Jinjiang Shoe Sole Industry: The Shortage Of Local Creative Talents Is The Biggest Bottleneck.

A few days ago, a piece of news was heard in the shoe industry of Jinjiang. Mao Tai (Fujian) shoes material Co., Ltd. wanted to hire a sole design team with high salary.

"Now, there are 4 designers in our development room. If it goes well, we hope to set up a design team of about 15 people to make up the short board of Maotai in the design. Ding Sien, deputy general manager of Mao Tai, told reporters.

In fact, not only Mao Tai, but also a lot of sole enterprises in Jinjiang consciously increase their investment in the design field. The shoe sole industry in Jinjiang has paid unprecedented attention to the design.

Personalized demand enhancement for downstream shoe factories

All along, in the eyes of the world, the design of this issue has always been the short board of Jinjiang sports shoes. Although the famous brands such as Anta, XTEP and 361 degrees were born here, they rarely produce classic shoes like Adidas's Clover series and Nike's flying Men series. As for this problem, the sports shoes practitioners in Jinjiang are also having a headache.

"Take the shoe sole area as an example, where would you ever think of asking a design team before? In the soles industry, the most common practice is that the boss runs to Hongkong in three different ways, buys a bunch of shoes from Nike, Adidas, Puma and other international brands, then disconnects, and makes some minor adjustments to the soles for OK. Ding Sien said frankly that he is also a regular runner in Hongkong, and on the product exhibition rack of Mao Tai Company, there are also a row of international famous brand sports shoes.

In Ding Sien's view, in the stage of rapid development of industry, this "bring ism" is really helpful, and this method has been approved by the downstream finished shoe factory. Even in a specific period, the downstream finished shoe factory also requires the shoe factory to adopt such a mode of operation. The reason is simple: Nike's R & D capability has been recognized by consumers, and the shoes they design are definitely the most recognized by consumers. "Under such circumstances, even if we can design beautiful shoes, it is estimated that shoe factories are afraid to place a large order. After all, our products are not recognized by the market."

However, in the recent one or two years, downstream manufacturers of shoes have gradually begun to attach importance to product design. Anta, XTEP and other brand enterprises have launched products with distinct brand names, such as Anta's light running series, which have been recognized by consumers after the launch of the market. Correspondingly, the downstream finished shoe factories also put forward more personalized demands in sole design.

"In fact, it's not just Anta, XTEP Such large enterprises, including some small and medium-sized shoe factories, have begun to have such awareness. Now many of our customers have asked us to provide more personalized products when placing orders, instead of simply modifying Nike's soles as before. Ding Sien told reporters.

There is still doubt about whether the market can be accepted.

Yes Sole The factory has paid a lot of attention to the designers, but many people have questioned the practice. The focus of the doubt is whether the products designed by the shoe factory can stand the test of the market.

"In 2008, a local brand shoe factory set up an R & D center in Guangdong with high profile and hired designer to design sneakers for them. However, when the products designed by these designers are taken to the order meeting of enterprises, the winning rate is very low, less than 20%. The reason is that designers often emphasize the concept of products and are hard to be recognized by the market. Shoe factory's experience is even more so, let alone shoe factory, "Huang Yuan, manager of Development Department of Jinyuan (Fujian) Shoes Co., Ltd., told reporters.

Another person familiar with the trend of the sports shoe industry in Jinjiang quite recognises this behavior. "This behavior is generally good, after all, it represents the enhancement of enterprise consciousness and strength. This is the demand for the development of the whole sports shoes industry. "

However, while appreciative of this behavior, the above-mentioned persons also said that such behavior would encounter more difficulties in the beginning time. "After all, the products designed by the sole factory are not tested by the market, and they will encounter greater resistance when persuading the shoe factories to buy them."

In fact, this problem is also considered by Ding Si en. Ding Sien told reporters that Mao Tai would not step in place, and directly launch new and independently designed soles to merchants. Instead, it would adopt a gradual way to allow merchants to accept new products developed by Mao Tai step by step. "We expect to take four steps. The first step is to make small modifications to the classic soles of Nike, such as changing the pattern from round to square. This step should be what Jinjiang shoe factories can do at present. The second step is to make great changes to the bottom flowers of those classic soles. Now we are working in this direction. The third step is to be able to replace the bottom flowers. The fourth step is the replacement of the side wall. If we can make the final step, we will be able to make our own product. "

　　 mainland Originality Lack of talents becomes the biggest bottleneck

At present, the development team of Mao Tai is 4 people, and Ding Sien's goal is to set up a stable team of about 15 people. However, although the recruitment advertisement has been posted for a long time, the news has also spread in the industry, but it is still far from the goal of the 15 people.

"Not only did we encounter this problem, many colleagues encountered this problem. Now our embarrassment is: we are willing to spend money to invite designers, but we can not find the right people to do it. Speaking of this question, Ding Shin shook his head helplessly. Ding Sien's idea also represented the views of most people in the industry. Jinjiang Shunyi shoes Plastic Co., Ltd. is a company which mainly produces products with cork soles. For the fact that the designers of soles industry are seriously lacking, the general manager of Shun Yi, Lin Shiping, is also having a headache. "From the concept of product design, to the creation of the mold, to the modification of the product, any one step is indispensable to those professional designers. If only a small change is made in one of the links, then there will be no design. But if we want to design and produce our own products on the whole line, the demand for professionals in this field will be a great quantity. "

At present, the domestic sports shoes industry recognized the best design talents are mainly concentrated in the Guangdong area, and Jinjiang is still a lack of creativity in most people's view. In this case, is it possible to put the design center of the enterprise in Guangdong?

Ding Sien did not consider this point. But in his view, at least this idea is still hard to achieve at present. "The biggest obstacle is the communication between the two places. Especially our suppliers of raw materials often need to adjust their products according to the requirements of customers.

Although all kinds of communication tools are very convenient nowadays, some problems need to be clearly stated in person. Therefore, although there are many design talents in Guangdong, we dare not rush the R & D center to Guangdong. Ding Sien said frankly.