Shoemaker sees sandals back in fashion
Seeing the recovery of a fashion trend for sandals, shoe manufacturer and importer SSL Healthcare (Thailand) will give its Scholl sandals a more fashionable look through trendy designs and 80 new models this year, compared to 60 last year.
General manager for sales and marketing Pornchai Piriyabanjurd yesterday said that sandals had lost popularity to canvas shoes over the past three years due to J-Pop and K-Pop (Japanese and Korean) fashions, which shared the style of wearing jeans with canvas shoes. The canvas-shoe fashion strongly affected the company as its sales during this period grew at 15 per cent per year compared to 50 per cent five years ago. However, since the canvas-shoe trend is easing, Scholl believes it is time for sandals to make a comeback. Pornchai said many shoe outlets had confirmed the recovery of sandals. The company expects to apply a new strategy, especially for women's sandals. He said sandals for men would have minor changes in terms of colour. Pornchai said the proportion of new-model female sandals would be higher than last year, rising from 75 per cent to 80 per cent. Applying the new strategy, Pornchai said the company had to adjust its production procedure in terms of which sandals to produce at what time. Apart from making sandals look more fashionable through new designs, renovating its sales locations is another key factor. The company started renovating its shops last year and has already finished revamping 20 per cent of total 150 outlets. It expects to complete the rest this year. The renovation budget is Bt10 million. Pornchai said the company currently had 80 items of foot-care products and expects to import an additional 10 items from its parent company in the United Kingdom this year. He added that the market was worth Bt50 million, with the company cornering a 70-per-cent share. Since the market is still small, he said the company's emphasis was on educating consumers on how to treat their feet and the benefits of taking care of them, rather than focusing only on promoting its brands. He declined to reveal either the marketing budget for this year or sales figures for last year. He said purchasing power during the first quarter had not been too good, but Scholl's new models were still able to attract customers. With all its efforts, the company expects sales to grow 20 per cent this year. Nitida Asawanipont The Nation
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