This Day, That Year

Item from Sept 11, 1994, in China Daily: Eight of every 10 people in the world are wearing Chinese-made shoes. Driven by strong demand, Chinese shoe exports will continue to grow in the years to come. Major markets for Chinese shoes are the United States and developed countries in Europe. China produced 4 billion pairs of shoes last year, accounting for 40 percent of the world’s total production.

Although footwear manufacturing has shifted away from China to other countries, including Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia, China continues to be the leader in terms of worldwide exports, with 12.6 billion pairs of shoes produced in the country last year — 66 percent of the world total — and its exports stood at $47.8 billion.

Besides catering to its huge domestic demand, the country’s shoemakers have been scrambling to promote their brands internationally.

Anta Sports Products, a sportswear maker in Jinjiang, Fujian province, has become a leading domestic sportswear compa- ny, overtaking global giant Nike as the market leader in China. Domestic sales of Anta sports shoes surpassed 50 million pairs last year.

Anta acquired the China business of Italian sports company FILA in 2009, and it acquired UK outdoor sports brand Sprandi in 2016. Last year, it established a joint venture with Japanese winter sports gear company Descente — a plan to open 10 stores in China to promote high-end outdoor sports gear.

Like Anta, a few shoemakers have been taking steps to go international. For example, Hongxing Erke has taken steps to expand overseas. It currently has more than 7,000 stores worldwide.