The faces of the shoe crisis in Illueca and Brea

At 10.00 foreign buyers begin to arrive in Illueca to their shoe stores. The municipality of the Comarca del Aranda, located 90 kilometers from Zaragoza, remains on weekends like the past as a shopping destination for those looking for quality shoes at lower prices. Many travel from Zaragoza and other nearby provinces and visit the establishments of the town and its neighbor Brea de Aragón, "cradle" of the shoe, as the monument that welcomes visitors says. Some people from Zaragoza took advantage of this last bridge for the Cincomarzada party.

The palace castle of Papa Luna that dominates the town dwarfs the increasingly empty industrial estates that are located near the highway. The footwear industry, which has been the driving force of the municipality and the region, has been losing strength after a trickle of closures in recent decades, which has worsened with the economic crisis. In recent months, two factories with almost 100 jobs have closed, which have triggered the largest social mobilization seen in the region, clamoring to defend the sector and employment.

Company closures

Among the factors that have harmed the sector, residents highlight competition from markets with lower costs, which is causing the closure of workshops. "A company that had been running for 47 years recently closed here," laments a retiree. The sector is going through a long crisis that at the beginning of the year seems to have stepped on the accelerator.

Buyers also show their concern about the critical situation in the sector. "I'm from next door, from Aranda, but I live in Lleida. Whenever I come I stop to buy because the quality is very good and they last me for years," says María Teresa Barao at the exit of one of the stores located at the entrance of illueca. Remember the golden years of footwear, when it gave employment to the entire region. "When I was a girl, the bus from the Illueca line came to my town with people from work. It gave life to the town," she explains. Now her municipality is one of the most depopulated in the area. "It's sad," he laments. "If this were to resurface it would be a joy."

The feeling among the neighbors is one of pessimism. "We notice that everything is getting worse every day," says Pedro Escolano, at the doors of the establishment. Some eight factories remain out of the more than 50 that came to exist in Illueca alone and the evolution in neighboring Brea has been similar.

All this increases the flight of young people in search of employment to Zaragoza, located an hour away by car. "We are not going to be more than retired all day for a walk," she laments before the advance of depopulation. He believes that the solution involves the arrival of a company from another sector that would find a workforce prepared for the industry. It defends the work capacity of the population of the area due to the shoemaking tradition. It is difficult for any of its members in a family not to have gone through a shoe workshop. "They are used to working 10 hours on a tile," he says from his own experience because he spent 22 years in the sector, in the eighties, one of the best times he can remember before the decline.

"If there's no work, I don't sell coupons," says Vicky Díaz, 43, an ONCE salesperson. Like many of the residents of the area, she also went through the footwear sector and she has seen how "factories have been closing and people are leaving". Her husband has had to leave to work in another municipality and he does not see opportunities for young people if new projects are not brought to the region. The worst thing is the uncertainty because "you don't know what is going to happen".

According to the latest data from the Government of Aragon, which is working on a plan for footwear, the sector has lost 70 companies and 1,200 jobs in the region in the last two decades in which there has been talk of a crisis.

Uncertainty is reflected in everyday life. "You can see that there are fewer people, less consumption and that those who are there are afraid to spend," says Alfonso del Río, a second generation along with his brother Agustín from a well-known pastry shop in the center of Illueca.

"The old town is leaving us," laments the pastry chef, who acknowledges that the current crisis is being experienced "with a lot of tension" because "years have gone by in which this region is ignored." There is a large population between the ages of 50 and 65 who does not know what their last years of working life will be like. "I have five years left and I don't know if I'm going to be able to retire in the pastry shop," confesses Alfonso, sadly, because the family business, the Granja del Río pastry shop, has been open since 1948.

His brother Agustín joins the conversation and they talk about other attractions that could be promoted in the town such as the castle-palace inn, which they see from its door and which has been closed for several years, and hiking in the nearby mountains , in the surroundings of the Aranda river. Alfonso has two children in Zaragoza who are studying and whom he encourages "to prepare, which is a way to get ahead."

