Albania's footwear sector is aiming to move beyond contract assembly toward more value-added production, according to Edvin Prençe, president of ProEksport, the country's export promotion association, speaking to World Footwear.

Prençe framed the transition as a strategic priority for an industry that has built its position in European supply chains largely on labour-intensive manufacturing for foreign buyers. His comments signal where Albanian suppliers intend to compete as wage-sensitive sourcing decisions continue to shift across the region.

What is driving the value-added push?

Prençe's position points to a familiar constraint for footwear exporting nations in Southeast Europe: assembly-led models leave producers exposed when buyers chase lower labour costs elsewhere. Moving into higher-value activities — design input, materials sourcing, and full-package production — would give Albanian factories a stronger claim on orders that are less price-elastic.

The president of ProEksport did not present the shift as optional. He positioned a more value-added footwear industry as the direction the sector must take to sustain its export performance, as reported by World Footwear.

Where does Albania sit in footwear sourcing?

Albania has long operated as a cut-make-trim and assembly destination serving primarily Italian footwear brands, a tier-two and tier-three role in European supply chains. Neighbouring producers in the Balkans face the same structural question: how to retain buyers as sourcing spreads across lower-cost destinations in Asia and North Africa.

Prençe's remarks place Albania squarely in that debate. A value-added strategy would move local manufacturers closer to full-package suppliers capable of managing development, materials, and compliance end-to-end — a profile European buyers increasingly demand for speed-to-market orders.

What does this mean for buyers and suppliers?

For sourcing teams, the signal is that Albanian footwear capacity is being positioned for more than low-cost assembly. Buyers evaluating nearshore options for the European market may find suppliers in the country seeking deeper involvement in product development rather than competing purely on unit labour cost.

For Albanian factory owners, the decision Prençe's comments force is an investment one: upgrading technical capability, design capacity, and management systems requires capital and training commitments before the higher-value orders arrive.

No specific order volumes, headcounts, investment figures, or timelines accompanied the published remarks. The commitment, as reported, is directional — a stated intent by the country's export association leadership to reposition the footwear industry up the value chain.

Sourcing executives tracking Balkan capacity should treat this as an early signal: Albania's supplier base is signalling a move toward full-package and higher-specification work, which would change how the country competes for European footwear programmes.