Focusing on "Industry", Wenzhou Lucheng's Shoe Industry Steadily Pursues Development

Whether it is the steady and patient waiting for the right moment or the courageous forward with expectations, every company in Lucheng has a consensus: as long as they are robust, they are not afraid of fierce winds and heavy rains. At present, the market trend is fluctuating, some have fallen behind, and some have changed industries. However, Zhejiang HuiDu Shoe Co., Ltd. sticks to the track and works hard to improve its internal strength—expanding and building nearly 10,000 square meters of new factory buildings, committed to conveying the elegant aesthetics of traditional craftsmanship through innovative design. Now, this enterprise with the "quality manufacturing" dream has finally found a new opportunity to stand out.

Innovation and Branding Shine the Light of Domestic Goods

In the office of General Manager Chen Xiaoyi, there is a wall full of different designer shoe models. Some shoes are rich in modern painting colors, some have a futuristic cyberpunk shape, and any pair can be taken on the runway. Compared to an entrepreneur, Chen Xiaoyi is more like a "shoe-making maniac", and his ingenuity is also an inexhaustible source of innovation for the enterprise.

For example, Chen Xiaoyi loves to"dress" the boots with a boot tube, using retro denim blue patterns and other splicing elements as detachable sleeves, making the boots more modern; drawing inspiration from the popular topic on TikTok—"Conquer the World with Northeastern Big Flowers", the snow boots choose the Northeastern big flower pattern as the shoe surface, and wearing them on the street immediately becomes an "eye-catching device" ; the glittering pearl mesh panel shoes are mainly sweet and cool, with a playful girl style, comfortable and durable, and will not be the same as others; the sandals based on the template of "Daddy shoes" are matched with a suction film sole, which is not only resistant to discoloration but also non-slip, and has the advantage of modifying the leg shape.

As one of the most active regions of private economy in the country, under the guidance of Wenzhou experience, Lucheng anchors the real economy, and the shoe-making industry is on the road to"rebirth".  For example, by introducing resources from the China AIGC Industry Alliance, establishing the China Shoe Capital Fashion Trend Data Center, and through the"AI Trend Data + Original Design" model, it helps designers quickly grasp fashion trends and achieve precise development.

 The fervent dream, the difficulty of the development of independent brands is self-evident. However, this did not deter the clever Chen Xiaoyi. Faced with the change of trends and brands, he believes that the bottleneck restricting the further development of Wenzhou shoes is the serious homogenization, so it is necessary to adhere to originality in the research and development of shoe design. He believes that a good pair of shoes can not only make people walk lightly and steadily but also highlight personal taste and style.

In June last year, Chen Xiaoyi and Guangzhou designers jointly launched more than 200 designer shoe models, and more than 10,000 pairs have been produced. At the same time, a research and development center was built, and innovation was"stitched" into the shoes, breaking through the inherent labels with design changes. This year, more than 120 styles have been designed and updated, and the Martin boots model once achieved annual sales of more than 500,000 pairs.

New Construction and Expansion Empower Quality and Efficiency

With the development and expansion of the shoe-making industry, the industrial space is becoming saturated, and some enterprises are limited in increasing investment and expanding production. How to revitalize and use land resources has become a thorny problem in front of Lucheng.

In response, Lucheng actively guides enterprises to enhance the "gold content" of independent brands through a series of measures such as the development of the Western Fashion City, the integration of inefficient industrial space, and the construction of standardized parks, continuously expanding its influence and say in the global shoe-making industry.

Taking advantage of the opportunity for Lucheng to revitalize and use inefficient land, last year, Chen Xiaoyi decisively took the initiative and successfully won the new land, opening a new situation. At present, the expanded factory has been put into use, and the new factory is planned to be put into use this year."The enterprise has the venue and capacity, and can take even larger orders". Chen Xiaoyi said confidently".In the past, nearly 900,000 yuan was spent on subsidies for employee dormitories every year, now not only does it have a 12-story dormitory building, but also an additional 5,000 square meters of factory area. Next, the enterprise plans to implement intelligent transformation and digital transformation to achieve machine replacement and efficiency improvement, and the efficiency will be increased by at least 20%-30%".

Looking back at the development history of Lucheng's shoe industry, the prosperity of shoe factories has a history of nearly 40 years. Now, Lucheng has 232 large-scale shoe-making enterprises, which is 84 more than five years ago. In 2023, the Lucheng shoe-making industry completed a value of 12.93 billion yuan.

It is precisely because of the focus on the word "industry" that more and more Lu enterprises like Huidu Shoes have made "Wenzhou-made" famous worldwide, and also let the international market see that Chinese brands are becoming more confident. Faced with the new propositions of the new era, Lucheng's shoe industry is steady and fast, and the good tradition of government-enterprise interaction and the spirit of daring to innovate and dare to fight are still its inexhaustible driving force to continue moving forward.(ZhongXin)