After The Outbreak Of The Epidemic In Putian, Fujian Province, There Were Subtle Changes In The Shoe Circle

After the outbreak of epidemic in Putian, Fujian Province, there were subtle changes in the shoe circle.

Some netizens have noticed that the trend of online shopping community "getting things" which claims to "provide professional identification and guarantee brand-new authentic products" has significantly increased the price of fashionable shoes, which is suspected to be related to Putian, which is in the process of epidemic control and long-term concentration of "fake shoes" and "high imitation shoes", because many insiders summarize the relationship between Putian and dewu by "getting goods, providing from Putian".

When the staff responded, they claimed that "dewu" was the identification platform, and the sellers were distributed across the country. Before the merchants delivered the goods, they all needed to pass the genuine identification of dewu, and then they could deliver the goods. "If the seller's area is an epidemic control area, it may not be able to deliver the goods at present." in this regard, some netizens did not buy the bill: "don't explain, all understand."

Around the rumors of Putian shoes, there are only quantitative differences between different versions: for example, "nine out of 10 pairs of fake shoes in the domestic market are delivered from here", or "one of every three pairs of Nike shoes in the world are imitations from here", which sounds like "Putian hospital".

The epidemic hit the shoe industry in Putian seriously and lost orders in and out

On the other hand, at the beginning of the epidemic in Putian, Putian Xiesheng shoe factory, which reported 28 cases of infection, became the focus; At the same time, the sudden outbreak of the epidemic in Putian, one of the pillar industries of shoe-making, suffered from severe losses of orders and practitioners.

According to CCTV, there are more than 4200 shoe enterprises in Putian, with more than 500000 employees. The annual output value exceeds 100 billion yuan and the annual output is 1.26 billion pairs, accounting for 9.3% of the national output.

One epidemic and two incidents have outlined the two outlines of Putian shoe economy and imitation shoe industry, forming both sides of the image of Putian shoes.

One problem appears at the same time: under the attack of anti-counterfeiting, epidemic situation and industrial transfer, are Putian shoes still fragrant?

1、 Ann can tell whether I am true or not

In Putian, there is a shopping mall called "ghost city" - Anfu electronic mall.

There are two reasons: first, this area used to be a crematorium, and after transformation, shoe-making vendors gathered here; What's more important is the second unique way of trading.

It's cold and cold in the daytime, but the lights are bright at night. The imitation shoe business is going on quietly at night. There are lots of young people who come to pick up the fake shoes. They are called "a Mao".

In Anfu e-mall, there is a complete and mature imitation shoe industry chain: express delivery can be changed to delivery from other places, Shanghai, Hong Kong, the United States, and fake shoes related materials are available. The packaging bag of genuine sneakers, regular invoice, POS machine's purchase slip, and the anti-counterfeiting mark that can scratch off the coating is not a problem.

From the shop sign, you can see the "nev buylane" of "new balance"; Or the shop sign showing "Panax" during the day, and at night, the LED light only lights up the word "Nike" in the middle; Supreme, vans and Adidas coconut shoes are the words of the advertisement board.

In 2019, a reporter visited the local area and found that although the style and color of sports shoes in some shops are almost the same as those of genuine shoes, there is no brand mark on the shoes. "It's made in our own factory, and the quality is not inferior to other brands." when asked whether there are "higher versions" of shoes, the store owners are wary.

In ghost market, "higher version" refers to imitation shoes printed with brand logo. In order to avoid inspection by the industrial and commercial bureau, the shop owners will not put them on the shelves, but will hide in the inner room and only show them to acquaintances and old customers. However, the Internet has provided convenience, and wechat business pictures and online shopping platforms are all new trading channels for selected products.

In Anfu e-mall, even imitation shoes have different grades and prices. The difference lies in the materials used. High imitation shoes can be consistent with genuine shoes. Whether they are true or not can only be seen from the details by shop owners and insiders.

In the numerous videos on social media that identify the authenticity of sneakers, the authenticity of high imitation shoes, from color depth to craftsmanship, to texture, to the labels inside shoes, anti-counterfeiting buttons, and shoe box paper, the gap is only a fraction of a cent. If the authenticity is not locked in advance, even overseas bloggers who specialize in identification may not be able to distinguish the true from the fake, and can only say "the best fake shoes I have ever seen" in surprise.

In addition to high imitation, Putian also has super fast imitation response to new products.

Chan, a high imitation shoe dealer in Putian, once revealed that a pair of high imitation shoes could be bought on the market in Putian a few weeks later, as long as a big brand new product was released.

Their practice is usually to buy genuine shoes, cut them apart, reverse analysis of materials and workmanship, and carry out imitation. Usually, imitators will buy two pairs, one for cutting analysis and the other for finished product comparison and adjustment of details. Interestingly, there are many pictures and videos on the Internet to identify the authenticity, which also facilitates the manufacturers to correct and improve.

