What Do Consumers Expect Now From Comfortable Footwear?

Without a doubt, comfy shoes have been having a moment. During the past year, as many employees were logging in to work from home, they shunned their traditional office wear — think high heels and stiff laceup brogues — in favor of cosy, feel-good footwear, such as slippers, slides and sneakers. And even among those offices that remained open during the pandemic, rules about workplace attire relaxed significantly in the absence of client meetings and events. But now, as the pandemic loosens its hold and people return to work and regular life, will customers return to their old shoe habits? According to the investigation that specialize in comfort footwear about how customer expectations have changed, and what qualifies now as a comfortable shoe. Consumer expectations for comfort had been growing prior to the pandemic — the pandemic just amplified it. As consumers return to the office, travel and in-person events, their desire for varied silhouettes will return, but they won’t want to return to uncomfortable shoes. They’ve experienced the luxury of slippers and comfort footwear in their homes and they’re not going to want to go back. At Pegasus, we integrate our signature arch support and pressure relief system into every style. We focus on details like adjustability, materials and pattern to ensure that comfort is maximized around the foot.

Liuzhou-Moscow freight trains to bolster regional logistics

Economic and trade ties under BRI framework will receive further boost. A new freight train service launched on Tuesday links Liuzhou city in South China's Guangxi-Zhuang autonomous region and Russia's capital Moscow. It is set to further boost the already strong economic and trade cooperation between China and Russia, experts and industry people said. The first train on this route departed from Liuzhou on Tuesday for Moscow, carrying 57 loaders and four motor graders made by Liugong Machinery Co Ltd, a Liuzhou-headquartered machinery manufacturer. The train is scheduled to arrive in Moscow within 20 days after traveling about 11,000 kilometers, slashing the transport time by more than two weeks compared with ocean shipping, according to Luo Guobing, vice-president of Liugong Machinery. The train service will eventually enhance connectivity and logistics between China and Central and Eastern European Countries or CEECs as well, they said. This will shore up high-quality economic and trade cooperation based on the Belt and Road Initiative, and facilitate world economic recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first China-Europe freight train route whose point of origin is located in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. The route will operate once or twice a month. For the first time, the transportation used for this route adopts the "one-stop" cross-border mode without train re-marshalling, saving transportation costs for enterprises both in terms of capital and time, according to China Railway Nanning Group. Huo Jianguo, vice-chairman of the Beijing-based China Society for World Trade Organization Studies, said the new route offers enterprises a better option to diversify their logistics solutions, especially at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has been disrupting international logistics, causing capacity restrictions and surging prices. So, the route is expected to help boost world economic recovery. "International trade has been severely impacted by the pandemic, and transportation disruptions caused by the coronavirus have also been curbing normal industrial activities in various regions while the increase in transportation costs adds burdens to enterprises," he said. "Since exports and imports between China and other BRI-related economies are on the rise, the new route, expected to ease bottlenecks in transportation capacity under the current circumstances, will definitely boost China's trade and economic cooperation with related economies, to inject new impetus into the global economic recovery," he said. Data from China's Ministry of Commerce have showed impressive growth in China's trade with Russia and the CEECs. China-Russia trade has so far exceeded $40 billion this year. It reached $40.21 billion in the first four months of this year, which is the first time in history, and is expected to set a full-year record. The January-April figure is 21 percent higher than that of the same period in 2019, the last pre-pandemic level, and has doubled from the same period of 2016. Moreover, the annual bilateral trade volume between China and Russia has exceeded $100 billion for three successive years, and China has been Russia's largest trade partner for 11 years in a row now. China's trade with the CEECs reached $30.13 billion during the first quarter, surging 50.2 percent from a year ago, which was also 11 percentage points higher than China's overall year-on-year foreign trade growth rate. Since 2012, the average annual growth rate of China-CEECs trade has reached 8 percent, three times the growth rate for the country's overall foreign trade and two times that of the CEECs. Li Dongchun, director of the overseas business unit of Liugong Machinery, said improvement in connectivity between China and the BRI economies, including the new train route, has provided better support to the company's overseas operations. "Since 2016, the company has been enjoying soaring product demand from overseas markets, thanks to the BRI-related growth in Chinese companies' overseas projects as well as the increase in local appetite for infrastructure improvement," he said. "However, due to limited logistics solutions, which mainly rely on costly and time-consuming ocean shipping and road traffic, the costs of shipping our products to Russia and the CEECs, as well as Central Asia, were relatively high." He said better connectivity now brings more logistics options, which are expected to boost high-quality economic and trade cooperation between China and the related economies, underpinning recovery in related industrial and supply chains and the global economy. The new route will see at least one to two journeys a month, which is good news given that ocean shipping costs have been fluctuating since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic but always remaining much higher than railway freight. Most importantly, ocean shipments are not as predictable and reliable as those done via freight

