€300 million for improvement programme
12/11/2008
The Portuguese footwear industry is continuing with its efforts to become the most efficient in the world within ten years.
It has given a name to its programme for improvement, o (the) Footure (a play on words between footwear and future).
This strategy will receive funding of €300 million between now and 2015, distributed across 107 initiatives aimed at increasing innovation and the reach of Portuguese footwear in international markets.
The money will come from the European Union, the Portuguese government and from companies in the footwear industry.
Commenting on the programme, Alfredo Jorge, a director of the national footwear industry association, APICCAPS, said his realistic hope was that, by 2015, the success of Portuguese shoes would be much closer to that of their Italian counterparts. “There is still a big difference, he says, but it should take us a lot less time to claim second sport [from Spain]. Will we one day be global leaders in producing and exporting quality footwear? Well, never say never.”
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