Danish shoemaker Ecco is shutting down its factory operations in Portugal and Vietnam in a global restructuring initiative to cut costs that will impact 2,400 jobs.

Change is underway at Danish shoemaker Ecco Sko A/S as the company has decided to cease operations at its Portugal and Vietnam factories.

Ecco is dissolving operations at both factories as part of a global restructuring to cut costs. A warning was already on the table last year in April when the shoemaker shut down its Slovakia facility in Martin without notice to its factory workers. That factory, in operation since the late 1990s, employed over 640 workers.

The Vietnam factory — it began operations in 2020 — in the Bầu Bàng Industrial Park in Ho Chi Minh City closure impacts between 1,400 to 1,600 workers. The Portuguese factory in Santa Maria da Feira, which opened in 1984, has about 650 workers. Ecco’s global restructuring also includes about 400 additional positions that will be lost across global and regional functions.

Ecco was founded in 1963 with an eye toward vertical integration, hence the ownership of factories across Europe. But these closures also means fewer options for manufacturing across Europe as more production continues elsewhere, such as China, Indonesia and Thailand.

Ecco has been under pressure over the years. 6 million euros in 2024. 49 billion euros in 2024. Its 2025 annual report cited sales impact in 2025 from lower consumer demand, tariffs and cautious consumer spending across most regions in which Ecco operates.

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