Data from the first nine months of the year shows that the Portuguese footwear industry is gaining ground in the main international markets, with year-on-year export increases of 3.8% in volume and 2.1% in value.
In September, the Portuguese footwear industry consolidated the growth cycle observed throughout 2025. Between January and September, Portugal exported 53.3 million pairs of shoes, worth 1.32 billion euros, which represents a 3.8% increase in volume and a 2.1% increase in value, as compared to the same period last year. This performance highlights the sector’s strong competitive capacity in a challenging international context.
During this nine-month period, significant growth was observed in the safety footwear segment (up by 17% in value), as well as in the children’s footwear segment (up by 6%) and the textile footwear segment (up by 18.8%). Notably, the value of leather footwear, the main component of Portuguese exports, remained stable, defying the global trend of intense margin and price pressures.
Europe remained the main destination for Portuguese footwear exports, accounting for around 80% of the total. Overall performance was positive, with sales to the European market growing by 5.9% in volume (47 million pairs) and by 4.4% in value, reaching 1.098 billion euros, as compared to the first nine months of 2024.
In this context, noteworthy increases were recorded in Germany (up by 11.3% to 372 million euros) and Spain (up by 20.6% to 139 million euros). However, in France, a historically important market for the sector, sales fell slightly by 0.4% to 263 million euros.
