Kathmandu: The market for Nepali shoe brands looks highly promising and growing at a very steady rate. As a matter of fact, sales of Nepali shoe brand are showing significantly continuous growth. The demand for shoes made in Nepal has seen a rise in popularity among consumers for its quality, durability and comfort.

Comfort for your feet 

Miresh Adhikari, Chief Sales and Marketing at Shikhar Shoe Industries, says that demand for footwear is ever increasing. However, he laments that their competitors from neighbouring China and India flood the market with low quality products commanding a large chunk of the consumer base.

Shikhar Shoe is known to have a wide range of models offering a varied choice. The brand has something for everyone. They have a selection of school and college shoes, office footwear, party, sports and casual shoes, Direct Molding System (DMS) boots, suede leather boots and sandals among others. The price ranges between Rs 400 to Rs 5,500.

With the tagline ‘Style with Excellence’ the brand boasts of the largest distribution network with more than 700 suppliers/retailers selling their brand along with 25 showrooms all over the country. “As far as quality is concerned, we focus on maintaining quality standards from the procurement of raw material, production process of the shoes up till the final dispatch in the market. Each pair is manually checked to ensure the best quality which we believe is the USP of our brand,” he informs.

Apart from thematic branding and regular advertising, Shikhar Shoe focuses on brand image in terms of making a lasting impression on consumers. “The brand has recently introduced a consumer scheme, ‘Student of the Year’ campaign, targetting students. With the purchase of a pair of school or college shoes you get a scratch coupon with a chance to win gifts,” Adhikari informs.

Lasts longer

According to Homnath Upadhyay, Managing Director, Base Footwear which manufactures BF Dear Hill shoes, says they have been having a hard time meeting demand in the market post earthquake due to low production. “Demand has been growing but due to lack of raw materials we have not been able to supply our products in adequate quantities,” he added.

He shares that now is the peak season for the sale of school and the college shoes with the commencement of the new session for plus two students. He further adds, “We are now focussing more on the promotion and marketing of our shoes keeping in mind the festive season ahead. We are launching new models with up to 50 new designs for Dashain and Tihar.”

Nepal’s footwear industry, of late, have been paying attention to the quality of their products and

enhancing their market share. They understand that quality is of utmost importance and focus is now on end users’ requirement and after sales service. “However, in spite of all the efforts we are yet to lead the market in terms of sales volume and we along with all the organised Nepali manufacturers are still struggling to compete with imported footwear,” laments Upadhyay.

“BF Dear Hill shoes spend three million on branding of the shoes which includes advertising in print and broadcast media, and sponsoring events,” he says. Their products include sports, casual, formal, school/college, football shoes and sandals and price ranges between Rs 800 to Rs 4,000.

Quality matters

Manoj Shrestha, Managing Director, Sky Shoes Industry, says, “The quality of shoes depend entirely on the quality of raw materials and we purchase high quality raw materials from India and China. That makes our products durable and comfortable.” Nepali brands have also started to compete with international brands in terms of style and fashion. He further adds that since there is no compromise on quality of raw materials being procured they are confident that they are equivalent to international brands available in the market.

The brand has recenty added a new range of footwear. This new range of footwear is made of natural fibres like alloy and is priced between Rs 6,000 to Rs 12,000. Another addition in the brand is Sky Dingo, which is cent per cent handmade with a starting price of Rs 1,995 and goes up to Rs 2,495. The brand has around 100 varieties of shoes which includes formal, school, party to sports, casual shoes and many more.

Industrialists say that competition among domestic brands has risen the bar for healthy competition. According to them, Nepali branded footwear is now even giving stiff competition to international brands seen in the market today.