How To Find A Shoe Factory In China

Vona Consulting owns three factories in China. Many people ask me: how to find a good shoe factory in China? Recently, I did a lot of research on shoe factories and visited more than 30 shoe factories in China. It is not hard to find a shoe factory in China, but you have to consider many factors.

Major Footwear Producing Areas in China:
Wenzhou & Taizhou: All kinds of footwear
Tongxiang: Leather Shoes(especially women leather shoes)
Guangzhou & Dongguan: Women’s and Men’s Shoes
Chengdu: Women’s Shoes
Fuzhou & JinJiang: Sports Shoes

Wenzhou & Taizhou
•Location: Wenzhou & Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province
400km away from Shanghai
•Quality Level: Medium Quality, Low Quality
•Labor Cost: Very High
•Land Cost: Very High
•Material Cost: Medium
•Transportation Cost: Medium
•IP(Intellectual Property) Risk: High
•Main Products: Men’s shoes, Ladies’ shoes, Children’s shoes, Boots, Sandals and Safety shoes etc.
Basic Information: There are more than 4,000 shoes-making companies in Wenzhou to produce over 1,000 million pairs of different shoes every year, accounting for 25% of the total shoes production in China and one eighth in the world. In September 2001, Wenzhou was officially named as China’s Shoes Capital supplying men’s shoes, ladies’ shoes, children’s shoes, boots, sandals and safety shoes etc. In Wenzhou, most shoes manufacturers are clustered in three areas, Lucheng District, Yongjia County and Rui’an City. In addition, there are thousands of enterprises in Wenzhou engaged in shoes-related businesses, which supply shoes-making machines, shoes accessories, soles and leather to shoes factories.

Guangzhou & Dongguan
•Location: Guangzhou & Dongguan City, Guangdong Province
•Quality Level: High Quality, Medium Quality, Low Quality
•Labor Cost: High
•Land Cost: Medium
•Material Cost: Medium
•Transportation Cost: Low
•IP(Intellectual Property) Risk: Very High
•Main Products: Men’s shoes, Ladies’ shoes, Children’s shoes etc.
Dongguan is the base of the Guangdong footwear industry. The data show that Dongguan is currently the world’s largest footwear production base, with more than 1,500 footwear companies, more than 2,000 supporting companies, and more than 1,500 related traders and buyers. About 65% of the world’s high-end shoes or famous shoes are from Dongguan. Light sports shoes account for 1/4 of the world’s sports shoes. There are 100 million pairs of 400 million pairs of sports shoes produced in Dongguan. According to incomplete statistics, Dongguan currently owns 2 million manufacturing workers, including nearly 100,000 shoe-making technical people from Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Brazil and other regions and countries.

Tongxiang
•Location: Tongxiang City, Zhejiang Province
131km away from Shanghai
•Quality Level: High Quality, Medium Quality
•Labor Cost: Low
•Land Cost: High
•Material Cost: Medium
•Transportation Cost: Low
•IP(Intellectual Property) Risk: Medium
•Main Products: Ladies’ Shoes, Leather Shoes
Tongxiang shoe-making industry originated in the 1980s. After more than 30 years of development, the total output value of the entire industry chain is nearly 10 billion RMB. Haining, Wenzhou, Guangzhou, Chengdu is “the four leather shoes production base (leather women’s shoes production base).” In 2016, there are more than 1,600 leather shoes and supporting enterprises in the city, mainly located in Shimen, Zhouquan, Chongfu and Fengming Streets, with an annual output of over 90 million pairs of leather women’s shoes. Tongxiang shoemaking is mainly based on OEM / ODM business and domestic wholesale market, and it is rapidly delivered to all parts of the country with a complete industrial chain.

Chengdu
•Location: Chengdu, Sichuan Province
•Quality Level: High Quality, Medium Quality
•Labor Cost: Low
•Land Cost: Medium
•Material Cost: Very High
•Transportation Cost: Very High
•IP(Intellectual Property) Risk: Medium
•Main Products: Ladies’ shoes, Sports Shoes
Sichuan’s geographical location in the west of China, far from the industrialized East Coast of China, makes Chengdu the biggest shoe-manufacturing center in this relatively less-developed region. Chengdu specializes in the production of ladies’ footwear, and the industrial cluster brings in more than 10 billion RMB in sales revenue. The shoes made here have even entered the markets of more than 117 countries. Chengdu has more than 1,700 shoe-making enterprises and more than 3,000 shoe-making companies. Among them, Wuhou District has concentrated more than 80% of the city’s shoe-making enterprises and 90% of supporting enterprises. There are 4 raw and auxiliary materials markets, 10 shoe technical training schools (points), and more than 160 logistics transportation companies.