"Dass plant closes: footwear sector crisis deepens", 4 January 2025

The footwear and clothing company Dass laid off 300 workers and announced its closure through telegrams, dismissing almost all of its employees. The company manufactures for major brands such as Adidas, Asics, Umbro, and Fila, and previously did so for Reebok. The Brazilian-owned firm cites falling sales and warns of increased problems due to the wave of imports...

"Yesterday (Thursday) they distributed 50 telegrams, and today 50 more. We're calling each other among the workers, telling them who has received it and who hasn't yet, hoping that what we're experiencing isn't real, but it is so real," Marcelo Melchor, the representative of the Union of Footwear Industry Workers (Uticra) at the factory, told Página 12...

A common maneuver by the company was to grant vacation time during the holidays to avoid paying for holidays, and this happened again last December. However, before the break was over, the news came: they would lose their source of income...

To clear the plant of stock, they paid overtime and then gave all the staff full vacation time in advance. "I feel angry," he repeats, his voice breaking. "Anger."...

"The situation is worrying. Production in the sector has fallen by 15 percent, sales have decreased by 20 percent, and imports of finished footwear have grown by 50 percent," Horacio Moschetto, president of the Chamber of the Footwear Industry (CIC), told Página/12. He also mentioned other problems, such as the price difference with products from the East and the tax burden, "which remains very high for domestic production."

According to the announcement, Dass will relocate the factory to Eldorado, Misiones, where they have another factory in operation...

"Adidas International is primarily responsible, not Dass, because the multinational chooses to produce in places where it can reduce so-called labor costs and reduces orders," said Uticra national, adding that they do not know the reasons for the decision but "we can infer that it is due to the total opening of import trade promoted by the government."

In a statement, the Dass Group explained that "the measure is part of the need to adapt operations to the new market dynamics in Argentina, which poses a change in the economic cycle, characterized by new commercial conditions." In 2024, it recorded a production of 7.8 million pairs of sneakers...

"The trend among companies, especially those producing athletic footwear, is to stop producing locally and start importing more easily. There is greater growth in finished footwear imports, with fewer customs controls, and both Dass and its competitors have increased their volumes of purchases abroad," Moschetto stated...

[Translation via Google Translate]