Is Dongguan Still A Shoe Center In The Future?

"Never lose the manufacturing industry!

In the next 40 years, Dongguan will surely be the world's footwear industry center. "

In November 29th, the voice of Long Yongtu, Secretary General of the Boao forum for Asia, at the Guangdong Modern International Exhibition Center in Houjie, Dongguan, was full of excitement.

The "world footwear development forum" held on this day can be described as the "group meeting" of the Asian footwear industry.

But no one has forgotten to be prepared for danger.

In October 24th, Chang Deng shoe industry, once a landmark enterprise of Dongguan footwear industry, suddenly turned over to business, ending its cost in the shoe making industry at a cost of more than 4000 yuan, causing a gloom over the shoe industry.

One side is struggling and wandering, but the other is full of joyful hope.

The rise of labor costs and the uncertainty of international trade prospects push Dongguan, the world shoe capital, to the cusp of change.

In the winter of the "crisis", the shoe factories went bankrupt and the small and medium-sized shoe factories went bankrupt. Under the reflection of the bright lights, Zhang Huarong, the godfather of Chinese women's shoes, was somewhat excited.

In the face of more than 1000 colleagues in the footwear industry, he gave up his prepared speech and improvised it.

"I dare say that the footwear industry will go out of its temporary predicament.

We can not only do it, but we can do better. "

Zhang Huarong uses his own ideas to cheer up his colleagues in the footwear industry.

In Dongguan, Zhang Huarong has been doing shoes for 11 years, and he has gone through the storm again and again.

In October 1996, Zhang Huarong came to Dongguan with 80 employees from Jiangxi's old Huajian shoe industry, rented a Taiwan funded shoe factory which was then bankrupt in the Bai Hao industrial zone of Houjie Town, and set up Dongguan Huajian Shoes Co., Ltd.

At that time, Zhang Huarong's Huajian shoes industry did not rank in Dongguan.

At that time, the Taiwanese shoe factories in Dongcheng had often developed into thousands of shoes and were in a brilliant stage.

In 1989, Chang Deng shoes industry was founded, with more than 1000 workers.

At that time, there were not many big shoe factories invested by Taiwanese businessmen in Dongguan, and the shoe industry had always been very large.

In October 24th of this year, the landmark shoe factory suddenly announced that it had changed jobs and had prepared more than 4000 yuan of economic compensation for its employees.

"In the mind of this factory, we never expected to do it."

Bai Zaijun, chairman of Houjie Songjiang shoe material factory, deeply regrets.

Pak Chun Chun found that this winter is easier than usual, because Houjie has recently closed down many shoe factories, especially small and medium-sized shoe factories.

Bai believes that the labor contract law, which is about to be implemented, will make the shoe industry worse.

Two months ago, Bai Zaijun, chairman of Songjiang shoe material factory, began to learn the labor contract law.

In his view, this is a test of life and death for his career.

According to Bai Chun Jun, the labor contract law has increased the cost of labor, making the labor-intensive SMEs face great pressure to survive. The shoe industry is the first to bear the brunt.

"I have calculated that if I formally abide by the provisions of the labor contract law, I will pay at least 2000 yuan per worker per month.

Enterprises and employees are exchanged for value. If I pay such a high salary, then my talents must have such high ability.

But nowadays, the professionalization of employees is not enough.

For me, it is very difficult for people to choose, and if they fail to make a good choice, they will lose.

Mr. Zhang, owner of a leather factory in Nancheng, Dongguan, told reporters that the harder the shoe making industry is, the more problems such as anti dumping and lack of work are bound to the shoe making industry. Some factories even have only about 5 profit margins.

If the labor cost is raised again, many enterprises will not be able to sustain it.

"Either pformation or bankruptcy.

I think there is no way to go through the business of low-end products. Like shoe factories in Houjie, I estimate that at least 40% of the factories will not be able to adapt.

This is definitely a revolution, a big reshuffle of the industry.

Bo said that the shoe industry is now in a state of unlimited supply of labor to rely on you, and there is no government to support you. When the impact of the labor contract law is coming, you can only rely on yourself to make a way out.

Will "suspense" and "migratory birds" fly away from Dongguan?

The international trade environment is very complicated. The shoe traders in Dongguan always feel that the shoe industry is somewhat awkward.

A shoe industry source said that Wenzhou's footwear industry accounted for more than 60 billion of the output value, and they estimate that only about 40 billion.

This figure is only equivalent to the output value of a Yuyuan company in Dongguan.

The size of shoe industry in Dongguan is huge, but it is "invisible". People always equate the shoe industry with low added value.

There is no shoe making industry in Dongguan's eight pillar industries.

Zhang Huarong, chairman of Huajian group and chairman of the Asian Footwear Association, also felt deeply.

"There are individual governments that do not like labor-intensive products, especially our footwear industry when attracting investment."

Zhang Huarong feels a bit wrong. He thinks the industry has no high and low points. No matter what vehicle you drive, you have to wear shoes.

In fact, both the government and the industry have doubts about the future of the footwear industry.

Over the years, the shoe industry has been hit hard.

Wang Ying, Secretary General of China Chamber of Commerce for import and export of light industrial arts and crafts, said that the EU's anti dumping activities were booming in the world, facing the appreciation of the renminbi, labor costs, raw material prices, processing trade policy adjustment, and so on, which are not good news for the development of the footwear industry.

"In October 2006, the European Union started levying us up to 19.5% of the anti-dumping duty, which will be reviewed at the end of next 10.

The anti-dumping duty may continue to take effect, it may increase, and it may also extend some items, and of course, it may terminate. "

Wang Ying said that the four answers will have different effects on the footwear industry in Dongguan, and no one knows what the outcome will be.

