Leather wastes in the Portuguese footwear industry: new framework according design principles and circular economy

Leather shoes are the main category of footwear products done in Portugal, representing around 75% of all products in this industrial sector. The wastes produce by the footwear industry are very aggressive for the environment and requires new approaches from all stakeholders, including sectorial organizations and politicians. This exploratory research will be done using data from the sectorial organizations APICCAPS and CTCP, data from the National Agency for Environment and also from a field research (cases of Portuguese footwear companies). If the footwear companies will perceive the competitive advantages of being “green”, then they will incorporate the design principles and they will make the sustainability be an essential part of their strategies, including new approaches according the four R’s: Reduce; Reuse; Recycle and Re-thinking or (Re)Design. This is something very important, mainly when the footwear companies are dealing with more conscious consumers and with the new environmental requirements.This work is financed by FEDER funds through the Competitivity Factors Operational Programme - COMPETE and by national funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of the project POCI01-0145-FEDER-007136.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Competitive strategies in fashion industries: portuguese footwear industry

Portugal is an important player in the European fashion industry. The Portuguese footwear industry, “low-tech” and traditional industry, dominated by SMEs and located in two main clusters, is a success case in the Portuguese economy. After a long period of decline until 2009, the footwear companies prepared new strategies that made big changes in the image and performance achieved. Since 2009, exports have increased more than 55% and the Portuguese footwear has grown in almost all the most important foreign markets. The competitive strategies followed by the Portuguese footwear companies are different and they can be clearly identified according Porter’s three generic competitive strategies: cost leadership, differentiation and focus strategy. This paper had analysed seven Portuguese footwear companies (seven cases, case study strategy) and the results obtained shows how important is to have the right approach to the markets, according the internal and external resources that each firm has available. The footwear clusters in Portugal and the sectorial organizations are also very important in this competitive performance achieved by the companies. Last years the Portuguese government recognize this increasing importance of the fashion industries and prepared several programs to promote these industries in Europe and other continents.FCT -Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia(POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007136)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio