark for sustainable transition.
Organised around the Bioshoes4all programme, the exhibition reveals what usually remains within the specialised domains of engineering, technological centres, and production units: silent yet essential changes that redefine raw materials, industrial processes, and development models. Vegetable-stabilised leathers, biomaterials obtained from natural fibres or agro-industrial waste, bio-based polymers, recyclable composites, and circular-economy solutions are presented not as isolated innovations, but as evidence of a systemic shift.
By organising these contents into an intelligible pathway, A TWO STEPS FROM THE FUTURE demystifies complex processes: how ecodesign methodologies are implemented; how post-consumer waste is reintegrated; and how digital platforms enable resource sharing, streamline decision-making, and reinforce transparency across the cluster. The exhibition reveals not only what has changed, but how that change has been built — through a productive culture that aligns technical rigour, environmental responsibility, and long-term vision.
Until 25 January, it sketches the portrait of an ecosystem in transition and invites the public to explore new materials, new production grammars, and new industrial ecologies — while taking two steps into the future.
