The sexiest footwear in Europe
It produces 70 million pairs of shoes, exports 95% of production, boasts 40 brands and is present at 70 fairs in the world. The Portuguese footwear industry, which is described as the sexiest of Europe, is now investing in its image: more aggressive in tone but without forgetting the symbols of the Portugal.
The success of the Portuguese footwear industry reflects solid work, joint efforts, the sharing of difficulties, common goals, the result of more than 30 years work, led by the Portuguese Association of Manufacturers of Footwear Components and Leather Goods and their substitutes ( APICCAPS).
After the 1980s, driven by investment in training and modernisation of companies, so they could respond quickly and effectively to market demands, for the last three years, the footwear industry has focussed on a phase of new investment in the image. The campaign The sexiest industry in Europe has had a major impact, as demonstrated by the various mentions in international fashion magazines, particularly in blogs. As little was written about Portuguese footwear in Portugal, the strategy was to hire producers, models, photographers, a whole team of professionals who were able to deliver fashion editorials solely with Portuguese designers, and put them in a variety of specialist publications. Four editorials are produced every year, with the one that was published in the Italian Vogue Accessory (with a circulation of 350,000), last September, caused a bit of a stir in the international market. The same can be said of Portugal Soul, the APICCAPS magazine, created three years ago and distributed to retailers around the world, which reports news in the footwear sector, but also specific items about Portugal and its icons.
“We could have the best shoes in the world, but if we continued in our little corner … We produce about 70 million pairs of shoes, there are 10 million Portuguese who buy three pairs of shoes per capita, even assuming that all are leather [which is what Portugal produces], we would sell 30 million pairs of shoes. And what we would do with the other 40 million? It was important to focus on our impact abroad, to sell in the middle market segment and, in particular, the mid-high segment. Being at fairs is no longer enough, we needed to create a more aggressive, more fashionable approach”, says Paulo Gonçalves, spokesman for APICCAPS. Following the same approach as the previous campaign, Portuguese footwear offers the public powerful, evocative, glamorous images, showing what distinguishes us from the rest; symbols of Portugal, such as the lovers’ handkerchiefs, cobblestones, filigree, fado, the Douro.
Crescimento sustentado
Fortunato Frederico, president of the APICCAPS, still remembers filling two or three planes with shoeboxes, bound for various trade shows taking place around the world. This is just one example that the main man from Fly London (the most profitable brand of shoes in Portugal) gives to illustrate the willingness of manufacturers to reinvest the profits from footwear into the industry itself. There are no success formulas in a year of economic crisis, where the industry has seen growth of around 6 percent, he says. There is, “a set of circumstances brought about by working for more than 30 years that allows us to still be in a state of grace, although on an international level, we have begun to see blotches of mildew.”
The footwear industry has never been protected, it has always worked in the open market, a fact that made it develop and create roots to be able to grow, says Fortunato Frederico. Before the revolution of 25th April, 1974, there was undoubtedly a certain protectionism, but there was also internationalisation achieved with the provinces of the former Portuguese colonies. With the revolution, the industry took off, and two years later it was in the European market, exporting huge quantities, especially to Russia. The presence of the APICCAPS, as the only representative of the footwear industry, played a crucial role in the development of strategies for development and growth. It charted a course and, despite changes in direction, it maintained its goals. It brought together not only footwear industrialists but also leather goods manufacturers and substitutes. It set up partnerships with universities, it studied markets. It developed equipment, now exported as far as China. It tested quality, certified companies. It took advantage of community programmes. Since 1978, it has drawn up regular strategic plans, regularly inviting figures from the area of economics to participate. The need to launch an aggressive international advertising campaign, like the one undertaken in 2009, had been considered in 1982. “There is a commitment to continuity,” notes Paulo Gonçalves, which made the industry make that qualitative leap, taking on the importance of being one of the four industries that makes a positive contribution to Portugal’s balance of trade (in addition to cork, textiles and real estate) and ridding itself of the images of child labour and the low wages of its workers.
This industry (concentrated in Felgueiras-Guimarães and Oliveira de Azeméis-Santa Maria da Feira), which employs 35,000 people, is now investing in quality rather than quantity. The aim is to move, in a short space of time (in half a dozen years) from 40 to 100 brands of shoes. “The factories have already been bought, the workers trained, all that’s left now is to add value to the product in order to sell it for three or four times more,” explains Fortunato Frederico. And perspective: “When we manage to sell our shoes for more than the Italians, then we’re the best in the world.”
by Ana Serpa
