Shoes set to soar 30%

A Portuguese shoe fashion designer has warned that the prices of shoes are set to skyrocket by up to 30% because of rising production costs.

Luís Onofre, president of the Portuguese Association of Footwear Industries, Components, Leather Articles and their Substitutes (APICCAPS), told the online news source ECO that the price of footwear for consumers would rise substantially.
He said it would be as a result of increasing production costs, criticising the intransigence of clients when negotiating.
From the plastic used in high-heel shoes to the rubber used on soles, and the thread and leather, the footwear industry is seeing its margins squeezed because clients are not accepting increases in prices, while at the same time manufacturers are getting electricity bills that are five times higher because of soaring energy costs.
Luís Onofre gave is warning as he led a committee of 35 national companies at the largest shoe fair in the world in Milan which runs from 13-15 March.
He said that despite the problems caused by the fallout from two years of pandemic, the war in Ukraine and soaring energy costs, the fair was a “sign of hope in the midst of a backdrop of international instability”.
When preparations for the fair were underway, the general feeling in the sector was one of optimism after Portugal’s footwear industry closed 2021 with its best quarter ever with €412 million for October and November which helped the sector close the year with growth of 12% to €1.6Bn.