The Footwear Industry covers a range of products that includes sports shoes, dress or casual shoes, slippers and sandals. Materials range from leather, rubber and plastic to textile and other components. The sector targets buyers of all ages and offers products for men, women and children.
Leather footwear is normally used as dress shoes. Non-leather footwear with outer soles of rubber or other materials such as plastic, wood, textile is commonly used as casual footwear. Sandals and slippers are mostly made of textile or plastic material and are used both indoors and outdoors. Sports footwear entails high standards of production and most sport shoes facilities in the Philippines involve some direct foreign investments.
Production of footwear in the country is concentrated in Metro Manila, where about 43% of all shoe manufacturers are situated. Within the area, City of Marikina is the center of the footwear business wherein almost three fourths of all shoe producers. Moreover, most of manufacturers in the industry are micro to small in size. Firms usually have their own shop facilities, although a small number rely on subcontractors for production work.
Market Distribution :
The Footwear companies market and distribute their products thru own boutique stores while other rent space in large department stores and malls. The specific market segments for the sector are defined according to the price and quality of the product. These range from cheap, low-end footwear made from synthetic materials to high-end and well-crafted leather shoes based on European or American designs or brands.
The majority of shoe producers utilize manual and semi-automated processes in their manufacturing operations. The United States is the largest market for footwear products, while China is the world’s largest suppliers.
Local shoe producers face still competition in the market mainly from low-priced products coming from China