The Portuguese footwear industry is concluding a 100 million euro investment in sustainability, digitalization, artificial intelligence and new technologies, with the aim of positioning Portugal as a reference industrial alternative to Asian hegemony. This investment, materialized in the BioShoes4All and FAIST (Agile, Intelligent, Sustainable and Technological Factory) projects, represents the largest investment cycle in the sector's history and comes at a time when approximately 90% of world footwear production remains concentrated in Asia.
The president of APICCAPS, Luís Onofre, states that Portugal produced 74 million pairs in 2025, with a commercial surplus close to one billion dollars, demonstrating a solid and competitive industrial base. In his speech at the Micam, Lineapelle and Simac fairs in Milan, where 71 Portuguese companies participated, he highlighted that the Portuguese strategy focuses on strengthening an alternative model based on innovation, sustainability, flexibility, proximity to markets and higher value-added production.
According to data from the World Footwear Yearbook 2026, world footwear production remained practically unchanged in 2025, at 24,600 million pairs, with China leading with 55.6% of the total, followed by India and Vietnam. Europe represents only 2.1% of world production, assuming an increasingly secondary role, although it retains relevance in higher value-added segments.
Luís Onofre argued that Europe cannot abandon its industry and called for a more ambitious European industrial policy that combines trade openness with reciprocity and balanced competitive conditions. The business leader emphasized that the real challenge now is to transform the knowledge and installed technology into new products, greater competitiveness and more value created in Portugal, stating that "the best of the Portuguese footwear industry is still yet to come."
