Peter Colson, the Dutch native who has been running the export operations of Chiruca, has left its parent company, Calzados Fal, after four years in the position. Ruth Miguel, who has been working with him over a similar period of time, has taken over his place. The Spanish company saw a 4 percent increase in sales last year to €16 million, delivering about 300,000 pairs of shoes. About 60 percent of them were outdoor shoes, the rest for hunting. Exports represented more than 25 percent of sales, with serious declines in Eastern Europe, but they are expected to rise strongly in 2010following the nomination of new agents last year for the outdoor circuit in France (Abaca), the Benelux countries (Desportzaak VOF), and for outdoor and hunting in Germany (Voigt and Maier & HS). Chiruca’s involvement with this year’s pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella and its launch of a new travel line have contributed to overall increases of 15 percent for this year’s spring/summer deliveries and 25 percent for autumn/winter orders.
