No breaking Marikina shoe sector’s stride
Discriminating, online-savvy clients keep local shoe industry alive
WITH the entry of imported products beginning 1995, globalization has dauntingly diminished the Marikina shoe industry. From thousands of shoe and leather good manufacturers in the last decade of the 20th century, the number has dwindled to just almost four hundred today.
Those who survived the tough competition thrives today because of one thing—they know how to reach out to their discriminating consumers.
While foreign brands dominate malls with their high-fashion and celebrity-endorsed product lines, Marikina manufacturers try to get a slice of the market through electronic commerce (e-commerce) and product customization.
Dynamism
One of the first to venture into online marketing is shoe and bag manufacturer Fashion Purveyor Enterprise, known formerly as “Roweliza.”
“Despite the entry of China products that greatly affected the industry, we’re still here. Maybe because we studied the trend and went with it. Dynamism, up to this day, is the only way to survive,” says Fashion Purveyor general manager Roweliza Cruz-Landicho in an interview with INQUIRER.
From the 1970s to 1980s, Fashion Purveyor supplied handmade leather shoes to various department stores in Metro Manila, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cebu, Zamboanga, and Davao City—from the likes of Syvel’s to Berg’s. It also produced in-demand Indian bags in those fashion-forward decades.
The family business that started in 1968, with Landicho’s father Rogelio Cruz at the helm, barely survived the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) signed under the Ramos administration. Through this free international trade agreement, imported products penetrated the local market.
Left with no other choice, thousands of manufacturers ended up shutting down their operations.
Before finding itself on the brink of bankruptcy, Fashion Purveyor went the direct selling route. Still, it lost to the influx of imported products.
E-commerce
With a keen eye on the ever changing business landscape, Landicho ventured into online marketing in 2006.
“Most of my clients then who placed wholesale orders sold the products online. So I got the idea of online retailing from them,” she says.
Through a Facebook page and Instagram account, she was able to attract customers including online retailers and celebrities. Some of her famous clients include show biz personalities Regine Tolentino, Carmina Villaroel and Andi Eigenmann.
Proof of the company’s worldclass quality products, she proudly says, is the high-heeled boots it made for Filipino hip-hop dance crew Junior New System. The allmale dance group, which won a gold medal award at the 2016 World Championship of Performing Arts (WCOPA) in the United States, is famous for dancing with highheels on.
“The boots that we made could withstand all those dance moves and stunts that they do. That only shows that our products—Marikina-made—are very durable,” Landicho says.
Thanks to online marketing, the business has also gradually grown its production to 200 pairs of shoes a week.
“This year, we plan to focus our marketing efforts more online. We will soon have our products sold on [online shopping website] Lazada,” she says.
Product customization
What also keeps local manufacturers apart from international brands is their heart for clients with special needs.
Since 1990, Fashion Purveyor has been customizing shoes—for persons with disabilities and grooms and brides.
“For weddings, brides and grooms normally request to have their names or the symbolic pledge ‘Yes, I do’ printed on the shoes they would wear on the wedding day,” Landicho says.
The firm produces at least three pairs of customized shoes a week.
In 2006, with the introduction of its extended product line, the firm also began accepting orders for customized bags.
“Most of our clients (who usually sell products online) customize for product development. Since we advertised our products online, that’s where we started gaining more orders,” Fashion Purveyor production manager for bags Joy Cruz says.
Comedienne Candy Pangilinan is just one of the famous persons who love the company’s bags, Cruz says.
She says the customization business has become promising that the firm started accepting bulk orders this year. The latest was from a retailer in Japan who purchased around 500 customized bags.
Just like Fashion Purveyor, Filipino firm Valentino also cus- tomizes its products.
Valentino, a family business that began in 1932, offers customization not only for orthopedic or medical purposes but also for fashion purposes.
According to Valentino president Nelson Valentino, the firm started producing “made-to-order” products in the 1970s for basketball players who normally have large shoe sizes.
One of their popular customers was superstar cager Robert Jaworski.
But with a significant number of clients with disabilities needing comfortable shoes, the firm opened its doors to all sorts of product development.
“As long as you need a pair of shoes, whatever your condition is, no matter how terrible your foot is, we will make one that fits you,” Valentino says.
Known for its authentic handmade leather shoes, the firm has also gained the interest of fashion designers such as Brian Tenorio.
“Shoe design is a cycle. It just follows the fashion trend and that’s how we do it—go with the trend,” Valentino says.
Aside from its five remaining outlets in Marikina, Ortigas, Makati, and Davao City, the company also supplies other shoe brands in the country to keep the business afloat.
Valentino is also now trying to increase its presence online, particularly on social media, to charm customers who can’t visit its 4,000square-meter production center in Malanday, Marikina City.
Despite international brands continuing to hamper the revival of the Marikina shoe industry, the Marikina Shoe Industry Development Office (Masido) says it is exerting efforts to unite all small manufacturers and advance the manufacturing processes to be able to compete in the Asean market.