Defence spending hike an opportunity for footwear sector, says association
"The Portuguese footwear industry is committed to doubling exports of technical footwear to €100 million by the end of the decade”, said the Portuguese Association of Footwear, APICCAPS.
Increased investment in the defence sector in Portugal is an opportunity for the national footwear industry, which expects to double exports of technical footwear to €100 million by the end of the decade, said the president of the sector association.
“Portugal has a long tradition of supplying the main European security and military forces,” so “the expected increase in NATO countries’ defence budgets could be an opportunity”, said Luís Onofre, president of the Portuguese Association of Footwear, Components, Leather Goods and their Substitutes (APICCAPS).
In a statement, the association said that the Portuguese footwear industry is preparing for increased defence investment, one day after the European Commission proposed allocating €131 billion to investment in defence, security and space, five times more than the current funding, under the new long-term European Union (EU) budget (2028 to 2034).
“The Portuguese footwear industry is committed to doubling exports of technical footwear to €100 million by the end of the decade”, it said, adding that “the Agile, Smart, Sustainable and Technological Factory, FAIST, created in response to the needs of the footwear and leather goods sector, will be decisive for this contribution. The FAIST mobilising project brings together 45 partners and aims to develop cutting-edge technology capable of providing companies with the best technical solutions to respond to the market”.
Luís Onofre believes that “the forecasts for a doubling of technical footwear exports to €100 million by 2030 may be revised upwards”.
Quoted in the same press release, Florbela Silva, leader of the FAIST project, said that “reindustrialisation and the use of high productivity processes are enabling companies to manufacture faster and at competitive prices, enabling them to enter large distribution chains, particularly in the more technical segments”.
According to the person responsible for the mobilising project, “FAIST is repositioning the footwear industry in Portugal on the international stage”.
The association points out that the industry has been investing in the production of high added value technical footwear, supplying the main security forces at international level.
“We have the knowledge, the installed capacity and we are prepared to expand our product range, even in the military segment”, said Reinaldo Teixeira, president of the Footwear Technology Centre, who is also mentioned in the note to which Lusa had access.
Investment in defence has been one of the hot topics in recent times, particularly due to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, with the European Commission and NATO encouraging spending in this area and developing funding programmes.
