Spain’s Footwear Industry in Freefall: 1,149 Factories Lost in Five Years

The numbers coming out of Spain’s footwear sector are no longer merely concerning — they are catastrophic. According to new data presented by the Spanish Association of Footwear and Leather Goods Components Companies (AEC), the country has lost 1,149 footwear manufacturing companies over the past five years. That represents a 35% contraction of an industry that has defined regions like Valencia, Castilla-La Mancha, and La Rioja for generations.

The pace of decline is accelerating, not stabilising. In 2025 alone, 195 companies shut their doors — and that figure excludes businesses that have already begun closing in 2026. The Industrial Production Index for footwear fell 9.2% in 2025, then cratered by an extraordinary 29.1% in April 2026. These are depression-level statistics for what was once one of Europe’s most respected footwear manufacturing ecosystems.

Álvaro Sánchez, Director General of the AEC, delivered an unusually candid assessment that cuts through the usual trade body diplomacy: “Businesses can’t take it anymore. We need an immediate, coordinated, and industry-focused institutional response.”

What makes the crisis particularly acute is its concentration. Four regions — Valencia (37% of closures), Castilla-La Mancha (39.7%), La Rioja (17.4%), and Murcia (22.5%) — account for 87.4% of Spain’s footwear business base. These are not diversified economies that can easily absorb the shock. In towns like Elche, Elda, and Villena, footwear is not just an industry; it is the industry. When factories close, there is often nothing to replace them.

The structural vulnerability of the sector is laid bare in the numbers. In 2025, Spain’s footwear industry comprised 442 companies with zero employees (essentially shell entities or sole proprietorships with no staff), 1,084 micro-enterprises with 1-10 workers, and just five companies with more than 250 employees. The overwhelming majority of the industry exists at a scale that makes it extraordinarily difficult to invest in automation, brand building, or market diversification — all of which are essential for survival in today’s global marketplace.

Employment tells the same story in human terms. The sector shed 3,670 workers during 2025, and year-on-year employment was down 10% in December. By May 2026, average employment had fallen to 35,806 — a further 1,704 jobs lost compared to May 2025.

Spain now produces 71 million pairs of shoes annually, representing just 0.3% of global production. China, by comparison, produces 13 billion pairs; India 3 billion; Vietnam 1.55 billion. Scale alone is not the issue — Italian footwear production is also modest in global terms — but unlike Italy, Spain has struggled to maintain the premium positioning and brand equity that command higher prices and protect margins.

The components sector, which supplies everything from soles to eyelets, faces its own pressures: irregular demand, rising raw material and energy costs, and a lack of generational replacement as younger workers gravitate toward service industries. The AEC is calling for an urgent national industrial strategy, but announcements without enforcement will not save the 19,000 direct and indirect jobs still hanging in the balance. Europe’s footwear heritage deserves better than a slow, undignified decline.

Source: https://leathernews.org/aec-warns-of-growing-crisis-in-spains-footwear-and-components-sector-demands-urgent-industrial-action-plan/