Organizations

Abicalçados celebrates its 42nd anniversary

May 1, 2025 Brazil

Representing a sector with over 5 000 factories and directly employing around 300 000 people throughout Brazil, the Brazilian Footwear Industries Association (Abicalçados) celebrated its 42nd anniversary in April

Founded in 1983 to represent the footwear industry in Rio Grande do Sul as Adical, the organisation became national in 1993 when it was renamed Abicalçados. “This expanded scope was linked to the need to represent the industry’s expansion into other Brazilian states”, says Haroldo Ferreira, Executive President of Abicalçados.

In a statement, Abicalçados highlighted some of the organisation’s achievements in its mission to support the development of the footwear industry and advocate for favourable conditions for the sector’s competitiveness, both in Brazil and abroad.

These include the creation of Brazilian Footwear, a programme to drive the sector’s exports, in partnership with the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil); the creation of the anti-dumping mechanism applied against Chinese footwear in 2010; the creation of the Origem Sustentável certification programme for ESG practices in the footwear chain, in partnership with the Brazilian Association of Leather, Footwear and Artefact Component Companies (Assintecal); and the launch of BFSHOW, now “the largest footwear trade fair in Latin America”.

“Achievements that would not have been possible without the association of the industry around Abicalçados, which has made our industry the most important footwear producer outside Asia”, stressed Ferreira.

Source and Image Credits: abicalcados.com.br

Brazil Footwear Organisations