From quantity to quality. The Chinese footwear and leather goods segments want to raise the bar, with the help of Italian partners. That’s why at the last edition of Micam, the Premium China Footwear Accessories stand hosted 15 Chinese brands, some of which already present in Italy. Moreover, the collaboration has the objective of leading Italian brands into the Chinese marketplace.
Ready for a breakthrough
“Chinese businesses want to develop the higher-quality footwear market because there is fierce competition in the volume-focused one”. Competition that won’t likely decrease, because “there will always be a country able to apply lower prices, compared to other competitors”, explains Xiaomei Yin (on the right in photo), CEO of Plum Solution and partner of China Chamber of Commerce.
11 billion pairs
According to the World Footwear Yearbook, China manufactured 11 billion pairs of shoes during 2020 In the last decade though, the global production quota of the latter decreased by 13%. That’s why quality needs to increase. “China’s intention is that of giving work to Italy’s manufacturing chain, starting with the design portion. We are thinking about a platform able to connect the chain”. This is true for the footwear segment, as well as for the leather goods one: a Chinese entrepreneur creates its brand and then comes to Italy to collaborate with stylists, manufacturers, and suppliers. “That’s why we need creativity and raw materials of Italy”, confirms Xiaomei Yin, whom says how the Micam presence is only the first step of a project capable of helping Italian brands enter China’s marketplace as well.
Collaboration model
“We are currently collaborating with associations and regions. If necessary, we will also involve ministries”, said Wang Ying, general secretary of the China Chamber of Commerce, remotely speaking from Beijing, whom repeated the need to establish a win-win collaboration with Italy. She also pointed out the goal of the project is to help the relationships between companies without entering their decisional scope. Beijing has initiated similar projects with the US, Brazil and Germany, but “there is a tighter relationship with Italy”.
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