US companies seek footwear sources
15 October 2003
Sourcing executives from a dozen US footwear distribution companies are scheduled to visit at least 13 Indian shoe manufacturing companies such as Liberty Footwear, K H Shoes, Superhouse Leathers, Bonaventure Shoes, Metro, Virola International etc, between October and November of this year. Representatives of companies such as Johnson & Murphy, Ellan Polo, World Blend, Brown Group, Trimfoot Shoe Company, Consolidated, E J Footwear, Palmer Shoes, National Geographic Footwear, Daner Footwear, Justin Brands Imp, Marklemp Footwear and StrideRite Corporation are expected. The United States is the largest market for leather and leather products in the world. It consumes about 15% of the twelve billion pairs of non-rubber footwear produced in the world. According to a market report compiled by Dun & Bradstreet for the CLE, the average US consumption of footwear has now reached 6.5 pairs per person a year compared with the world average of two pairs. India has been unsuccessful in tapping into the US market which is dominated by China. Indian exports of footwear to the $40 billion US market has been only $79.75 million in 2001. It rose to $83.26 million in 2002. Source: Daily 'The Financial Express, New Delhi