The price of these high imitation shoes is attractive.

Chan revealed that the official retail price of a pair of white authentic Converse Chuck Taylor All Star Hi off white is $1500 (about 9750 yuan), while the wholesale price of his high imitation shoes is $80 (about 520 yuan), and the retail price is 140 dollars (about 910 yuan).

People use "rampant" to describe Putian fake shoes, which are wandering on the edge of morality and law. They are also surprised by their high imitation ability and high cost performance, which cast a gray shadow on the "imitation shoes" industry.

2、 Grey of high imitation shoes

Behind the appearance of rampant counterfeiting is the huge consumption demand.

In recent years, shoe culture has risen in China. From international brands to domestic brands, Putian high imitation shoes also have a huge market in China. Before this, for a long time, the market of Putian imitation shoes was concentrated in overseas, and continued to this day.

How big is the whole market?

In 2019, an OECD report showed that shoes were the most counterfeit goods among the counterfeit and pirated goods seized from 2013 to 2016.

In October 2019, CBP seized 14806 pairs of fake Nike shoes valued at $2.2 million, which were smuggled into the United States in the name of "napkins" in a container.

In addition, the U.S. procuratorate disclosed in a lawsuit in 2018 that the defendant gang smuggled 385000 pairs of Nike shoes to the United States from January 2016 to March 2018.

Smuggling is a complex fraud network. In 2019, a lawsuit of smuggling fake shoes in the United States opened the grey operation chain.

The fake shoes were loaded in containers with false labels that were not consistent with the actual situation. After smuggling into the United States, they were not sent to the enterprises listed in the list, but sent to other addresses.

They are stored in the warehouse and then sent to the store. Even if they are found, it is difficult to find the person directly responsible for illegal production and distribution because the declaration documents are false - because the registered phone number is a "recorder" phone, The email account was created with a fake identity.

Experienced importers ship shoes that are almost identical to genuine ones, but without a trademark. When shoes are ready to be put on the shelves in the United States, they sell them as "non brand" goods, or label them with brand names.

In addition to a large number of imported sales of fake shoes, there are many individual customers.

On overseas social media such as twitter, Facebook and reddit, it's not hard to find advertisements from companies selling imitation shoes.

In September, the "repsneakers" page on reddit had more than 468000 members, showing a strong interest in buying and selling big name high fashion shoes.

With the help of overseas shopping and international logistics, these fake shoes are sent separately in smaller packages, which will not attract the attention of the customs. Robert copyak, head of the intellectual property policy division of the U.S. Customs and border service, once pointed out that in 2018, more than 600 million packages were transported to the United States from 180 countries, which meant that regulation was difficult.

In China, in November 2020, Shanghai raided warehouses and seized counterfeit Putian sneakers worth 120 million yuan. At the same time, the case reveals that the production cost of single and double imitation shoes is between 50 and 80 yuan, and the gray profit space for making and selling fake shoes is very large.

For counterfeit shoes, "infringed" Adidas and Nike have expressed dissatisfaction.

Adidas said it "tarnished the reputation of our brands and partners, as well as employees involved in technological innovation and design," a Nike spokesman said, "actively working with law enforcement agencies and customs to protect consumers from buying counterfeit products of inferior quality that do not have the performance advantages they expect."

3、 Original sin of high imitation shoes?

Infringement of intellectual property rights and smuggling revealed the black surface of Putian shoes. However, consumers of high imitation shoes also have their own "legitimate" reasons, believing that the "original sin theory" of high imitation shoes is a stigma based on price discrimination.

As a consumer, Aleks corrected his name on his blog, writing: "stigmatizing people who wear fake designer clothes is a form of class discrimination."

In his view, even if fake and shoddy products are poorly made, they are more aesthetic than moral. As the quality of counterfeits becomes more convincing, "is it really reasonable to pay too much for the official seal of the brand?" he asked.

"A pair of imitation Celine sunglasses, I doubt their quality. I used them for two and a half years, and they were even worse worn out, but I paid only one third of the original retail price, and I didn't have any particular worries." he shared his experience with the imitations.

Aleks acknowledged that there might be quality differences between fake and genuine products, but he further questioned: "if both are mass-produced on industrial assembly lines, what is the difference between genuine and fake products?"

Aleks' discontent is not without reason.

A large number of brand processing factories of Nike and Adidas are concentrated in China and Southeast Asian countries, which fully occupy the cheap labor here. With the help of the nearby matching of raw materials, the cost is greatly reduced. When distributing profits, industrial workers are at the bottom of the value chain and can only get the lowest salary.

According to an early survey by the international consumer Union, the gross profit of the factory is only 2%, and the labor cost is only 0.4% of the retail price. That means, A pair of 600 priced Nike, Putian OEM shoes factory can only earn 12 yuan, workers can only earn 2.4 yuan.

