Protectionism to no avail for European shoe makers
26 Jan '06
4 min read
AAFA opposes such duties, and has filed formal comments with the EC, joining the Brussels-based Footwear Association Importers Retailchains (FAIR), which represents many European footwear brands and retail chains, the European Branded Footwear Coalition (EBFC), which represents many major brands such as Clarks, Ecco, Kenneth Cole, New Balance and Rockport, the Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industries (FESI), which represents Adidas, Nike, Puma, Nike and many other athletic brands and the European retail community in their opposition.
Burke commended The Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark for formally opposing such duties, and encouraged other members of the EU to follow suit.
“Anti-dumping duties will result in absolute chaos throughout Europe's economy,” Burke warned.
“Prices will double, if not triple — if consumers are able to find the shoes and brands they want on the store shelves at all.” Burke continued, “EU imports from China and Vietnam alone supply over half of the shoes sold in the European market — well over 1 billion pairs.
In 1968, when US footwear manufacturing was at its peak, 1,100 footwear factories employed over 250,000 workers who produced over 700 million pairs per year. As recently as 1995, 150 US factories still employed almost 60,000 US workers in producing over 200 million pairs of shoes per year. Today, only 80 manufacturers remain in the US, with all but a few being small, family-run operations.
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