In the golden age of footwear, the young people of the region barely finished their compulsory studies and went to work. "I left school and at 16, since I didn't want to study, I went 'to the shoes' because I knew it was easy to find a job," admits Gloria Gascón, 48, who has just bought bread at the bakery in the river brothers He worked since then and until recently in the footwear sector. Earning a salary from such a young age meant that "you could get married soon and have children soon," he points out from that time. "I've been very happy with the shoes," she confesses. He does not remember work as something hard. "An eight-hour chain job." After the workshop he was in closed a year and a half ago, he has been able to find a job in a pastry factory in the area. "There has always been a crisis in footwear, but not as much as now. People cannot retire because factories close and now young people cannot work even if they want to."

This situation has led the residents of the region to start a protest movement that had its peak in the massive demonstration on the 1st in Brea with some 3,000 people in the streets asking for solutions. A historical figure considering that Illueca has 2,924 inhabitants and Brea about 1,600. "The objective of the platform is to reactivate the future of the region, apart from footwear," they explain from Zumaque, one of the convening platforms, born in Brea six months ago due to the concern that is experienced on a day-to-day basis. "It arose spontaneously around a table in view of the situation in the region," explains Pedro Villarroya, about the origin of the organization. He is "repopulator". A nurse with roots in the town, he returned from Catalonia a year and a half ago with his wife.

"People are tense. They are not used to demonstrating," they acknowledge of this group. A tension that grew two days after the demonstration with the inspections of the Tax Agency in three factories within a device deployed in eight communities against "possible concealment of undeclared sales." It was the second part of an operation that in 2014 investigated footwear and textile companies in Spain that could have hidden up to 30% of their real turnover thanks to 'dual-use software'. Some neighbors showed up during the registrations to support the companies and the employment they generate.

From the citizen platform they defend compliance with the Treasury and remember that until the investigations are resolved, the presumption of innocence operates. They highlight the contribution of the footwear sector to the community. "We have given a lot of wealth to Aragón and we want to continue giving it. We deserve to see the area reindustrialized," says Elena Floría, one of the spokespersons, from her Flor de Miel children's clothing store in the municipality. Before starting, he worked in the sector. He explains that the region "has been dedicated to footwear for four centuries, first with leather tanning." Precisely the name of the platform comes from a wild flower that was used to dye them.

Among their demands is the fight against depopulation. Last year only three children were born in Brea. Elena confesses that her business is maintained thanks to the fact that 90% of sales come to her through social networks, and because she sells clothes "that are not in Zaragoza".

On the platform there are all kinds of profiles, including workers in the sector such as Magdalena Naval, 50 years old. After working as a "dresser" since she was 16, a position normally occupied by women, in charge of sewing the pieces of the shoe, she has become unemployed with one of the last closures. "I have practically not stopped in all these years , except for the change of season, but not more than one month".

From being a region where employment was created, it has gone on to have to look for it abroad. The unemployment rate in Illueca exceeds 12%, above the 9.9% average in the community. "Here there was a lack of labor and they went to the towns of Moncayo for workers. There was an industrial fabric for 100 kilometers around," says José Antonio Gascón, from the Sos Comarca del Aranda de Illueca citizen platform, another of the groups that They have called for mobilization. He set up a car dealership, but his father had a shoe factory that had 60 workers. The group was created in the spring of 2019 "to wake up our politicians," he explains.

He acknowledges that "now they are working", and trusts that they will put all the "meat on the grill with the strategic plan" prepared by the Department of Industry for the sector and the budget item to adopt measures such as opening new markets. But he regrets that the decline has been taking place for two decades and has not had the support of the Administration that other areas with a shoemaking tradition such as La Rioja and Alicante have had. Pedro Gascón, another member of the platform, points out that "we want the plan to be regional", that "the politicians see how the region is doing".

So far, they have been able to see and hear the shouts of the neighbors in the street asking for "work." They do not seek subsidies. "My 81-year-old father has said that in his life he had seen a union in the Aranda region like this in the face of a problem," says Jose Antonio. And he confesses, not without being moved, how "I saw people crying at the demonstration." Some tears that are now linked to a cry for help from an entire region.