Imported luxury shoe brands trip on delayed BIS nod for sourcing units

The premium footwear

industry selling designer,luxury labels and high-endsports shoes is in turmoil asmanufacturers say

consumers may not be ableto buy the new spring-summer season launches. The footwear could go offretail shelves in the next few months as the Bureau of Indian Standards(BIS)has not certified their factories in China and Vietnam,arequirement for allowing imports from them.

Footwear as a category has come under BIS Quality Control Orders(QCO)for leather shoes since July,while for sports shoes,sandals andslippers it's with effect from January 2024. As per QCO norms,all

factories manufacturing these and some specified key components,suchas rubber,PVC or polyurethane soles and heels,need to be certified byBIS to be able to import and sell such products.

BIS has not yet certified sourcing factories in China and Vietnam fromwhere the bulk of imported shoes are sourced for India,according to thechief executives of five leading brands who didn't want to be named.They said BIS officials have told them they are not keen on certifying thefactories in these markets and will be selective about manufacturingunits in Southeast Asia such as Thailand,Indonesia and Malaysia also,fearing some of those might be owned by the Chinese like in Vietnam.

"Government officials have said to import from Europe,which willinvolve higher manufacturing cost and freight,impacting the pricingstrategy in India or to manufacture in the country where the expertisefor high-end,designer and sports footwear is still limited,"said the chiefof a leading shoe maker.

A senior government official said the idea is to promote domestic

manufacturing,considering that a large amount of low-quality footwearwas being imported from China.He said the QCO for 24 footwear andrelated products were notified in October 2020 and the industry,especially the large and medium-scale players,had already soughtmultiple extensions.

ET reported last month that Nike had written to the government,askingit to certify supplier factories in Indonesia and Vietnam so that it cancontinue to import from them.An executive of a leading sports brandsaid they have already imported the stock for spring,but beyond thatthere will be an impact.

Some of the premium and luxury brands import almost their entire

footwear line-up, whereas others like Woodland, Puma and Adidas get

their high-end and technical shoes from overseas. Vietnam, China and a

few Southeast Asian nations are the main sources for such imports.