Labor costs rise, brand shoe companies actively shift factories

The relatively low labor cost in Southeast Asian countries has always been the preferred place for brand-name companies to migrate factories. Recently, due to the relative increase in the cost of local labor, some international big brands have started to move factories.

According to the Indonesian Footwear Association, “Asics, Mizuno, New Balance and other major brands have also moved some factories to Indonesia this year due to rising labor costs.” President Eddy Widjanarko stated that “India has a total of 640,000 people engaged in the footwear industry. In 2009, the export value of footwear products was 1.8 billion U.S. dollars. Local manufacturers hope that this year’s export value can increase to 2 billion U.S. dollars.” Adidas is aggressively expanding in Indonesia ( Katja Schreiber, spokesperson for Adidas, said, "As the third largest supplier, the country has provided us with "rich labor availability, good quality and stable governance."