Those reports talking about the death of China shoes industry is exaggerating and China shoes industry is still irreplaceable, said by Peter T. Mangione, footwear industry expert, in the 18th International Technical Footwear Congress while giving the keynote speech of Global Footwear Supply and Demand.

Peter showed the guests global footwear production, import and export data of 2012, displaying that China remains the largest footwear export country, while Vietnam ranks the second. Based on the footwear manufacturing cost data, Peter pointed out that China is not the paradise of low labor cost any more with being the highest labor cost Asian country. Currently, China is faced with various pressure from increasing labor cost, stricter regulation and appreciation of RMB, etc. At the same time, there are reports on the death of China shoes industry. Those are exaggerating, China shoes industry is still full of potential with mature supply chain and necessary infrastructure, Peter said.

About other major footwear manufacturing countries, including Vietnam, India, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and some Central America countries like Dominica Republic, Nicaragua, all have the advantage of low cost labor. Peter said, Vietnam, major in athletic shoes, has limited labor and land, longer lead time and raw material depending on import; India, with good leather, needs more investment and lacks skilled workers in shoes manufacturing; Ethiopia, located in East Africa and having the neighborhood of Somalia, has poor political climate, longer lead time and logistics cost four times of China; Bangladesh has the problem of CSR and labor welfare; while Cambodia, enjoying the EU GSP, has the problem of CSR challenge, relying on import of leather and poor political climate.

Peter also briefed 2012 global footwear consumption. From the data, China consumes the largest number of shoes in the world, with the number of 3.69billion pairs, while average number of 3 pairs per person is still far behind the average number of 6 in EU and 7 in America. If China keeps up with America or EU, like in the future, reaching the consumption of 7 pairs per person, Chinese domestic footwear consumption market is proved full of potential with the consumption of 8billion pairs in total.

America has strong retail system and an annual retail value of 60billion US dollars. The major shoes sold in the US are athletic shoes, which is about 45% of total. The leather shoes occupies only about one third. Due to the lack of leather material, in ten to fifteen years, leather shoes may become a luxury, suggested by Peter.