What Is The Current Situation Of Children'S Shoes Market?

In January 1, 2016, with the dust of the high-profile comprehensive two child policy settled, another mandatory standard for children has quietly entered the implementation schedule.

From the drafting to the release to the implementation, after 4 years of GB 30585-2014 "children's shoes safety technical specification", it can be said that it is the first comprehensive one in the country.

Safety technical indicators are defined and required, and mandatory standards are in line with international standards.

Previously, the product standards for children's shoes in China were only gradually formulated in the past ten years, and most of them were recommended standards. The technical requirements in the standard were from the initial physical and mechanical properties to gradually adding the requirements for chemical substances such as formaldehyde and azo dyes. However, because of their recommended standards, individual enterprises sometimes did not strictly abide by the standards in production.

Industry experts say that the implementation of GB 30585 marks the "safety standard" for children's shoes, and is a "strong standard". The characteristics of its compulsory execution will effectively regulate the domestic children's shoes market and reduce the potential risks posed by unsafe children's shoes.

Before the implementation of the new standard, safety technology standards are basically "blank".

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a foot, and shoes provide protection for our life.

Once a child learns to walk, he can have his first pair of shoes.

According to the data, there are about 230 million children in China, and the market is very large for every child who consumes 2 pairs of shoes every year.

A strong contrast with this is that China's children's shoes products are relatively few standards. Before the implementation of GB 30585, the standard of children's shoes is only QB/T 2880-2007.

"QB/T 4331-2012" children's travel shoes ", QB/T 4546-2013" children's leather sandals "three recommended standards and a mandatory standard GB 25036-2010" cloth children's rubber shoes ", in addition, there are some product standards that are in line with the quality requirements of adult shoes, such as" cloth shoes ".

"Standard" and so on, and the cloth covered children's rubber shoes this strong standard covers only a small category of children's cloth shoes, which means that the safety standards of other children's shoes are in the "vacuum zone" of the technical regulations besides the children's rubber shoes. Although some chemical safety indexes of children's shoes are also standardized in the above product standards, due to the recommended nature of the standards, the execution of the children's shoes is not in place, and a considerable part of the quality and safety of children's shoes can only be guaranteed by the self-discipline of the enterprises.

Whether it is for market needs or to promote the development of the industry, children's shoes Market in China needs a mandatory standard to regulate.

Yu Shuxian, senior engineer of the shoe inspection and inspection department of China leather and footwear industry research institute, is one of the new standard drafters. She told the Beijing Morning Post reporter that the safety requirements of children's shoes are different from those of adults. First of all, the bones and muscles of children's feet are still in development. The soft hardness, heel height and stability of shoes should be considered in the design and production, so as to meet the needs of their growth and development.

In addition, children's resistance is lower than that of adults. Certain chemical substances used in certain shoemaking materials may cause harm to children.

In particular, infants and young children, curiosity will drive them to bite anything in their mouths, including shoes on their feet. If there are small attachments or migratory harmful substances on the shoes, there may be a risk of suffocation or poisoning.

"The quality and safety of children's shoes need not only self-discipline, but also guidance from the national or industrial level."

It has been 4 years since the new standard was drafted and implemented. The national shoe Standardization Technical Committee has done a lot of data collection and research work in the early stage.

"We take into consideration the factors that may cause risks to children. We mainly regulate the safety of children's shoes from three aspects, namely, physical machinery safety, odor and limited substances. There are 18 performance requirements.

Some of these indicators refer to the requirements of the United States and the European Union for some indicators of children's products, such as the limits of chemicals such as lead and o-benzoic acid two, and refer to the strong standards of children's toys and children's clothing in China, and regulate the tensile strength of small accessories on children's shoes, and for the first time, we have added a limit to effective height in children's shoes standards.

{page_break}

Yu Shuxian stressed that once the new standard is implemented, it means that children's shoes enterprises must do according to the standard requirements. If they fail to be found in the market sampling inspection, the enterprises will face fines and products handling.

