AFP, Elche :
Hunched over her sewing machine in a Spanish workshop, a woman puts together a ballerina slipper which will soon slip onto the foot of a customer in Madrid, New York or Tokyo.
Spain is the second-largest footwear producing country in the European Union after Italy, with 96.5 million pairs of shoes produced in 2013.
“Made in Spain” shoes are selling well at home and abroad but success comes in part thanks to some employees working off the books to help keep costs down.
The shoe sector “subscribes to the underground economy,” said Jose Maria Mollinedo of Spain’s tax inspectors union Gestha.
Up to half of Spain’s shoe production is done in the underground economy, according to a study by students at Madrid’s Autonomous University.
Over two-thirds of Spain’s 1,400 footwear firms are concentrated in the Mediterranean coastal region of Valencia, with many clustered around Elche and the nearby town of Elda.
Spain’s shoe industry rejects assembly line production, favouring instead semi-artisanal manufacturing by small and medium sized firms.
Big retailers such as Louboutin and Zara make some of their shoes in the country.
The sector’s roughly 25,000 workers tap into a rich tradition of leather craftsmanship that dates back to the 19th century.
The industry had its golden age in the 1970s when US firms shifted their production to Spain, which was at the time isolated and less developed.
Like its European neighbours, Spain suffered in 2005 with the end of import quotas on shoes made in China.
But it managed to hold on to the production of mid to high-end shoes and the value of Spain’s shoe exports hit a new record in 2013 of 2.64 billion euros ($2.83 billion).
But some of those prospering Spanish shoemakers are paying their workers off the books to avoid the taxman.
“I have always known it to be this way,” said Manuel Molina, a 57-year-old leather cutter.
He recalls that his mother also worked in the industry making shoes at home and was paid in cash that was not declared to the tax office.
Hunched over her sewing machine in a Spanish workshop, a woman puts together a ballerina slipper which will soon slip onto the foot of a customer in Madrid, New York or Tokyo.
Spain is the second-largest footwear producing country in the European Union after Italy, with 96.5 million pairs of shoes produced in 2013.
“Made in Spain” shoes are selling well at home and abroad but success comes in part thanks to some employees working off the books to help keep costs down.
The shoe sector “subscribes to the underground economy,” said Jose Maria Mollinedo of Spain’s tax inspectors union Gestha.
Up to half of Spain’s shoe production is done in the underground economy, according to a study by students at Madrid’s Autonomous University.
Over two-thirds of Spain’s 1,400 footwear firms are concentrated in the Mediterranean coastal region of Valencia, with many clustered around Elche and the nearby town of Elda.
Spain’s shoe industry rejects assembly line production, favouring instead semi-artisanal manufacturing by small and medium sized firms.
Big retailers such as Louboutin and Zara make some of their shoes in the country.
The sector’s roughly 25,000 workers tap into a rich tradition of leather craftsmanship that dates back to the 19th century.
The industry had its golden age in the 1970s when US firms shifted their production to Spain, which was at the time isolated and less developed.
Like its European neighbours, Spain suffered in 2005 with the end of import quotas on shoes made in China.
But it managed to hold on to the production of mid to high-end shoes and the value of Spain’s shoe exports hit a new record in 2013 of 2.64 billion euros ($2.83 billion).
But some of those prospering Spanish shoemakers are paying their workers off the books to avoid the taxman.
“I have always known it to be this way,” said Manuel Molina, a 57-year-old leather cutter.
He recalls that his mother also worked in the industry making shoes at home and was paid in cash that was not declared to the tax office.
