KARACHI: The rise of brand consciousness in urban centres of Pakistan has given a big boost to local footwear industry. But, most importantly unlike a lot of other industries, the local footwear manufacturers have been quite successful at capitalising on this opportunity by improving quality and developing new brands.
A number of outlets of various brands have opened up in middle and upper-middle shopping clusters in Karachi. Many of them are multi-storey outlets with big glittering boards hanging on front top of the buildings. Though, Karachi is the biggest shoe market of country, the biggest cluster of shoe manufacturing factories in Pakistan and head offices are located in Lahore and Faisalabad.
Not only local brands, outlets of many renowned international footwear brands have also come to the scene like Hush Puppies, Pierre Cardin and Logo. Many of these top international brands are being manufactured by leading local companies of Pakistan under license.
A manager of Logo shoes from Karachi who has more than 35 years of experience in shoe manufacturing and marketing said that Karachi acts like a magnet for local shoe brands because of its big population and high purchasing power. Since Karachi is the biggest shoe market, all top brands of country are not only present here but also expanding.
The manager, who didn’t wish to be named said that shoe business was not easy, and that it was a craft. “This is why a lot of people come into this business but many are wiped out in a very short period of time.”
Vice Chairperson Pakistan Footwear Manufacturers Association (PFMA) Saad Pervaiz Lodhi believes that the rise in retail outlets in urban centres is because of the growing local industry.
Strong growth in retail chains also signifies that local companies find this to be an attractive option, and not all of them opt for exports.
Lodhi says that this trend also reflects the fact that companies are now focusing on improving the retail side of the business.
Industry analysts say that Pakistan has always failed to successfully develop brands or labels, no matter what the industry. The footwear industry however, while smaller than many others has produced some very fine brands like Servis, English Boot House (EBH), Stylo and now Urbansole. “Some of our local brands like Cheetah – a Servis brand in sports’ wear range, are very popular in India, Afghanistan, Middle East and Europe because of its design and durability,” he said.
Servis, the 50-year-old leading local brand has over 400 stores in country today and it exports shoes to different regions of world. In the last few years, Stylo shoes that deals in women and children’s wear, has developed strong presence in Karachi. The company opened its first outlet in 1974 in Lahore and today it is present in 30 cities across the country with 57 outlets. Urbansole, a company that started-off marketing its branded shoes in 1998, today markets casual shoes with 15 outlets in all major cities of country.
Shedding light on exports, Lodhi said that the industry has so far not picked up the pace. However, interestingly, the local shoe market witnessed strong growth that could be the leading reason why retail outlets have increased their operations in big cities.
A leading exporter of shoes from Karachi Mansoor Ahsan said that local companies have opted for value addition in footwear in recent years that has resulted in brand development. Pakistan can do a lot more in both quantity and quality because of the abundant supply of raw material in country, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 19th, 2011.
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