Preliminary results for 2022 show that Italian footwear manufacturers achieved sales revenues of almost €14.5 billion, an increase of 14% compared to the figure for 2021 and a return to pre-pandemic levels, writes Leatherbiz.

President of industry body Assocalzaturifici, Giovanna Ceolini (pictured), revealed the figures at the Micam exhibition in Milan in February.

Ms Ceolini commented: “Although the overall picture is encouraging after the complications of the last two years, there are some less comforting indications. Recovery has been very uneven and two out of every five of our member companies have still not returned to 2019 levels of revenue. A number of companies have not been able to make it trough the crisis and have gone out of business.”

Even though there was an increase in demand for Italian shoes in 2022, she pointed out that costs had gone up too and showed “no sign of coming down”.

She lamented the war in Ukraine and pointed out that the conflict had directly affected “a region that has always been one of the largest customers of certain Italian footwear districts”.

Export figures for the first ten months of 2022 suggest a figure of €10.5 billion, which is a new record for the period and an increase of 23.5% year on year. Assocalzaturifi’s projection is that full-year export growth will be just a little below this percentage figure.

The average price per pair of the shoes Italian brands sold in export markets between January and October 2022 was €57.26, more than 10% up on the corresponding figure for the same period in 2021.