Portuguese footwear export will fall by 5% in 2019. But now, the industry reacts by focusing on sustainability. The country’s reference association (APICCAPS) already has a 12-point action plan made of 50 steps.
The timeframe
The document should contribute to the revamping of Portuguese footwear export. After 10 record-breaking years, the decrease in 2019 will be of about -5%. It’s the second year of decrement in a row. But the association believes this to be normal: “It’s just not possible to always grow”, commented Paulo Gonçalves, communications director at APICCAPS, to Jornal de Negócios.
The reasons behind the downturn
“The disappearance of a number of retailers has an impact on us – observes Gonçalves himself -, and so does the slowdown of some of our main destination countries, such as France and Germany”. According to Luìs Couto, director of the Trofal di Benedita company: “Production costs have increased, and clients are less and less willing to spend money to buy shoes”.
Industry reactions
“It’s an essential tool to strategically reposition our industry – stated Luis Onofre, president of APICCAPS – on the competitive international market”. The document discusses topics such as energy efficiency, environmentally-compatible design, traceability of raw material, use of bio-based polymers and more. “Our goal is to make Portugal’s footwear industry the leader in the development of sustainable solutions – concludes Mr. Onofre -. It’s not sustainable for a single continent such as Asia to account for about 90% of the world’s total production of shoes”.
Images from the production site of NoBrand
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