Italian footwear industry still weak in 2023

Giovanna Ceolini, president of Assocalzaturifici, comments on the fatigue of the Italian footwear industry encountered in 2023 as follows: “The year that has just ended had an undulating trend for the Italian footwear industry. The brilliant performance of the first quarter, with double-digit increases in exports and turnover, was followed by a gradual slowdown. The 2024 is showing worrying signs at the start, and we expect a further slowdown at least in the first half of the year. A conjuncture determined by the difficult international scenario, dominated by geopolitical events and risks, and restrictive financial conditions for families and businesses.”

Among foreign markets, France is confirmed in first place (+17.3% in value and +1.1% in quantity on January-October 2022), whose figures also include the return flows of production carried out in Italy by French luxury multinationals. The selection process among companies continues (with a heavy -5.3% between industry and handicrafts), despite the resilience in the number of employees (which marks +1.8%, although still below 2019 pre-Covid levels and down in the last quarter).

The Italian footwear sector, thanks to favorable results in the first part of the year, closes 2023 with turnover at €14.6 billion, weakly up on 2022 (+0.9%) supported by exports, which stand at €12.8 billion (+1.1% in value). The trade balance is good (5.8 billion, +7.3%), but Italian household spending (-1.5%) and especially the volumes produced (which cancelled out the recovery of 2022 returning to 148 million pairs, -8.6%) and those exported (-10.6%), in significant contraction.