Closures throughout Italy’s footwear manufacturing base
More than 100 footwear and components makers went out of business in Italy during the first three quarters of this year as the economy continues to drag down domestic spending.
Assocal, the country’s footwear manufacturers association, reported that 105 businesses closed and 1,370 lost their jobs.
A regional breakdown of these figures, published by research firm Infocamere-Movimprese, shows all seven major footwear regions reported a decline: the biggest was in the Marche region, where 36 businesses closed, with the loss of 290 jobs, followed by Tuscany, where 21 shut down.
If the figures are restricted to footwear manufacturers (excluding components makers), 44 closed (leaving 5,142 manufacturers) while the number of employees decreased by 1,030 to give a total 77,060.
On the export front, the first three months show a moderate growth in value (2.4%) to €2.3 billion but a decline of 1.8% in volume to 66.4 million pairs. Over the past decade, only the first quarter of 2009 recorded lower quantities.
Image: Footwear industry leaders in Italy discuss the market at Milan-based trade show Micam
