Paraguayan town can become famous for footwear, minister says
29/11/2016
A tradition of using leather to make sports equipment puts Paraguarí in a good position to shift to leather shoe production now, the country’s industry minister, Gustavo Leite, has said.
Brazilian footwear brand Aquelino Masiero has said it intends to open a factory in Paraguarí to make shoes and will recruit 120 local people. The town is now setting up a training school to teach footwear production skills to candidates and has said aside an area in an old covered market for the factory.
Aquelino Masiero intends to make 1,500 pairs per day initially, and to scale this up to 3,500 pairs per day in future.
In comments to local media, Mr Leite said: “If the people of this town put their minds to it, they can make it the footwear powerhouse of Paraguay at the same time as exporting quality footwear. All we needed to kick this off was for people who know how to make shoes for the international market to come to Paraguarí to produce, and now we have that [in Aquelino Masiero].”
Paraguayan footwear factory workers in Argentina have expressed an interest in returning home to work on initiatives like this one.
Share this story:
