Brazilian economic crisis slashes men's shoe sales.

Brazilian economic crisis slashes men's shoe sales RIO DE JANIERA (FNS) -- Brazil's economic crisis has drastically reduced domestic sales of men's shoes and softened export trade, both of which threaten the fragile health of the men's industry.

The men's footwear industry, which is centered in Franca and accounts for 10-15 percent of Brazil's shoe exports, has been so hard hit by the failure of the Cruzado Plan that some smaller, newer companies have gone bankrupt and nearly one-fourth of the work force (8,000 workers) has been laid off.

Brazil's largest men's domestic shoe trade fair, The Francal, held last month, was so disastrous that few domestic manufacturers here see good times ahead.

The Francal fair underscored the severity of the problems facing the men's business in Brazil. "The results were 10 times worse than we expected," said Francal organizer Abdala Jamill Abdala, who is associated with Calcados Pestalozzi in Franca. (Pestalozzi produces about 700,000 pairs a month, exporting 54 percent of its output.)

"The …