Shoe manufacturers have gone into overdrive as the new school season is about to start in a few days and students have been mobbing stores for uniform shoes.
Shoe manufacturers have gone into overdrive as the new school season is about to start in a few days and students have been mobbing stores for uniform shoes. Traders said that demand for school shoes had soared as many government schools had also set a dress code.
Shoe brands like Shikhar, Gold Star, BF Dear Hill, Coseli and Run, among others, have launched a new range of school shoes and many of them have announced discount offers in a bid to lure students in a highly competitive market. New players like Easy and Samrat are also planning to manufacture school shoes from this year.
According to the Footwear Manufacturers Association of Nepal (FMAN), school shoes constitute 15-20 percent of the total production which means around one million pairs. Traders said that domestic shoes had almost fully replaced imported products in the school shoes segment.
“Shoes are one of most important items in the school uniform, and many government schools have made uniforms compulsory. So demand has been growing significantly,” said Rabin Kumar Shrestha, president of the association. April to July is the main season for sales of school shoes, he added. Shrestha is also the proprietor of Coseli Shoes which has launched a new range of school shoes in three varieties. Coseli shoes are priced between Rs450 to Rs920.
Homnath Upadhyay, managing director of Base Footwear which manufactures BF Dear Hill shoes, said they had been having a hard time meeting demand for the last few months. “Demand has been growing but due to lack of raw materials, we have not been able to supply shoes in adequate quantities,” he added.
Many big footwear companies are reluctant to produce school shoes due to the low profit margin, he said. BF Dear Hill produces shoes for students from nursery to class 12 and they are priced from Rs600 to Rs2,000.
Meanwhile, another shoe maker Run Shoes has aimed to sell 40,000 pairs of school shoes during the season. To attract more customers in this competitive market, the company also offers a 10 percent discount on purchase of Run shoes. “We started manufacturing the shoes two months ago and sales have already started,” said Rudra Neupane, managing director of the company. Prices of Run shoes range from Rs295 to Rs700.
Likewise, Samrat Shoes which started operations this year plans to produce school shoes too. “One student needs at least one pair of shoes per year. So we see great potential in the school shoes segment,” said Pramod Mahato, managing director of the company.
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