The oldest Danish factory in Portugal’s footwear cluster is closing. ECCO, the family-owned shoemaker based in Bredebro in southern Jutland, told workers at its plant in São João de Ver, Santa Maria da Feira, on Monday 2 November that it will start “the legal procedure for the total and definitive closure” of the factory, according to ECO. Portuguese media put the number of jobs lost at 632; the Ritzau wire, quoting ECCO’s own release, gives the Portuguese headcount as about 650.

The closure is part of a wider cut. ECCO is also shutting its factory in Vietnam, which employs 1,400 people, and will remove about 400 further positions in global and regional functions before the end of the year, 80 of them in Denmark. Production will continue at its factories in Indonesia, Thailand and China “to adapt production capacity to demand”, the company said. Danish outlets including DR, TV 2 and Politiken put the total at more than 2,400 jobs.

Forty-two years in the Feira

The São João de Ver plant opened in 1984 as ECCO’s first production unit outside Denmark and made formal, casual and golf shoes. Regional press notes it was at one point the largest footwear producer in Portugal, but it has announced several rounds of layoffs in recent years. Production was halted once before, in 2009, leaving only the prototype department, and restarted in 2012 after problems at ECCO’s factory in Thailand, RTP reported.

“This is a very sad day for all of us, and for me too,” said Gustavo Kremer, general manager of ECCO Portugal. “For more than 40 years, the workers in Portugal were an important part of the ECCO family… This decision is not a reflection of their work or of the quality of what is made here.” The company says it will pay all legal compensation; Jornal de Notícias reports the package as one month’s salary per year of service. ECCO says it has informed the authorities and the Santa Maria da Feira municipality.

What happens next

According to RTP, workers leaving Monday’s meeting said production has already stopped. Small groups will stay on until the definitive closure, expected in March or April, with administrative staff the last to leave. Management told employees the group had production capacity 65% above what its sales require. Fernanda Moreira, president of the footwear workers’ union, said whole families worked at the plant and blamed company decisions, including ECCO’s choice not to leave Russia.

The group is under financial pressure. Its latest accounts showed a net loss of DKK 179 million, after DKK 280 million the year before, on sales that fell to DKK 10.5 billion from DKK 11 billion. ECCO said it will receive a €50 million capital injection to strengthen its finances. Chief executive Thomas Gøgsig left with immediate effect at the end of October, and the company is searching for a successor. ECCO is controlled by the Toosbuy family; Hanni Toosbuy Kasprzak, daughter of founder Karl Toosbuy, chairs the board.

Why it matters for the corridor

The news lands a week after Danish medtech group Coloplast opened a €100 million factory in Felgueiras, and as NKT has grown its Esposende cable plant to 580 workers. Danish manufacturing in northern Portugal is not shrinking overall, but it is changing shape: capital is going into medical devices and cables, while labour-intensive consumer goods made for a global network are being consolidated into Asia. For the Feira cluster, the question is how many of the 632 skilled shoemakers can be absorbed by Portuguese footwear firms that sell under their own brands, including to Scandinavian buyers. For Nordic manufacturers weighing Portugal, ECCO’s exit is a reminder that a plant’s value depends on its place in the group’s capacity plan.

The announcement followed a weekend in which Jornal de Notícias reported that a staff meeting called at ECCO’Let for Monday morning had raised fears of new layoffs or a closure.

Sources: ECO (2 November 2026, “Fábrica de calçado Ecco vai fechar na Feira e despedir 632 trabalhadores”); Felgueiras Magazine, citing ECO and RTP (2 November 2026); Jornal de Notícias (1 and 2 November 2026); DR / Ritzau (2 November 2026, “Ecco lukker to fabrikker i udlandet”); TV 2 and Politiken (2 November 2026).