Ecco to close Santa Maria da Feira factory, putting 632 jobs at risk

The announcement

Ecco Portugal's management told workers at a morning meeting on Monday, 2 November 2026, that its shoe factory in Santa Maria da Feira will close for good. Production had already been halted when the news reached staff across the plant's 22 departments. Workers who spoke to reporters as they left the site said the closure will leave 632 people without work. Another report put the plant's workforce at about 700 employees. The factory, located in São João de Ver, has operated since 1984.

How the closure will unfold

According to the workers, the shutdown will be gradual. The sample section will keep running for two more weeks, after which only some staff will be called back to handle the steps needed to empty the building completely. That emptying is expected in the first quarter of 2027, even if the building itself is only sold afterwards.

Fernanda Moreira, president of the Sindicato Nacional do Calçado, Malas e Afins, said the dismissed workers are staying at home for now.

“They are already at home, but without any loss of salary.”

Moreira said pay continues until workers receive the formal documents needed to apply for unemployment benefit. Each employee will then receive one salary for every year of service, which the union says is above what the law requires. She also said managers showed no humanity and treated people as numbers, calling the news especially cruel because it came as a surprise.

The company's explanation

Ecco Portugal did not reveal its 2025 turnover when contacted by Lusa. The company attributed the total and definitive closure to a wider restructuring of the group's global production structure. The restructuring will also involve closing its unit in Vietnam, and the group is considering cutting about 400 jobs in regional and global functions, including in Denmark. The stated aim is to align the group's production structure and capacity with the current and expected needs of the business.

“This is a particularly difficult decision for the company, given the awareness of the impact it will have on workers, their families and the local community.”

Santa Maria da Feira plant closure632

Regional and global roles, cut under consideration (about 400)400

Santa Maria da Feira plant closure

632 jobs

Regional and global roles, cut under consideration (about 400)

400 jobs

Data from the article text

Political reaction

The Bloco de Esquerda warned that the closure will create an ultra precarious scenario for the region. It urged the Santa Maria da Feira city council and neighbouring municipalities with Ecco employees to prepare social emergency plans without delay, and asked state bodies to find work for the affected staff. The Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) has submitted questions to the government through the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security. Those questions ask whether the executive knows about the closure and whether all legal requirements for a collective dismissal are met. According to the PCP, the factory has already gone through earlier collective dismissal processes, and the party wants to know what steps the government will take to keep production going.