Pressure on exporters could mount in 2nd half

Chinese foreign trade enterprises may face surging pressure in the second half of this year, due to increasing commodity prices, skyrocketing shipping costs and a fluctuating foreign exchange rate, industry experts said. "The pressure will probably emerge in June," said Qiu Zhiming, chairman of Beifa Group, a leading stationery and office supplies manufacturer based in Ningbo, Zhejiang province. The company's exports, which reach nearly 200 countries and regions, account for 16.5 percent of Chinese pen exports. "The rising commodity prices and increasing shipping costs both weigh down on enterprises," Qiu said. "Meanwhile, since many overseas manufacturers began to resume production earlier this year, the competition is also increasing." Prices of key commodities and industrial components increased between January and April. For example, the price of iron ore was up 58.8 percent compared with the same period last year, the price of copper rose 29.8 percent, and that of integrated circuits increased 18.9 percent, according to the General Administration of Customs data. In addition, the cost of some shipping lanes saw a threefold to sixfold increase. For instance, the shipping cost of a container from Ningbo to New York skyrocketed, from $2,500 to almost $12,000, according to industry statistics. "The fluctuating foreign exchange rate also makes our contracts more risky," said Li Xiansheng, general manager of the Africa business of Aux Group, an air-conditioner manufacturer. "And we have to resort to some financial derivatives to hedge risks." Aux Group covers several industries, including home appliances, electrical equipment, medical services, real estate and financial investment. According to Guan Tao, global chief economist of BOC International (China) Co Ltd, the two-way volatility of the exchange rate will continue this year, amid changing dynamics and a mix of factors. Though China's foreign trade surged 28.5 percent year-on-year in the first four months of 2021, manufacturers are a bit conservative in their prospects for the rest of the year, and many of them could run out of raw materials soon. Some manufacturers have gradually increased the sale price of their products, and more are strengthening their efforts to explore the domestic market. Beifa, for instance, aims to boost its home market share to 20 percent this year, though its exports grew in 2020, and the company's export value grew 130 percent year-on-year in the first quarter. "We will do more in exploring cross-border e-commerce this year, building overseas warehouses and providing customized services to foreign consumers," Beifa chairman Qiu said. All these efforts aim to diversify risks, he added. Several kilometers away from Beifa Group's headquarters in Ningbo, employees at a plant owned by Aux Group are busy assembling residential air conditioners ordered by clients in the United Arab Emirates. The company's products are exported to more than 100 countries and regions. Deng Jun, executive vice-president of Aux Group, said, "The rising prices of aluminum, copper and steel (iron ore) have forced us and the whole industry to raise product prices." The prices of refrigerators, televisions and washing machines have gone up in the domestic and global markets this year, Deng said, and there will be more price hikes in the air conditioning industry in the second half of the year. Because the pandemic compelled more people to stay at home across the world last year, Aux Group managed single-digit growth in exports in 2020. It saw more than 20 percent growth in the first quarter of this year and aims to ship up to 8 million air conditioners abroad in each of the next two years. Deng said the company, in addition to expanding sales networks in its traditional markets, including the Middle East and Europe, will seize opportunities in the Southeast Asian market, supported by its manufacturing bases in Thailand and Indonesia. This will be possible due to favorable tariff policies under the framework of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, he said. Jin Hai, director-general of the General Administration of Customs' department of general operations, said that once the pact takes effect, market access will be expanded and investment hurdles mitigated. Liu Yuanchun, vice-president of Renmin University of China, said that even though many countries are rebuilding their supply chains amid a continuing economic recovery, it will take them a long time to do so. "Meanwhile, the rise of global commodity prices will not be a long-term trend," he said, emphasizing that the growth of China's exports will be sustained this year. "The key issue is to strengthen the competitiveness of Chinese products through technology innovation," Liu added.

