Footwear industry in Spain reaches crisis point
Spain’s national association of footwear component manufacturers, AEC, has said the shoe industry there has reached is now in “an extreme situation”. It has called on national, regional and local governments to put immediate measures in place to help. It has also said the authorities must come up with a longer-term plan to help the reform of a sector that it said was of strategic value to Spain.
AEC said Spain had lost 35% of its manufacturers of footwear and footwear components between 2020 and 2025. It said a total of 1,149 companies in the sector had closed their doors over that time, leaving a total of 2,131 operating.
It said that in 2025, Spanish manufacturers and brands exported 167.7 million pairs of shoes, boots and other footwear, bringing in revenues of nearly €3.4 billion. However, retailers and brands imported 370.8 million pairs last year, with a total value of €5.2 billion. More than 80% of these imports came into Spain from Asia; almost 200 million pairs came from China.
Chief executive of AEC, Álvaro Sánchez, said: “Our companies cannot take it any more. We need an immediate, coordinated response from the authorities. They need to come up with a vision for our industry. This is not about individual companies here and there. We are talking here about the entire supply chain.”
