Taiwan's Footwear Industry Walks Out a Path of Its Own

During the 1970s and 80s, with beautiful craft and low labor cost, Taiwan’s footwear OEM factories made Taiwan one of the two major shoe-making countries of the world. The OEM factories clustered in the Taichung and Changhua areas of central Taiwan operated everyday and earned enormous amount of foreign exchange for Taiwan. But, in recent years, such prosperity has been overtaken by low-labor-cost markets. Many of Taiwan’s footwear manufacturers have thus transformed to a production line of smaller volume but more exquisite and diverse shoe styles. They are paying more attention to brand development and marketing as well...