Domestic brands growing in favor among consumers

China's textile and apparel companies are set to embrace new growth opportunities as domestic consumers increasingly favor homegrown brands, said industry experts. They said Chinese enterprises are poised to do well in part because of their relatively high production efficiency and manufacturing skills, and it's time for the country to move on to the next step in upgrading industries and developing strong homegrown brands capable of competing on the global stage. The comments came amid claims by major global retail giants including H&M and Nike that they have chosen to not source cotton from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region due to alleged uses of "forced labor"－claims that have provoked outrage among the Chinese people. Chinese public support for Xinjiang cotton sent shares of textile and apparel companies traded in Shanghai and Shenzhen significantly higher during the past month, according to Shanghai-based information provider Wind Info. Shares of Chinese mainland sportswear brands saw sharp surges on the Hong Kong bourse over the past month. Li-Ning jumped more than 5 percent on April 7, while Anta surged nearly 5 percent on April 28. Citing the recent popularity of domestic sportswear products, Tang Xiaotang, a clothing and fashion industry analyst, said patriotism among consumers has played a significant role in facilitating the recent sales of domestic brands, especially those firms that have expressed their support for domestic cotton. Over the long run, domestic sportswear brands－which have already grown rapidly in recent years－are expected to continue their momentum in the Chinese market, fueled by more consumers who have preferences for domestic brands and rising interest in healthy and casual wear for their sportswear products, Tang said. Growing demand for domestic names has sent prices of some homegrown brands' limited-edition sneakers soaring on online platforms. On the popular secondhand sneaker platform Dewu, the price for a pair of limited-edition Li-Ning sneakers hit a high of 48,889 yuan ($7,548), 31 times higher than the official market price of 1,499 yuan. Experts said speculation in the athletic footwear market, and the ensuing price volatility, will only hit consumers' confidence in the local brands and cripple their brands upgrades, saying the homegrown brands need to take action to protect their reputation and take the opportunity to win over local consumers with a wide range of high-quality offering at reasonable prices. Kong Xiangzhi, a professor at the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development of Renmin University of China, said that while public support for local brands has led to a domestic shopping surge over the short term, it's too early to say whether domestic brands will occupy a lion's share of the market and long-term sustainable brand development still depends on quality, style and cultural innovations. In recent years, with improved living standards, the apparel and footwear industry in China has been flourishing and evolving significantly due to growing demand for high-quality and high-end lifestyles. According to a new report by Qianzhan Industry Research Institute, China's apparel and footwear market size reached $376.8 billion in 2019, accounting for 21.28 percent of the global scale. By 2020, despite the coronavirus impact, China's apparel and footwear market size occupied 23.72 percent of worldwide total. Last year, Nike and Adidas accounted for 2.4 percent and 2.1 percent of the apparel and footwear market in China, respectively, remaining the top two apparel and footwear brands in the country. Some domestic companies including Anta and Lining made their name among the top 10 apparel and footwear brands in China. "We need to face up to the fact that Chinese shoes and apparel brands still lag behind global retail giants in terms of design, promotion, manufacturing skills, sales channels and fashion," Huang Ye, director of the general manager office of internet custom-tailored apparel leader Ybren.com. "In the next step, we should make a big push to develop strong and original brands and design style with improved creativity and innovations." In fact, the growing scale of the consumer market in China is propelling domestic brands to shift the focus to boosting creativity and innovation. Although dominated by international sportswear players Nike and Adidas in recent years, the China market also sports domestic powerhouses like Li-Ning and Anta. The two local brands' revenue grew 4.2 percent and 4.7 percent year-on-year, respectively, during coronavirus-stricken 2020. For instance, Anta, a mid-range sportswear brand developed in Fujian province, has continuously increased its investment in recent years in technology and research and development to uplift its brand recognition and quality reputation among local consumers. Last year, based on research of core technologies for shoes, Anta created a series of technologies and launched