Turnover boost for Italian footwear tells only part of the story
President of Italian footwear manufacturers’ association Assocalzaturifici, Giovanna Ceolini, has said positive figures for the period covering January to September 2022 tell only part of the industry’s story.
Surveys that Assocal has carried out among its members suggest an increase in exports over the nine-month period of nearly 24% in value year on year and of 11.7% in volume.
Overall, members reported an increase in turnover for the period of 13.9% year on year and Assocal said its projection for the full year was of a return to pre-pandemic levels.
However, Giovanna Ceolini warned that sharp increases in costs, especially of raw materials and energy, were eroding margins. She also said that, even if the sector as a whole returns to pre-pandemic levels when full-year figures come out, two out of five footwear manufacturers in Italy will have turnover levels that remain lower than the levels they registered before the covid-19 crisis.
She said 180 shoe manufacturing companies in Italy had closed down in the course of last year, 4.5% of the total. And although employment levels increased in 2022, with the overall workforce rising by 2.3%, this was not enough to compensate for the job losses of the previous two years.