"Because it is a strong standard, not only domestic children's shoes enterprises must carry out this task, but children's shoes imported from abroad must also be carried out in accordance with this standard. In the past, when some imported children's shoes had problems, because we did not enforce such laws and regulations, it might appear that these products could not be listed for sale in foreign countries but they flow into the Chinese market.

Yu Shuxian said.

It is difficult to execute the enterprise. Inventory and cost are all problems.

Although the GB30585 has only been officially implemented since January 1st of this year, the time it has been released is actually in June 2014, that is to say, the last two years are left to the children's shoe enterprises.

During the interview, Yu Shuxian said that whether the two years are enough for many children's shoes enterprises will become the problem whether the new standard can be implemented effectively and smoothly.

She stressed that after the implementation of the new standard in January 1st, whether the children's shoes produced before January 1st or the children's shoes produced after January 1st must be implemented.

The implementation of the new standard can trigger the reshuffle of the domestic children's shoes market.

The new standard has higher requirements for limited substances, and it will also increase production costs for children's shoes enterprises.

According to statistics, there are about more than 1000 children's shoes factories in China. They are mainly distributed in Zhejiang, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, Taizhou, Guangdong Guangzhou, Fujian and Quanzhou four.

The new standard, fumaric acid two methyl ester, o-phenyl two formic acid ester is the first time to be included in the standard of children's shoes, and the relevant limit indicators are as strict as the requirements of the United States and the European Union.

Fumaric acid two methyl ester is widely used in leather shoes, fabric lining, insoles and vamp antisepsis, mildew proof treatment, shoe packing in small bag desiccant often also contains this ingredient.

The risk is that it can cause allergic reactions, such as long-term contact or indirect contact, which may cause skin irritation, eczema and burns. In some serious cases, there will be acute dyspnea.

O-phenyl two formate is a commonly used plasticizer, often used in the production of leather, plastics and rubber. Although it has volatility, it usually produces some residues, which is potentially dangerous to the development of children.

Yu Shuxian said that the new requirements for raw materials are higher and stricter, which will increase the production cost of children's shoes manufacturing enterprises, which may lead to a group of small and medium-sized children's shoes enterprises closing down under pressure of cost, but for large scale children's shoes enterprises with a certain brand degree, the quality of their products has been qualified, and most of them are close to the new standards. The pressure of cost growth should not be great.

She said that every new regulation needs to be adapted in the process of implementation. The new standard will give pressure to the manufacturers of children's shoes, which will be pferred to the pressure of the upstream suppliers of materials, and further promote the development and production of safer and environmentally-friendly materials. On the whole, it will stimulate and promote the whole industry of children's shoes, and it will also be more beneficial to the export trade of domestic children's shoes.

Investigation of some children's shoes there is a certain security risk.

According to the new requirements, some obvious safety risks of children's shoes include children's shoes inside and outside can not have exposed nail tip and touches sharp edge and sharp tip.

The detachable attachments on the infant shoes should not be too small, and the installation must be firm and have certain tensile strength.

The heel height should not be greater than 25mm, and there should be no obvious unpleasant odors.

What is the market situation of children's shoes after the implementation of the new standard? The reporter went to a large shopping mall for an investigation.

The brand of children's shoes sold in this shopping mall has a certain reputation. The reporter found that the shoes for children under 3 years old are basically concise in design, and there are not many removable accessories.

Even if there are adult reporters who use their hands to pull, they feel more laborious, and the possibility of infants pulling down is relatively small.

In the survey, the reporter found that the popularity of children's shoes is becoming more and more close to adults. The popular snow boots and high boots in the adult world have become smaller versions.

Not to mention that the children's shoes copied from adult shoes templates have been improved in terms of heel height, soles hardness and upper hardness. When looking at the appearance alone, some children's boots will add iron chains and long zippers to increase the sense of cool. It is easy to trip to the environment and cause injuries to children.