The new frontiers of the crisis. The (surprisingly) negative data demonstrate the impact of the German retail apocalypse. Every year, for the last five years, nearly 1,000 clothing, footwear, and leather goods stores have closed, resulting in 10,000 job losses. Meanwhile, Spanish shoe exports are declining again after five years. And Italy is to blame. By La Conceria.

The crisis in German retail

In Germany, the fashion retail crisis has long been discussed. But now this crisis has reached its peak, making the definition of “retail apocalypse” apt. According to calculations by BTE, the Federal Association of German Fashion Retailers, the number of employees in the fashion retail sector (clothing, footwear, and leather goods) has decreased by nearly 50,000, or 13.1%, over the past five years. From 380,036 employees as of December 31, 2019, to 330,246 at the end of 2024. The “footwear retail” sector is the hardest hit in percentage terms. The number of employees (48,047 at the end of 2024) has in fact decreased by 21.4% compared to 2019, almost double the 11.3% recorded in the apparel sector. Meanwhile, the leather goods retail sector saw a 17% decline in employee numbers, reaching 5,530. According to BTE, the job losses are attributable to store closures. From 2019 to 2023 (the most recent data), 3,900 stores closed (-18.1%, nearly 1,000 each year), nearly one in five. Here too, the footwear and leather goods sectors were hit hardest, with losses of 20.6% and 22.4%, respectively, compared to the apparel sector (-17.2%).

Spanish exports down

In Spain, footwear exports are negative for the first time in the last five years. This was the case with the data from May. According to Revista del calzado, which cited data from the General Directorate of Customs, in the first five months of 2025, exports totaled 75.6 million pairs of shoes, worth over €1.44 billion. Compared to the same period in 2024, exports increased by 0.2% in quantity and by 0.5% in value. The main destination markets for Spanish footwear were, in terms of value, France (+4.8%), Italy (-4.2%), Portugal (+7.7%), Germany (-3.5%), and Poland (+7.9%). In the same period, imports from Italy, and therefore Italian exports to Spain, also fell by 7.5%.