After 15 years of operation, the factory of the Mexican footwear company Flexi, located in the Guanajuato city of San Luis de la Paz, has closed its doors permanently, affecting approximately 500 workers, according to local media estimates.
Echoing the news, the governor of Guanajuato, Diego Sinhue Rodríguez Vallejo, stated that this is the result of unfair competition and the wave of imports from China has brought to the local footwear industry.
“The shoe sector is going through a severe crisis, derived from several situations. First, there was an order bubble; After the pandemic, that bubble burst and left many exporters in a bad position. Second, the massive entry of Chinese footwear, the reactivation of China after the pandemic, illegal footwear above all; that is what hurts the shoe sector,” Rodríguez Vallejo shared with the media.
Local press states that another of the reasons that caused the closure of the Flexi factory was the cancellation of the contract to produce Timberland footwear lines. So far, the company has not commented on the matter.
It is worth remembering that Flexi is one of the most important and historic footwear companies in Mexico. Until the last update, in 2022, the company sold between 14 and 15 million pairs for women and men in its approximately 800 active stores nationwide.
San Miguel Times
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