Fuling Town, Xiangcheng City, Henan Province is known as the "National Key Town" and "National Pilot Project for Comprehensive Reform of Small Cities and Towns". It is also known as the footwear industry in China. During the Spring Festival of 2011, the shoemaking industry in the town had an unprecedentedly good situation in terms of sales. There were nearly 20 provinces of merchants from across the country who came to the town to purchase goods from the local government, and the product sold out. There was a gratifying scene in which merchants had to pay for purchases. Achieve the town's footwear industry from the buyer's market to the seller's market. At present, there are more than 10 specialized shoe-making villages in the town, more than 607 shoe manufacturers, nearly 13,200 direct employees, and more than 30 million pairs of shoes each year, with an output value of 892 million yuan and a profit and tax of 134 million yuan.

How can a shoe industry in the Central Plains be so developed? How can the shoes they make be so popular with the market?

Combining production, learning, research, and sales

The shoe production in Fuling Town started in a hand-workshop in the 1980s. The procedure is simple, the variety is single, there is no brand and characteristics, and the risk is high and the profit is low. A warm winter weather a few years ago had hit the footwear industry in Fuling. The cotton shoes they produced were heavily backlogged, and some factories even went bankrupt.

With painstaking experience, the party committee and township government of Fuling Township led everyone to play "five cards": to play a comparative advantage and lay a "character card"; to realize the marketization of agglomeration areas and to lay a "market card"; to implement production, education, and research; Combining sales and sales, playing a "science and technology card"; creating a "defective effect" and playing an "open card"; establishing a circular economy concept and playing an "ecological card." The play of five cards has led to the scale and base of shoemaking in the town. Through the “going out, please come in” approach, introducing new technologies, adopting fund-raising, joint ventures, etc., the footwear industry has rapidly adjusted its product mix to achieve product diversification and marketization, and the town’s footwear industry has rapidly emerged from the product. The dilemma of monotonous and poor sales has formed a shoe production base with brand names such as “Chunlan”.

Chunlan shoe factory is the largest shoemaking enterprise in Fuling Town. It has an annual production capacity of 1.5 million pairs. In 2009, it invested 10 million yuan to carry out transformation and upgrading. It has introduced advanced domestic production lines and produced high-grade tourism warm shoes. The products are very popular.

"The old brand must survive with the times, apply new technologies and develop new products in order to survive." Director Wu Chuanming deeply felt.

The development and utilization of new technologies, especially the application of shoe vulcanization technology, has increased the firmness and quality of footwear products. At present, the town has developed more than 60 varieties of warm shoes, snow boots, travel shoes, seasonal shoes, casual shoes, cotton slippers, leather shoes, high-grade travel warm shoes.

In just a few years, many companies have completed “triple jumps” from the creation of brands, independent research and development, and the establishment of sales channels.

Rely on the brand to win the market

Wu Chuanming, director of Chunlan Shoe Factory, said: “Last year, we implemented joint production with Shanghai Keyuan Shoes Company, Shanghai Guangwei Shoes Company and US BBC Company in China. Our products are exported to over 10 countries and regions and are well received by customers. Favor."

The brand advantage has promoted the joint production of Chunlan Shoe Factory with Shanghai Keyuan Shoes Company, Shanghai Guangwei Shoes Company and US BBC Company in China.

Under the guidance of “Brand-Driven Strategy”, Fuling shoe-making enterprises have meticulously built their own brands. At present, 5 shoe-making enterprises in the town have registered their own trademarks, 11 shoe-making enterprises have been designated as “product quality standards-compliant enterprises” by the Ministry of Agriculture and 38 enterprise products have been awarded the title of “famous and excellent products” in Henan Province. Series more than 30 varieties, sales of more than 20 provinces.

With the development and expansion of the footwear industry, as a rapidly developing industrial cluster, Fuling footwear industry has developed a relatively complete industrial support and has produced more than 20 related industries such as non-woven fabrics, printing, machinery, and weaving, forming a complete The shoe processing and production chain, where no shoe materials can not be bought, many foreign shoe factories have to Xiangcheng procurement of raw materials.

Professional park highlights aggregation effect

“True to be busy”, I met Wu Chuanjun, the director of Chunxie Shoe Factory. He said the most to reporters is the three words. “The customer’s 500,000 pairs of travel shoes will have to be delivered by the end of this month. Started work..." If the words haven't been spoken yet, his cell phone rings and is a customer call from a Shanghai customer.

Not only is Chunxue shoe factory, other shoe factories in the professional park are also busy.

“The township has invested 10 million yuan to build a shoe industry park integrating production, sales and management, attracting 'leader' enterprises to settle in, putting shoe-making households into the management scope to unify the trademark, unified supply, and unified sales. A problem that cannot be solved by one household has enabled the company's production capacity to expand effectively.” Liu Dejun, party secretary of the town, said.

The town organized some shoe-making enterprises to visit and investigate the market. Many operators have realized that in order to make the shoemaking industry in Fuling Town competitive, it is necessary to introduce funds, introduce technology, and introduce talents to achieve a shift from middle to low to medium and high-end products, from singleness to diversification, and from decentralized operations. The shift to scale production will shift from disordered production to centralized management. The professional park assisted the Liling footwear industry to flourish, and the agglomeration effect was obvious.

“We have been operating in the coastal areas for 20 years and are more confident to operate in the Central Plains region for another 20 years and are determined to build Xiangcheng Fuling into a production base for the footwear industry.” Fujian bosses stationed in professional parks last year told reporters that there are huge With labor advantages, there is a huge domestic market, and the footwear industry has shifted to the Central Plains. On the one hand, it can do foreign trade, and on the other hand, it can also be sold domestically.

At present, the town's shoe-making professional park has attracted a number of well-known shoe-making enterprises to settle in the agglomeration area.