The global artisan workforce is collectively grappling with the post-factum influence of the internet. In creating jacks-of-all-trades, there aren’t many masters-of-one left, and even fewer age-appropriate apprentices around to take the lead.
But Portugal could (still) be a contender.
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In the face of this distinctly Western dilemma, the Portuguese government has set up some proactive policies to attract attention. Fitch Ratings suggested Portugal’s economic outlook has the potential to outshine both the EU and the UK in the years ahead, prompting the international agency to revise its outlook on the country’s long-term issuer default rating (IDR) from a BBB+ to an A- last month.
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While footwear remains in flux, Portugal is ready to step up.
With a rich history (and robust workforce) in footwear production, Portugal is poised to take on more market share. The Portuguese Association of Footwear Components Articles Leather Goods Substitutes (APICCAPS) is making sure of that.
“We want to be an important international reference,” said the group’s president, Luís Onofre, noting that of the 24 billion pairs of shoes produced yearly, about 90 percent are manufactured in Asia. “We don’t think this is sustainable; on the contrary, we think there is room in the market for players like Portugal.”
Founded in 1975, the Porto-based association represents 500 companies responsible for 80 percent of Portuguese production. The country’s Ministry of Economy-recognized “cluster” exists to spread the word about Portugal’s workforce, innovations and opportunities. The association’s members are not solely footwear-focused, either. Members from relevant and adjacent industries—think leather goods, components and equipment—and those from research and development entities like institutes and technological centers are welcome.
Not to mention, the “sexiest industry in Europe” will invest a cool 600 million euros (about $649 million) by the end of the decade into innovation, sustainability, qualification of companies—and workers—as well as internationalization. It’s the biggest investment the industry has ever seen and is APICCAP’s “greatest proof of confidence” in the sector’s future.
“We are not particularly focused on increasing production, as the sector already manufacturers 80 million pairs of shoes a year,” Paulo Gonçalves, APPICAP’s director of communications, said. “Our main goal is to optimize processes and make the Portuguese footwear industry an international benchmark in the development of new products.”
Included in that roughly $650 million investment is the previously established 140 million euros (around $152 million) set aside for the Recovery and Resilience Programme (RRP) to be invested by 2025 into automation and manufacturing as well as the fields of innovation and sustainability.
“Regardless of economic cycles, we are here to stay,” Gonçalves said. “The greatest proof of our confidence is that we are making the biggest investment in our history. We know that Portugal can be a great international benchmark in terms of developing a sustainable industry—an industry for the future.”
Gonçalves has been with the group for more than two decades and is one of the minds behind its print magazine, which will celebrate 15 years in 2025.
Extending olives
The Portuguese Footwear Technological Center (CTCP) blends tradition with technology for future-proof fiber production. Located just south of Porto in São João de Madeira, the nonprofit is where the prominent BioShoes4All project—which will ultimately guide the industry’s transition to a sustainable and circular bioeconomy—has been underway since 2022, anticipated to end next December.
It’s also where the industry can experiment with eco-design and next-generation materials. Taking advantage of Portugal’s local waste streams, CTCP has an abundance of agro-industrial feedstock—like olive pits and chestnut shells—which Monteiro Footwear successfully created a pair of kicks with last year.
“We only use chestnuts that have no use for humans or animals, the ones that cannot be used for anything else, that’s the ones that we are trying develop,” Maria José Ferreira, the director of research at CTCP, explained. “All of this work is about moving away from fossil-fuel resources and, in moving away, empowering other segments and creating new business opportunities.”
Not-so-sour steps forward
Lemon Jelly, for one, is taking advantage of that opportunity.
The 11-year-old label is part of the Procalçado Group, one of the largest European producers of footwear components and molded footwear. Its Porto factory is powered by renewable resources, producing recycled—and recyclable—jelly shoes reminiscent of the 1990s but more comfortable and genuinely citrus-scented.
“Lemon Jelly has always been about fun, recreating the shoes that everyone has childhood memories of, with better materials,” said Catarina Véstia, Lemon Jelly’s sales director. “Everything we use on the shoes—from the insoles to the linings—everything is to control the humidity, the sweat; everything is designed to kind of kill the whole uncomfortable experience from our childhoods.”
Lemon Jelly’s recycling technology allows the boot brand to make endless pitchers of lemonade, so to speak, as any pair of old shoes can be ground down and incorporated into the production for a pair of new, “recycled lemons.” As the factory runs on green energy, each pair of recycled lemons generates 90 percent less carbon emissions. In 2020, Lemon Jelly won the Best Carbon Footprint Initiative category at the Sustainable Fashion Awards. The Birkenstock partner was awarded Inovadora COTEC status just a few months ago for its net-positive impact on Portugal’s industrial, economic and social landscape.
“We are making a small step, but it’s our step, toward sustainability,” Véstia said. “We like to bring happiness and good things to people’s lives.”
All in the family
A similar sentiment guides Carlos Santos.
The shoemaker’s history dates back to 1942 when a then 14-year-old Carlos Santos took what his father taught him about the art of shoemaking to the local Zarco’s factory floor before he eventually came to be its sole owner. In 2010, he launched his own shoe brand, Carlos Santos. The luxury label was “created by the family, for the family” and believes no one should walk alone.
Armando Santos recounted his father’s journey up the ladder, slowly buying all the shares from Zarco’s aging partners. His family still holds all of those shares. The international department head certainly follows in his father’s footsteps, save for the fiscal footprint. The oldest of three, Armando, works alongside his youngest sister, while the middle daughter is unable to work due to a disability.
“So, she will not be a part of the inside [work] now,” he said. “But she will always be a partner and have her fair share.”
The brand’s core business is Goodyear Welted Construction, the oldest manual method of making shoes in which machines play a secondary role. The factory, about 30 minutes south of Porto, is full of ancient and impressive machinery to help build that construction. And for every machine, there is a human (or two) to bridge the gap. Some are patina artists, seemingly seamlessly blending 20-plus finishes. Others are singeing seams, steaming uppers and stitching welts.
In total, there are about 20 men and 50 women on the cutting floor, putting the country’s signature style of craftsmanship—blending tradition and technique—on a path forward.