Before visiting Portugal, I had never stepped inside a shoe factory. I pictured an industrial setting dominated by machinery, with shoes moving rapidly through production lines before being packaged and shipped around the world.
Instead, I found myself watching workers carefully cut materials, assemble individual components and wrap finished shoes in tissue paper before placing them into boxes. There were machines, of course, but what surprised me was how much of the process still depended on people.
Each worker had a specific role, and each pair of shoes passed through multiple stages before reaching its final form. Even the packaging received individual attention.
It made me realize how little I knew about the work behind something I wear every day.
When people think of luxury footwear, Italy is often the first country that comes to mind. But Portugal has an extensive shoemaking industry of its own, manufacturing footwear for domestic labels and international brands.
During my trip, I was struck by how much of the work behind a designer shoe can happen far from the fashion capitals most closely associated with luxury. It raised an interesting question: How often do consumers recognize the craftsmanship behind a shoe, rather than simply the name printed inside it?
For Portugal’s footwear industry, that distinction matters.
According to the Portuguese Footwear, Components, Leather Goods and Allied Products Manufacturers’ Association (APICCAPS), Portugal produced approximately 80 million pairs of shoes in 2025, exporting around 90% of its production.
That year, the country exported approximately 68 million pairs worth €1.72 billion, reaching more than 170 countries. The United States is also a significant market, with Portuguese footwear exports to the U.S. totaling approximately €84 million in 2025.
Those numbers are impressive, but statistics alone don’t explain what makes the country’s footwear industry distinctive.
To understand that, I visited footwear factories near Porto, interviewed designer and APICCAPS president Luís Onofre, and attended ModaLisboa, Lisbon Fashion Week, where Portuguese footwear appeared on the runway.
At the Helena Mar factory, the production floor was only part of the experience. I also saw footwear being produced for Jacquemus, the French luxury fashion house known for its playful designs and distinctive silhouettes. Upstairs, I discovered what felt like a hidden fashion archive, with doors opening onto spaces filled with shoes, hats and accessories. Each new section revealed another collection of designs, turning what I expected to be a straightforward factory tour into something closer to exploring a designer’s personal wardrobe.
At Luís Onofre’s facility, the connection between manufacturing and creativity was even more apparent.
Above the factory floor was his office, where sketches, finished shoes and designs inspired by his family’s history offered a glimpse into how a collection develops. Seeing the progression from an initial drawing to a finished product made it easier to appreciate how much thought goes into details that might otherwise go unnoticed.
For Onofre, whose family has been involved in shoemaking for generations, that history remains central to his work.
“The most important part of my work is to go back to the files, the old files,” Onofre told me, explaining how he revisits earlier designs and reinterprets them for contemporary collections.
He described wanting his shoes to feel modern while still carrying something recognizable from the past, drawing inspiration from earlier eras when fashion felt “so different, but so magical at the same time.”
That relationship between tradition and reinvention extends beyond his own collections.
When I asked Onofre why Portuguese craftsmanship appeals to clients around the world, he pointed to the industry’s flexibility as much as its technical expertise.
“We are very resilient and very adaptable,” he told me. “So we are resourceful. If we have a problem, we can turn around it and try to find a solution quickly in order to respond very quickly to the demands of our clients.”
It’s an important distinction in an industry where manufacturers must adapt to changing trends, specialized designs and growing expectations around sustainability.
Rather than competing with the world’s largest footwear producers on volume alone, Portugal’s manufacturers are emphasizing quality, technical expertise and the ability to work closely with designers.
That approach is now being supported by significant investment.
Through two initiatives, BioShoes4All and FAIST, Portugal’s footwear sector has invested more than €100 million in sustainability, advanced manufacturing and technological development, according to APICCAPS.
BioShoes4All brings together manufacturers, researchers and other organizations to develop alternative materials and more environmentally responsible production methods.
Some of those materials come from unexpected sources, including coffee grounds, pine bark, olive leaves, chestnut shells and olive stones.
The initiative has supported the development of dozens of new footwear and leather goods products, including designs intended to reduce environmental impact.
Meanwhile, FAIST focuses on modernizing factories through robotics, automation, artificial intelligence and digital manufacturing.
It’s an interesting contrast to what I witnessed on the factory floors, where individual workers remained so visibly involved in production.
But the two approaches aren’t necessarily contradictory. Technology can improve efficiency and help reduce waste, while skilled workers continue to contribute the knowledge and attention to detail that distinguish specialized manufacturing.
That combination of heritage and innovation is also helping Portuguese footwear reach international runways.
APICCAPS represents more than 1,000 brands and has helped connect Portuguese footwear manufacturers with designers presenting collections at major fashion weeks around the world. Recent collaborations have involved Willy Chavarria, Daniella Kallmeyer, Henry Zankov, CAMPILLO and Libertine, while Saul Nash partnered with Portuguese brand TOWORKFOR to reinterpret the classic boat shoe for a collection presented during Milan Fashion Week.
I saw that connection firsthand at ModaLisboa, where Portuguese footwear was represented alongside collections from designers including DuarteHajime, Valentim Quaresma, Dino Alves, ARNDES and Luís Carvalho.
After spending time inside the factories, watching shoes become part of a designer’s runway presentation felt different. I wasn’t just looking at the finished product anymore. I was thinking about the people who had cut the materials, assembled the components and helped transform an idea into something wearable.
The industry is also working to develop its next generation of creative talent.
Through partnerships with institutions including London College of Fashion, APICCAPS has helped connect emerging designers with Portuguese manufacturers, giving young creatives opportunities to turn their concepts into finished footwear.
For designers, access to experienced manufacturers can be invaluable. For manufacturers, those collaborations introduce fresh perspectives and new technical challenges.
It’s a relationship that reflects what Onofre hopes to preserve as the industry evolves.
When I asked what he wanted Portugal to be known for in the footwear industry 20 years from now, he didn’t mention export figures, technological breakthroughs or international recognition.
Instead, he talked about the next generation.
“I think my wish is the next generations, they can learn with the mistakes that we made and try to be as much professional as they can,” he told me.
He also emphasized the importance of remembering the generations who helped build the industry, including members of his own family.
That answer stayed with me because it reflected something I had noticed throughout the trip.
For all the attention being given to artificial intelligence, robotics and sustainable materials, the most memorable parts of my factory visits weren’t the machines. They were the people and the personal histories behind the businesses.
The next time I see a pair of designer shoes, I won’t just wonder who’s behind the label. I’ll wonder whose hands brought them to life.
