In an indication that many athletic and casual footwear brands made less new shoes this year, likely due to still holding a surplus of inventory, Yue Yuen, the globe’s largest manufacturer of footwear who produces shoes for more than a dozen brands (including adidas, Asics, New Balance, Nike, Salomon and Timberland), suffered a 14.1 percent sales decline to $5.99 billion for the nine months ended Sep. 30. The company’s revenues from manufacturing, where it has slashed its total headcount by 15 percent year-over-year to 265,900, fell by 21 percent to $3.79 billion. Net profit declined by 49 percent to $137.1 million.

Company results did benefit from cost reductions and efficiency improvements to help offset the effects of operating deleverage. Material costs rose by 1.5 percent but labor expenses dell by 1.7 percent.

Regionally, YY’s nine-month sales fell nearly 24 percent in Europe to $1.03 billion and declined by 34.3 percent in the U.S. to an implied $1.36 billion. Sales in Mainland China, meanwhile, edged 3.3 percent lower to $810.0 million.