Germany, since 1967 These two towns have also been paired together since 1964. Ouargaye, Burkina Faso Somoto, Nicaragua Śrem, Poland Map of twin towns Demography Fougères is an industrial town and its typical demographic trends show very well. In the 1850s, the Brittany town was "moving in the manufacture of leather shoes to solve a crisis in the shoe industry." Success followed (the Cordier factory, for example) and Fougères saw its population increase by 124% from 9,344 inhabitants in 1856 to 20,952 in 1901, an increase of 11,608 people in less than 50 years (or more than the population of Vitré). At the beginning of the 20th century, Fougères became the capital of female footwear: "...more than 12,000 workers are distributed in 40 factories. In 1946, they manufacture 10.7% of French production for town and fancy use and 7% of work shoes" (Jérôme Cucarull). The crisis of the 1930s put what must be called an industrial district into difficulty, (Florent Le Bot). The mass-closure of SMEs and the concentration of employment into fewer companies (mainly Réhault, JB Martin and Morel et Gâté) provided a second wind to the Fougères industry (4,500 employees in 1966). The slowdown in growth during the second half of the 1960s, then the oil shock in 1973, caused a massacre in the footwear sector, particularly in February–March 1976, with the closure of three companies (Réhault, Morel et Gâté and Maunoir) and the dismissal of 1,140 employees. Since 2008 and the closure of Hasley, only the JB Martin company maintains the tradition of footwear production in Fougères (F. Le Bot, Laurence Héry). In 2017, the commune had 20,418 inhabitants. Since the end of World War II, the Trente Glorieuses boosted Fougères and the town increased its population until the 1975 census, arriving at almost 27,000 inhabitants. By 1975, the town had suffered deeply from the oil crisis of 1973 and had been hit. The town was devastated by successive closures of factories from a crisis in the shoe sector, and refused the implantation of the Citroën company on its territory. The city struggled to recover and saw its population fall. The town went from a population of 26,610 in 1975 to 19,820 in 2008, a 26% decline in population in 34 years, although suburbanisation offset this decline. Today the shoe sector has a few hundred jobs in the town: For example, the JB Martin company remains in