In terms of production and manufacturing, high imitation shoes made of the same materials and processed by assembly line workers are not different from genuine shoes.

In addition, in recent years, there has been a big upsurge in brand shoe speculation. They have been used to creating an atmosphere of grudging for sale with limited edition of joint names. They have also stimulated their desire by advertising. Brands are happy to put authentic products on the shelf and label them with tens of thousands of high prices, which are out of reach of most people.

From this point of view, the exclusiveness and price screening created by the brand itself have also boosted the prosperity of high imitation shoes, which also makes it difficult for some mass consumers to sympathize with brand companies that have been infringed on intellectual property rights but have used cheap labor to maximize profits.

By comprehensive comparison, high imitation shoes win in cheap price, while authentic products win in innovative design. However, whether the premium provided by design is worth it or not depends on the judgment of law and public consumption.

"In consumer capitalism, we are taught that what we buy directly reflects how much we win (or lose) in our lives... But this is a marketing scam instigated by ignorance that only increases money in brand bank accounts," Aleks wrote.

Chan, a shoe imitator in Putian, studied in the UK and started a high imitation shoe business after returning home.

Despite the regulatory blitz and potential litigation, he can still make a living. He said that the main factor supporting his life and slowing down his business was the picky fans. "Some of them are high school students, some are college students, these are our main crowd." Chan replied.

In Putian, there is such a slogan: "let the world can afford famous brands.".

4、 Putian's "shoe road"

The US version of GQ has made such an assessment. If we calculate it according to the infringement of economic value and intellectual property rights, counterfeit sports shoes are a market worth 450 billion US dollars, which is a great temptation, and Putian also gets the cake from it.

However, today, Putian's "shoe road" is not a wise choice. From law to regulation and then to mass consumers, more and more people have the awareness of intellectual property protection of "cracking down on counterfeiting". Taking the "high imitation" route is outdated and illegal.

The reason why Putian falls into the wrong way of "counterfeiting" stems from the fact that Putian people do not have a long-term choice under the crisis.

After the reform and opening up, Putian took over from Taiwan and became the receiving place of manufacturing industry transfer. Shoe making industry is one of them. With the low labor cost brought by demographic dividend, plus the advantages of raw materials and local original shoe making tradition, Putian has accumulated skilled and skilled workers, shoe-making industry has developed rapidly, shoe-making enterprises are concentrated, and a complete industrial chain has been established, It produces more than 100 million pairs of shoes every year and is sold to 30 countries and regions.

However, in the mid-1990s, there was a turning point. The outbreak of the Asian financial crisis led to a sharp contraction in the order quantity of Putian foundry, and the low-cost profit shrank again.

In order to obtain more profits and living space, local shoe factories got the brand design drawings through the convenience of the agent factory. They also used low-cost raw materials and labor costs to produce counterfeit products. Putian embarked on the road of "counterfeiting".

The higher profits brought about by the high added value of the brand let them taste the sweetness. Then they took off again with the help of e-commerce and micro business. Due to the lack of awareness of intellectual property protection, Putian shoe-making industry has no scruple to favor imitation shoes.

In an interview with the media, the former mayor of Putian City once said that the quality of Putian shoes has always been very good, but there are always some illegal elements making fake shoes, and Putian has been cracking down on them. Moreover, Putian international well-known brand OEM business increased, committed to promoting joint brand creation.

But in contrast, Jinjiang, which is 100 kilometers away from Putian and has also undertaken the transfer of Taiwan's shoe-making industry, has taken a faster road to brand innovation. In the face of the same crisis, although Jinjiang has also gone through the road of "counterfeiting", it finally concentrated its resources on the road of "independent R & D and production".

At present, Anta, Tebu, hongxingerke and 361 degrees have played their signboards in Jinjiang, and they have taken off with the tide of domestic products, occupying most of the famous brands in China and becoming a strong support for the local economy; Putian, on the other hand, is in a dilemma. Fake shoes are destroyed and shoemaking factories are closed down. Supervision and practitioners are fighting guerrillas. In the face of the existing strong pattern of Jinjiang, Putian's support and investment in local brands has been slow and unrewarded.

Jinjiang River to the sun, Putian to the dark, time changes, showing high and low. For Putian, the situation is particularly bad, because new risks have already taken shape.

A new round of industrial transfer has begun, and Southeast Asian countries are becoming strong competitive substitutes; Under the superposition of intellectual property standards and heavy crackdown on counterfeiting, the space for making and selling counterfeit products is further compressed, and there is a lack of mature and bright local brands; At present, there are unexpected risks of sudden outbreak of the epidemic, reduction of orders, increase of chargeback and difficulty in shipment.

Putian shoes are even more difficult.