No business like shoes business

Remember back in the days when the Philippine shoe industry, particularly in Marikina, was thriving so well?  We used to be known as the “Little Italy of Asia” because of the quality shoes we were exporting. Then, in the ’80s and ’90s, China came out with mass – produced shoes which our hand-crafted shoes, proudly made in Marikina, could not match in price and volume of production. The low-quality and low-priced shoes, which were imitations of expensive European brands, eventually flooded the international market and that was the start of the decline of Marikina’s shoe industry.

B&L is always in search of new restaurant finds and Marikina is now one of the newest food hubs in the metro. We found quite a few new establishments that had their own stories to tell of the shoe industry decline. One particularly handsome house occupying a big land area was turned into a nice upscale restaurant and one of the children of the owners talked of how their parents had a thriving shoe business until the China-made shoes and bags caused it to collapse.

The owners have kept the heavy machines for shoe-making as remnants of a glorious past and these are now conversation pieces in the charming restaurant, along with other memorabilia of their shoe making business. This is Marikina, after all, and their legacy, or at least the memories left behind can never be entirely erased, even when they have fully embraced another business altogether.

Still, others have soldiered on, keeping their operations in small store spaces or even in their homes because they have no other skill except to make shoes. Shoemaking is an artisanal skill and it cannot be discarded so easily.

My crew chanced upon a young businessman, Buddy Tan, who is bent on making the Marikina shoe industry prolific again. His business model is interesting and he went about implementing it in a well-defined manner. He graduated with a degree in Political Science, a world away from his chosen field now, but since he is from Marikina, he is doing his share for his community.  His mind set from the very start was to prove that Marikina-made shoes can compete with world-class shoes, if only businessmen can fix the wage system in that small city.  That would be a good way to professionalize the industry.

Buddy started his Black Wing Shoes business, with leather sandals which, unfortunately, did not do well in the market. Luckily, he did not have to pay rent for his work place, and he kept his work force to a minimum. Initially, he only had a trusted foreman, a shoemaker whom Buddy entrusted with the job of putting a team of skilled artisans. Buddy’s only condition was that no one above 50 years of age should be hired because Buddy believes that older craftsmen tend to guard their own skills and are not likely to share them with young apprentices. 

Buddy believes in developing new craftsmen to make the business sustainable. A good shoemaker, Buddy says, needs lengthy experience – as much as eight to 10 years before he can be considered a shoemaker in his own right. This formed part of Buddy’s business model.

Initially, he made prototypes of leather shoes instead of sandals. For a good six months, he had no income from his first batch of leather shoes so, at the prodding of his foreman, he became a sub-contractor for other brands in order to survive in the business. Unknowingly, he became a victim of mass production himself as a sub-contractor, but at that time, everyone was doing it. This was how business was conducted in Marikina.

Buddy knew he had to do something else to get away from this, so he meticulously studied how the big American and European brands made their shoes. He watched videos of their factory tours and studied their processes and how these could be incorporated into the local market.  He shared this knowledge with his own team, but, like many who grew up with a particular skill, they were hesitant to accept new ideas and resisted change. Buddy says that one of the reasons why Marikina is not competitive anymore is because the shoemakers have not adapted to the changing business landscape. Buddy was dead set on changing this, at least with his own people.

One of the first pairs of leather shoes that Black Wing made was for Buddy’s wedding. Buddy was strictly a Crocs type of guy and he was most comfortable with sandals and rubber shoes. Like many Filipino men, he shunned leather shoes because he puts a big premium on comfort. He was surprised he could wear his new pair of leather shoes the whole day without feeling the usual pinch or soreness of brand new leather shoes. He believed he could dispel the unfavorable tag on leather shoes and prove they can be as comfortable as sandals or rubber shoes and look much more presentable.

Now, Black Wing Shoes makes custom-made leather shoes specifically tailored to one’s own size and specs. Among the first problems he encountered was the fact that most Filipino men do not know their exact size because this varied with whatever brand they were buying. Typically, Buddy says, most of the shoes you buy in malls are made in China, which means they are narrower and small-sized. Many Pinoy men have wider feet and it is difficult to have the perfect fit from mass-produced shoes. This was how his concept of custom-made shoes evolved, and with it, he eliminated many of the ever-present errors in manufacturing ready-made shoes and this has become a model business for many of the mom-and-pop shoe starts in Marikina.

Buddy has measured over a thousand feet, so he knows that there are as many kinds, as many differences and imperfections when it comes to exact measurements.

Next week, we will continue with Buddy’s interesting business model for his shoe business.

Mabuhay!!!  Be proud to be a Filipino.  

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