How do Italian footwear industrial districts face globalization?

This paper examines the impact of globalization of production on the Italian footwear sector and investigates the structural changes taking place in some shoe districts as they join international production networks. The following questions are discussed: Are Italian footwear districts specializing in particular phases of the production cycle? Is there a trend towards the reduction of activities carried out within districts? Or are different patterns emerging according to the districts' main market segment and to the value chains ( e. g. luxury fashion market or mass market) they belong to? The study explores these issues using data on outward processing trade ( OPT) collected by Associazione Nazionale Calzaturieri Italiani (ANCI) to analyse the fragmentation of production in the footwear sector at provincia level. The available disaggregation of data allows an investigation of the different outsourcing strategies and emerging trends within the district. Two case studies are presented; one on Riviera del Brenta in Veneto and the other on Barletta in Puglia. In the footwear districts investigated, evidence of different international delocalization strategies is found. It is argued that these different patterns of specialization are closely related to the clusters' market position and suggest that these patterns influence the clusters' potential for future competitiveness.