Hit by Chinese imports, Argentina’s textile industry is reeling

[Johngwyn]

I have been on about this for 15 years here.
The Shoe industry. Aside from name brand multinational shoes like Nike, which are made at a group of over 100 interlocking factories in Vietnam, and china to an ever decreasing degree, Argentina has more of a surviving shoe industry than practically anywhere. Certainly more than the USA, or the UK, or most european countries. Italy makes a very few very expensive shoes, Germany still makes some shoes.
Argentina makes everything. soles, grommets, laces, fabrics, zippers, insoles, glues, machinery- all made here.
And quality is as good as you are willing to pay for.
There are places that will hand a carve you a pair of lasts of your feet, and make shoes to fit you and only you.
Its all here.

That's interesting to learn it.

 

[Ries]

What about those of us who don't want to talk around looking like

What about those of us who don't want to talk around looking like a portero?

All taste is subjective.
In its defense, no one will think you are a rich foreigner, and you get a gift box at Christmas.

 

[Ries]

Who do you recommend for custom made shoes?

Start with Correa. https://www.calzadoscorrea.com.ar/

 

[Ries]

Another apparel related category- Industrial sized washers and dryers.
I was in a factory in La Matanza last year, that has 100 employees making jeans, shirts, and more.
They had several washing machines, and a centrifugal spin dryer, from this company in Cordoba.
Cost efficient, the newer 15kg washers (they had 3) are programble and water efficient, with central detergent metering for all 3.
The big centerfuge holds 30 kilos at once.
There is absolutely a South American, if not global, marketplace for machines like these.

Tienda - Roncoli

roncoli.com.ar

There are several competitors in Argentina in this category, Cordoba has a ton of misc manufacturing of machinery for many different markets.

 

[sergio]

Start with Correa. https://www.calzadoscorrea.com.ar/

Start with Correa. https://www.calzadoscorrea.com.ar

I know Corea. ANy other suggestions?

 

[Ries]

sorry, Correa is as tony as I go. I dont generally wear mens dress shoes. My Correa's are carpincho desert boots, but not custom made.
My wife has had several pairs of loafers made there from standard lasts.
I wear sandals a lot, and birki rubber clogs. I like agua patagonia brand of casual shoes, I have several pairs up to 10 years old, but I am a welder, not an office guy.

I am sure there are a couple more shoemakers who will make 100% custom, but they dont have much a web presence, Caputo and the Bullrichs already know where they are. My guess would be, in today's market, you would be talking $500 to a $1000 USD, which is still around half of the cost of an off the rack John Lobb in London. Bespoke Lobb's are in the $4000 to $5000 range.
Great ready to wear shoes at Teran, Galo, Terrible Enfant, Guido, and Lopez Taibo.
If you really want 100% made to order, I would go to some of these, and ask for advice.
Some may do it on special order, some may have suggestions.
Google, which is more worthless than ever before, even in Europe and the USA, is particularly useless here, because many high end places simply dont have, or maintain, websites, and dont make google's search criteria even if they did.

 

[RichardAlem]

Argentina would do well to think this through verrrryyyy carefully. Amazon absolutely wrecked malls and has nearly driven department stores and bookstores into extinction. Commercial property vacancies have never recovered. They are slowly swallowing all sorts of commerce channels now like domestic freight shipping, car sales, pharmaceuticals, even doctors.

BUT, while many criticize that Amazon is replacing quality jobs that once provided living wages for box packing plant jobs with dystopian labor metrics, at least you could argue that the logistics, jobs, technology, warehouses, etc. are still within the US.

For Argentina to throw the doors open to a Chinese version of Amazon without understanding the implications to it's own labor dynamic is not only short-sighted but dangerous. Chinese factories are heavily subsidized by their shadow banking system and their "dumping" methods of capturing foreign trade is a legitimate threat. Argentine companies should do well to try to be more competitive, but Chinese manufacturing costs are not transparent and not apples to apples with Argentina. The Argentine government would do well to study how China supports it's manufacturing sector and emulate that before trying to pretend that clothes produced here can be just as cheap as there.

Whether it's Amazon or some similarly rapacious Chinese subsidized facsimile, this is the end game which is coming whether anyone likes it or not:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/technology/inside-amazons-plans-to-replace-workers-with-robots.html

Thus, the statement recently issued by Max Tegmark and signed by astute people concerned about the impact.

Statement on Superintelligence

“We call for a prohibition on the development of superintelligence, not lifted before there is (1) broad scientific consensus that it will be done safely and controllably, and (2) strong public buy-in.”

superintelligence-statement.org

McKinsey (consulting) now estimates that by 2030, 400-800 million jobs will be replaced by AI. So, scratching out a few more pesos from the Western Union tipo de cambio, at the ultimate expense of the Argies, will be the least of one's economic concerns when white and blue collar workers alike are standing in extended soup lines.

Target stores just announced 1,000 leadership job reductions and the removal of 800 open job positions due to efficiencies in software technology (read:AI). With regenerative robotics and the imminent release of AGI, the world will change dramatically. Not as quickly throughout the 'third world' but certainly in parts of it.