The emergence and formation of an industrial belt is a lengthy and painful process, and Chengdu's women's shoe industry belt, known as the "Capital of Women's Shoes in China," is no exception. The women’s shoe manufacturing industry in Chengdu can be traced back to the 1980s, starting from Jiangxi Street in Wuhou District to the suburban Shuangliu area. It evolved from small family workshops to modern industrial production lines, covering the entire upstream and downstream industrial chain from leather raw materials to shoe sales. Ranking third in the nation, the Chengdu shoe industry belt, alongside Wenzhou, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou, has produced numerous distinctive women’s shoe brands, exporting to over 120 countries and generating hundreds of billions in annual output. It has become the largest shoe wholesale, retail, production, and display hub in Western China.
However, the influx of foreign brands disrupted the tranquility of this "Capital of Women's Shoes." Chengdu’s women's shoes didn't successfully transition to branded products as expected but rather became OEM factories for many brands. The highly homogenized production model gradually weakened the advantages of the industrial belt. On the other end of the supply chain, the immense impact of online e-commerce forced many brands to close their physical stores and survive. This crisis spread through the Chengdu women’s shoe industry belt like a butterfly effect, causing orders to plummet and factories to shut down, pushing the entire industry belt into a difficult transformation.
Tina, the CEO of Chengdu XINZIRAIN Shoes Co., Ltd., has witnessed the changes in the Chengdu women’s shoe industry belt over her 13-year entrepreneurial journey and three transformations. In 2007, Tina saw the business potential in women’s shoes while working in the wholesale market in Chengdu’s Hehuachi. By 2010, Tina started her own women’s shoe factory. "Back then, we opened a factory in Jinhuan, sold the shoes at Hehuachi, took the cash flow back to production. That era was the golden age for Chengdu women's shoes, driving the entire Chengdu economy," Tina described the prosperity of that time.
But as more big brands like Red Dragonfly and Yearcon approached them for OEM services, the pressure of OEM orders squeezed out their space for self-owned brands. “We forgot we had our own brand due to the pressure of fulfilling orders for agents,” Tina recalled, describing that time as “like walking with someone squeezing your throat.” In 2017, due to environmental reasons, Tina moved her factory to a new park, starting her first transformation by shifting from offline brand OEM to online customers like Taobao and Tmall. Unlike large-volume OEM, online customers had better cash flow, no inventory pressure, and no arrears, leading to reduced production pressure and bringing a lot of digital feedback from consumers to improve factory production and R&D capabilities, creating differentiated products. This laid a solid foundation for Tina’s later foreign trade path.
Thus, Tina, who didn’t speak any English, embarked on her second transformation, starting from scratch in foreign trade. She simplified her business, left the factory, transformed towards cross-border trade, and rebuilt her team. Despite the cold stares and ridicule from peers, the disbanding and reformation of teams, and the misunderstanding and disapproval from family, she persisted, describing this period as “like biting the bullet.” During this time, Tina suffered from severe depression, frequent anxiety, and insomnia, but continued learning about foreign trade, visiting and learning English, and rebuilding her team. Gradually, Tina and her women’s shoe business ventured overseas. By 2021, Tina’s online platform started to show promise, with small orders of hundreds of pairs slowly opening up the overseas market through quality. Unlike other factories’ large-scale OEM, Tina insisted on quality first, focusing on small designer brands, influencers, and small design chain stores overseas, creating a niche but beautiful market. From logo design to production to sales, Tina was deeply involved in every step of the women’s shoe production process, completing a comprehensive closed loop. She has accumulated tens of thousands of overseas customers with a high repurchase rate. Through courage and perseverance, Tina has achieved successful business transformations time and again.
Today, Tina is undergoing her third transformation. She is a happy mother of three, a fitness enthusiast, and an inspirational short video blogger. She has regained control of her life, and when talking about future plans, Tina is exploring agency sales of overseas independent designer brands and developing her own brand, writing her own brand story. Just like in the movie "The Devil Wears Prada," life is a process of constantly discovering oneself. Tina is also continually exploring more possibilities. The Chengdu women’s shoe industry belt awaits more outstanding entrepreneurs like Tina to write new global stories.
Post time: Jul-09-2024