For Songjiang shoe material factory chairman Bai Zaijun, adjustment is common practice.

After last year's anti-dumping, he began to pform some low tax products, then picked customers and turned to high-end environmental products.

A road is rough, but a success is lost.

Now we need to make great adjustments to the talent strategy and business strategy of the factory in order to adapt to the implementation of the labor contract law.

He confessed that there was no clear answer to the repeated questions.

In the future, Dongguan is still a shoe making center. Insiders say that the footwear industry is a "migratory bird economy" and always shifts to countries and regions where labor costs are low.

In the 70s of last century, the world footwear industry center shifted from Europe and America to Japan and Taiwan. At the end of 80s and the beginning of 90s, the center moved to mainland China.

The shoe industry in Dongguan is in such a small environment. Nowadays, 1 pairs of shoes are produced in Dongguan in the world.

Will the increase in labor costs force the migratory birds to fly away from Dongguan?

It is reported that Yuyuan has set up factories in Vietnam, and Huajian has also expanded its scale in Jiangxi.

"Fifteen, six years ago, Taiwan's labor costs rose steadily, and Taiwan dollar appreciated rapidly, so shoe-making enterprises had to leave Taiwan.

The problems facing mainland China are similar to those in Taiwan fifteen years ago six years ago.

Lin Zhaojie, director general of Taiwan footwear industry association, said.

Where should Dongguan shoe industry go?

Zhang Huarong, chairman of Huajian group, has been thinking about this problem.

"We have cooperation in all Asian countries, Burma, Vietnam and Indonesia, but the most competitive and developing space is Dongguan."

Zhang Huarong said that Dongguan is the most famous city in the world famous shoe-making enterprises. Yuyuan group, the world's largest sports shoes manufacturer, the world's largest boutique women's shoes and casual shoes production enterprise, and the Huajian group, the largest female shoe manufacturer in mainland China, are settled in Dongguan.

In addition, Dongguan has also gathered dozens of world-famous shoe making groups, such as big group, Shun Tian Group, Gong Sheng group and Huafeng Group.

NIKE, ADIDAS, NB, REEBOK, PUMA, ASICS and other world famous brand shoes, the most important manufacturing bases are in Dongguan.

Hundreds of shoe buyers and traders, including the world's largest trading companies such as Levi, and Paul de Monte, have also taken root in Dongguan.

Dongguan has already formed the most complete place of the shoe industry chain in the world, and the shoe making industry in Vietnam and other places all need to be processed from Dongguan shoes.

More importantly, China is the world's most potential footwear consumer market, which no one wants to give up.

Zhang Huarong believes that Dongguan will be the center of the world footwear industry in the future. It is entirely possible to make Dongguan the Dongguan headquarters of the world footwear industry.

The shoe industry in Dongguan has stood to a new round of shuffling and development, and shoemaking enterprises must change.

Long Yongtu, Secretary General of the Boao forum for Asia, said that the footwear industry in Dongguan should move towards a more high-end direction and become a manufacturing base based on R & D and design, and become a base for building China's own world famous brand shoes.

Only in this way can we grasp the discourse power of the world shoe industry.

"Ten years ago, our shoe making level was much higher than that of Wenzhou.

At that time, Wenzhou and Fujian had no export orders, and they built their own brands inside the market.

We are proud of our export sales. At that time, the state encouraged exports to earn foreign exchange, and everyone was very happy.

Now the economic situation is different, encouraging brands.

I think our business scale is bigger than them, and the benefits are also good. We should have a long-term strategic vision and improve the added value of the products.

In the future, we need to raise capital and go public. "

Zhang Huarong, chairman of Huajian group.

Dongguan has made the best shoes in the world through OEM, but not a famous brand. It has been a pain for a long time.

Zhang Huarong said that there are already some new trends, and the change has swept Dongguan.

"The three giants of Dongguan shoe industry, Yuyuan, Xing ang and Huajian, are now forging ahead with their own brands and achieving little success."

It is understood that Xing has already created its own brand "StellaLuna" and "WhatFor". Huajian has begun to run its own brands such as COLCO, Alan Delon, Jackie Chan and so on. Yu Yuan has injected capital into Huajian.

Dongguan's footwear industry has placed its vision on the mainland market by expanding R & D to the domestic market.

"The United States has absorbed almost now, with limited growth.

35 years later, China's mainland market will account for 1/3. of global shoe consumption. How big is that market then?

Let's think about it.

The Taiwanese businessmen should make the world shoe big in the thick street.

We must turn the mainland market into a middle and high price, because no other country can give you any more, you must get back from the mainland.

Lin Zhaojie, chairman of the Taiwan footwear industry association, said that the pformation of footwear industry to domestic sales must enhance the quality, and only the middle and high grade prices can survive in the market.

Zhang Huarong's Huajian group began to focus on design research and development, and cooperate with Yu Baoyuan's Baocheng group to build China's largest footwear R & D center. Currently, there are more than 2800 R & D designers in Dongguan.

The industry has said that many large shoe factories in Dongguan have hired designers from Italy, and the phenomenon of "two out of doors" is decreasing.

Dongguan's R & D capability has become cohesive. Even Wenzhou's AOKANG group has moved the R & D center to Dongguan.

"Shoes are always a sunrise industry."

Zhang Huarong insisted.

He also plans to invest heavily in the construction of "world shoe industry (Asia) headquarters base" in Houjie to consolidate and spread Dongguan's status as "world shoe capital".

A large area will be used for R & D design to make Dongguan the forefront of the world shoe industry.

The industry believes that there are many in Dongguan.