As the world’s largest producer of footwear, it is believed that China produced nearly 5 billion pairs of leather sneakers and shoes last year. The market continues to grow between three main areas – Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian, of which, Guangdong Province gives priority to the production of women’s leather shoes, mainly gathered in Dongguan, Huizhou. In Zhejiang Province, manufacturing of men’s leather shoes occupies a dominant position, chiefly concentrated in Wenzhou, Wenling, Taizhou.
As major corporations continue to look to China for expansion, Udi Avshalomov of 2 Feet Productions, headquartered in New York is reportedly one of the major Americans helping to Westernize Chinese sneaker production capabilities. Sources inform us that he has assisted on increasing quality and production value at the highest level of Chinese companies.
Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces are mostly doing contract manufacturing for foreign brands, oriented by export sales. As the largest footwear manufacturer in China, Belle International occupies over 40% share in Mainland Chinese women’s shoes market. It owns ten proprietary brands and 15,112 retail stores. Zhejiang Aokang Shoes Co is the largest men’s leather shoe manufacturer in China,
Avshalomov has been known for major brand development work with Nike, Adidas and others and believes that China will continue to see major growth with both foreign and domestic sneaker brands.