Shoes are an indispensable commodity for people. When referring to shoes in China, I have to mention Wenling. “The world is full of talents, and there is one of them.” Wenling shoes are said.
Wenling’s footwear industry has risen since the 1990s. After 30 years of development, it has completed the transformation from a family workshop to a large-scale enterprise, forming a “shoes kingdom” integrating design, production and sales.
However, with the changes of the times, Wenling’s footwear industry has gradually fallen into the predicament of disorderly competition, lack of independent brands, difficult recruitment, and shortage of factories. The development was once limited. In recent years, Wenling City has comprehensively promoted the reform and upgrading of the footwear industry, and the footwear enterprises have continued to transform and upgrade, and seek a broader development platform.
Status quo – Wenling footwear: production and sales are very good, but lack of own brand
In Taizhou, especially Wenling, the footwear industry has become a local pillar industry, not only occupying a large market share in the domestic market, but also exported to Russia, South America, Africa and other countries and regions. Wenling footwear products are diverse in variety, including men’s shoes, women’s shoes, children’s shoes and many other types. Among them, the production of children’s shoes accounts for one-eighth of the country’s total, and has won the reputation of “the hometown of Chinese children’s shoes”.
In addition, Wenling footwear industry has developed vigorously and has been highly recognized by domestic and foreign markets. It has been awarded the honorary title of “China Footwear Export Base” and “China Shoes Industry City”.
As of the end of June, there were 3,767 registered shoe enterprises in Wenling City, including 189 enterprises, and about 120,000 people employed in shoe enterprises. In the first half of this year, the city’s footwear industry achieved a total industrial output value of 12.79 billion yuan, and invoice sales of 3.402 billion yuan. According to Taizhou Customs statistics, in the first half of the year, Wenling City’s total exports of footwear reached 3.027 billion yuan; the number of exports was 132 million pairs.
However, the Wenling footwear industry that is booming has not had many famous brands, and it has not been able to get rid of the “low-end” and “inferior quality” hats. The existence of many small family-owned shoe-making enterprises not only caused disorderly competition, but also hidden various hidden dangers, which dragged down the development of Wenling footwear industry.
Since the beginning of this year, Wenling City has comprehensively promoted the reform and upgrading of the footwear industry, and issued the “Ten Policies on Supporting the Upgrade of Footwear Enterprises” to encourage and support shoe enterprises to become bigger and stronger. Taking this opportunity, many companies have developed new products, created new brands, introduced advanced equipment, and promoted the optimization and upgrading of their industrial structure, hoping to stand out in the wave of rectification. Wenling Shoes has also taken this opportunity to step into a new stage of development.
Sample – Europe and Hong Kong footwear industry: improving its own strength is the foundation of enterprise development
Taizhou tamang Shoes Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as tamang) is one of the leading enterprises in Wenling Shoes. The company has more than 100 employees and the factory area is more than 20,000 square meters. The products are sold well both at home and abroad.
From the floor-to-ceiling windows of the office of the chairman of the European and Hong Kong Shoe Industry Building, the vehicles on the road in front of the building seem to have become a miniature matchbox. The pedestrians coming and going have become a little black spot. “When I first founded the European and Hong Kong footwear industry more than 20 years ago, I really didn’t expect it to develop to such a large scale today.” Chairman lin santang talked about his entrepreneurial journey.
In the early 1990s, influenced by Wenzhou City next door, a large number of Wenling people chose to start business in the sea. A home-based workshop-style shoe factory sprang up like a mushroom. lin santang also founded the original “European Port” with his parents.
At the beginning, there were only three or four people in the “European Port”. lin santang had to be a boss, a worker, and a salesman. At that time, Yiwu was a gathering place for all kinds of domestic goods sales. The trade was very developed. lin santang often took the sample bus to Yiwu to sell his own shoes. After receiving the order, he took the bus back to production, and then returned the goods with the goods. Goods, by the way pull down a business.
In this way, Europe and Hong Kong and Wenling many family-style small and micro enterprises, relying on the first bucket of gold dug up, gradually developed. At the same time, the low price of the Wenling footwear market has also attracted some orders from abroad. “We started with women’s sandals and shoes at the beginning, mainly sold to the domestic market. After 2000, we began to contact the low-end markets of Africa and South America, and started to help some brands to process.” lin santang said that until 2005, Europe and Hong Kong began. Research and develop your own casual shoes and enter the high-end market in Europe and America. At present, the annual output of shoes in Europe and Hong Kong is more than one million pairs, 80% of which are exported to Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South America, Southeast Asia and other places.
In fact, there are still many Wenling footwear companies whose main business is to assist some foreign brands in processing. Even for Europe and Hong Kong, it is also an important business for them to help European and American brands. In general, the processing enterprises can only receive a small part of the processing fee, and the profit is taken away by the brand.
lin santang knows that it is not easy to process. In the process of the company’s development, he has gradually established a research and development team of more than 10 people, and began to develop his own brand, involving socks, laser engraving, automatic die cutting machine,bottom design and other aspects. “It is very difficult to develop a new product. The initial investment is very large, but the income can not be immediately apparent. This has bound a large number of enterprises.” lin santang said. The Troy series is a new shoe type developed by Europe and Hong Kong. It combines the advantages of shoes such as Russia and Italy. The main feature is comfort and environmental protection. Once launched, it is very popular in the domestic market. It sells for about US$50 on Amazon.com. .
“The current market is different from ten years ago. You can’t win by price war. Now you are looking at the quality of the products.” lin santang said that this change has greatly promoted the rectification of shoes in Wenling this year. “Three reforms and one demolition” shut down many underground shoe factories and family workshops without operating qualifications, which created a fair competition environment for Wenling’s footwear industry. “These unlicensed enterprises have no management fees, rents are very low, they do not pay taxes at all, and the prices of shoes are extremely low, which puts a lot of pressure on our formal enterprises. We are not afraid of competition, but we are afraid of this kind of competition that disrupts the market. “lin santang said.
In addition to the lack of independent brands and disorderly competition, Wenling footwear industry is still facing many difficulties such as shortage of factories and difficulties in recruiting workers. “We are already applying for land, and we are ready to build our own factory after we have approved it. And we buy Gerson automatic die cutting machine which make us low cost and fast production.
“Lin santang said, “Our brand has already started to sell in some countries, and will continue to develop more comfortable and environmentally friendly brands in the future.”
Compared with last year’s data, Wenling City’s footwear industry has a different degree of decline in both total output value and export footwear. In this regard, lin santang said, “In the past two years, Wenling’s footwear industry has faced some difficulties and its development has also been somewhat affected. In general, Wenling’s footwear industry has always been moving forward. Shoes are just-needed products, and the footwear industry still has good prospects for development. Therefore, regardless of the external situation, it is the enterprise that is improving its own strength. The foundation of the market.”
