Just three years ago, Kioshi employed nearly 120 people and produced 40,000 pairs of sneaker and flip-flops a month in the south of Buenos Aires.Today, there are just 14 workers turning out a quarter of that amount as Milei's decision to throw open Argentina to global competition has left local manufacturing on the ropes."The domestic market is dead, there are people who go into debt to buy food so just imagine trying to buy shoes," Kioshi director Emmanuel Fernandez explained.In 2024, Milei began dismantling the protectionist policies introduced by the left in the name of driving down prices.The elimination of import quotas, taxes and other trade restrictions has led to an "avalanche" of imports that have been like a body blow to Kioshi, Fernandez said."We are industrial people, it's our passion, so when you only hear 10 percent of the machines in operation, it hurts," he added.In June, around 40 percent of Argentina's industrial capacity lay idle.Manufacturing output fell 5 percent between June and July, the sharpest drop in 16 months.The influential Argentine Industrial Union last demanded government action in the face of the loss of some 90,000 industrial jobs and closure of nearly 30,000 companies in the past three years.'Creative destruction'