Of course - maybe they will :) and maybe they won't. Which is way less certain than saying "they [the shoemakers] NEED to source a local supplier", as you wrote

Of course - maybe they will :) and maybe they won't. Which is way less certain than saying "they [the shoemakers] NEED to source a local supplier", as you wrote. The key thing here is that if I buy boots cheaper by 1/4 (thanks to partial outsourcing), I will spend the 1/4 I saved by going to a barber. Or a local restaurant. Or by buying doughnuts at a local bakery. So - speaking of economy to which there's more than meets the eye - these are local suppliers too, indirectly benefiting from the fact that local shoemaker imported nails.