At least this is the belief of Alberto Sellaro, President of the Argentina’s Chamber of the Footwear Industry (CIC). A decline in domestic sales of leather footwear, which are reflected in a drop in local production, with the foreseen impacts in the industry.

According to the World Footwear Yearbook (available here), in 2015, Argentina produced 125 million pairs of shoeswith a total of 22 million pairs imported in the entire year.  The Association now expects production to have dropped to roughly 10 million pairs with imports increasing to 5 million pairs in 2016.

The local authorities have reinforced the need to boost sales in the domestic market, but they have warned to the fact that much more is needed in terms of innovation, design and quality, especially as “synthetic products are increasingly competing with leather”.

In the first five months of 2017, imports of handbags grew 42% in volume, but the products are reported to be mainly composed of synthetic materials. The same local sources indicated that the tanning industry has also seen the number of cattle available for slaughter decrease, resulting in fewer hides for the industry.