India is the second-largest manufacturer of footwear in the world only next to China in terms of volume. Despite having one of the biggest sporting communities in the world, India lags behind global counterparts when it comes to manufacturing global standard sports footwear for its own sporting community, let alone export to the world.
It is well-known that casualwear, including what is called ‘athleisure’, has been ruling the roost in contemporary fashion for a while now. In fact, This trend has invaded workplaces too. It is acceptable to wear jeans instead of trousers and white sneakers instead of dress shoes to the workplace, and even for business meetings.
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It is important to evolve with changing times. Hence a disappointment with the current state of the Indian footwear industry: at a time when sports shoes are storming into everyone’s wardrobe, India is lagging in manufacturing them, mildly put. Less than one per cent of sports shoes are exported from India. Nine out of ten factories in the country manufacture leather shoes, with only a minuscule making sports shoes.
In the closing years of the last millennium, from 1997 to 1999, I got trained at the Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI). At FDDI, I was the only one in my academic circle who really wished to be in the sports shoe industry. The foundation from FDDI, and then an MBA from ICFAI and further exposure in various countries that I got from the industry helped me run Evertrade, a successful enterprise in China for over 10 years.
During my time, there were many reasons why India was lagging in skilled manpower for the sports shoe sector, the primary reason being our focus was on manufacturing leather footwear. Over the years, the situation still needs to improve. Most of the sports shoe requirement is being imported, and establishing a Make in India Evertrade facility at Bhubaneshwar is our way to empower India towards atmanirbhar in this sector.
There are many initiatives the Government of India along with FDDI is currently taking up in developing the courses , understanding the need of the hour. During a visit by a Ministry representative to our factory in China, he was surprised to learn that I was graduated from FDDI. I was further contacted by my institute, and I was always ready to share knowledge to benefit the country.
The reason behind the negligible output along with training facilities, is the industry itself. They are ill-equipped to sustain a significant production output. On top of that, there is serious dearth of raw materials. Most of the sports shoes currently manufactured in India are assembled, as most of the parts are manufactured in China.
There are not enough professionals who have the technical know-how required for manufacturing sports shoes. Whatever skill development is seen is only at the basic level. While that is necessary, it is also important to nurture visionaries. Most Indian students have no trouble getting jobs globally because they are above average level.
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I had the opportunity to have an interaction with some of the graduates from my institution a year ago and found that they are passionate about the footwear industry and are ready to explore new technologies.I believe Indian institutes in footwear designing and manufacturing need proactive collaborations from manufacturers, laying emphasis on the sports shoe sector. The close association will help our students familiarize themselves with the raw materials and technology that go into manufacturing of quality sports shoes.
As sports shoes are becoming ever more popular, the leather industry in India- the one sector in the footwear industry that is well-equipped and enjoys expertise- is shrinking. Factories in cities such as Agra and Kanpur are still getting orders for leather shoes, but only because business suffered in the past two years. Unfortunately, India is not prepared for the surge in demand for sports shoes. Most of the demand is being captured by Vietnam and Indonesia. It is time India realizes the true growth potential in the sports footwear segment and builds a good quality workforce for make in India.