Business plan for sewing shoes. Formation of a business plan for a shoe production enterprise
People have been thinking about protecting their feet from cold and injury for a very long time. Today's boots, which are already familiar to us, have evolved over several thousand years from the simplest, sewn pieces of leather, woven sandals and carved wooden shoes to products consisting of many parts and requiring entire factories for production.
In some ways, modern shoes and their distant ancestors have a lot in common, only today increased demands are placed on today’s shoes: any buyer wants shoes that not only protect their feet from damage and are comfortable, but also meet the latest fashion trends and please the eye.
Market
Today, experts note the high dependence of the Russian market on foreign producers and imports. At the same time, the constant increase in prices for shoes from abroad attracts consumer attention to the domestic manufacturer. For an entrepreneur planning to open his own shoe factory, this is obviously a big plus. Along with these processes, marketers see market growth and promise to reach the pre-crisis level of 2008 by 2013.
Technological process
Like every shoe that comes off the production line, there are many parts to the manufacturing process. At the first stage, in the cutting shop, the components of the future shoe are made from the resulting, already dressed leather. Typically, the number of such parts is about 30 pieces for one product. They are cut out using stencils (or cutters) and a special punching press installed in the workshop. This machine operates in several modes set by the operator. Setting the mode depends on the thickness of the material and the height of the cutter; depending on the mode, the height from which the press is lowered changes.
In the same workshop, insoles for future boots are also cut out, but using a different press, specially designed for such work. First, a special fabric is pressed on both sides to form an insole, then the edges are sanded. Then, the blanks are glued with rubber glue. Future warm insoles pass through another special press.
The next workshop is filled with markers who draw the lines of future seams with a pencil. After the markings are applied, the blanks are sent to firing, where the edges of the parts are heat treated, painted, and then sanded using a special edge running machine, as a result of which the edges become thin and suitable for stitching.
The next workshop is sewing. Here, with the help of special machines, seamstresses sew together leather parts to obtain blanks. After joining the parts, thermoplastic inserts are glued into the blanks, thanks to which the shape of the boot remains in its original form longer. These inserts are put on a metal foot heated to 150 degrees Celsius, after which the workpiece is immediately cooled at a temperature of -20 degrees. Deformation of the workpiece at this stage is also prevented by temporary laces threaded into the workpiece.
After all the main operations on stitching the workpiece, the resulting semi-finished product is sent for processing to the so-called “ruffling robot”. This machine prepares the temporary sole for bonding the real rubber sole by leveling and removing dust from the surface.
At the next stage, a sole is glued to the workpiece, previously “baked” in a special oven at a temperature of 60 degrees. After this, unnecessary rubber remains are cut off from the sole. After this, the boot can be considered ready. It is polished with sheep's wool coated with wax.
The final stage of creating a boot is threading the laces. This process is done manually.
Equipment
The complexity of the technological process of sewing shoes necessitates a large number of specialized equipment.
Today on the market there are a sufficient number of different manufacturers of equipment for the production of various types of shoes. We will not focus on manufacturers, focusing on the role of each machine in production.
Cutting shop
In the cutting shop, two punching presses are necessary to obtain the necessary parts for the future shoe. One of them does the work related to the parts for the upper of the shoe, the other for the bottom and multi-layer flooring.
Insole production
Shoe insoles are produced either in a separate workshop, or, often, they are purchased separately. If you plan to make insoles yourself in your production, you will need the following equipment:
- Press for forming insoles
- Chamfering machine: This machine grinds the edges of the insoles
- Machine for applying glue to half insoles
- Hydraulic press to form a warm insole (optional)
- Machine for lowering the edges of shoe bottoms
Procurement area
There are four machines operating in this area:
- Double Draw Machine: This machine aligns the top parts, making them the same thickness.
- Machine for branding details: with its help, each pair of shoes receives its own identification number.
- The tapering machine makes shoe upper parts easier to stitch by thinning the edges of the parts.
- Machine for duplicating parts of uppers, linings and thermo-adhesive materials.
Sewing area
As the name implies, this section is where the prepared parts are connected into a workpiece. For this process you need:
- Sewing conveyor
- Special sewing machines
- Installation for applying glue (in case some parts will stick together)
- Toe Insertion Machine
- Edge bending machine
- Back Seam Pressing Machine
- Machine for molding vamps (Leather patch on the toe and instep of the boot, as well as the front part of the shoe blank, Ozhegov’s dictionary)
Assembly area
Assembly line
- Insole nailing machine
- Vamp forming and re-forming machine
- Backdrop forming machine
- Tightening machine
- Humidification machine
- Pass-through dryer
- Cooling tunnel
- Blowing machine
- Ruffing machine
- Marking machine
- Thermal activator of adhesive films
- Press for gluing seams
- Machine for removing shoes from lasts
- Boot smoothing machine
- Polishing and cleaning machine
Various machines and machine models are presented by manufacturers: Atom, Banf, Camoga, Cerim, Comelz, Durcopp Adler, Ecom, Elettrotecnica, Iron Fox, Knaoz, Matic? Verdi, Mav, Mec-Val, Neve, Obe, Officina Meccanica, Pfaff, Rachioni, Selmac, Sicomec, Silpar, Volonte and others. All of them have representative offices in Russia.
However, delivery of equipment, as a rule, is made strictly to order. This is due to the inaccessibility of the pricing policies of equipment manufacturers in wide sources of information. Therefore, the price of a particular machine will have to be found out from suppliers during the order or as a consultation.
Raw materials
The main material for making high-quality shoes is leather. Genuine leather for shoe production is offered by the Moscow factory "Ronnon". In addition, there are many tanneries throughout the country. Among them: Ostashkovsky tannery (Tver region), Russian Leather plant (Ryazan), Smilovichi tannery and others. As a rule, purchases are calculated in tons. At the same time, the most common minimum order is 1 ton, but there are factories that are ready for minimum orders of 300 kilograms. Depending on the type, the cost of leather varies:
- from 100-180 rubles per square meter (cattle leather)
- from 50 – 150 rubles per square meter (suede)
- from 100 rubles per square meter (perforated leather)
Chemical materials for shoe production are provided by Titrus. Among the chemical materials: finishing materials: finishing, liquids, creams, oils, products for treating edges and seams, adhesives, reagents for preparing surfaces for gluing, liquid polyurethanes for the production of soles, paints. Prices must be confirmed with suppliers.
Package
Shoe boxes are produced in special factories that deal with various packaging, ready to make packaging specifically for you, indicating the brand or name of the factory. Among such manufacturers in our country: “Planet Packaging”, “Antek”, “Iris Pack” and others.
Organization of production
The factory must have sufficient space for the installation of equipment and convenient work for operators. The required factory area, including workshops, warehouses and office departments, can be up to 7 thousand square meters. As for operators, not all machines have an automatic mode, therefore, machine workers will be required for almost every machine. For constant, uninterrupted production, you will need a number of operators that will be sufficient to operate the production in two shifts. On average, about 250 people will be required to work in production.
All necessary communications must be connected to the factory: electricity, gas and water supply, telephone installation. It is necessary to take into account the loads, in particular the electrical load, which, due to the operation of the machines, can be up to 50 kW.
Certification
Certification of shoes for adults is a voluntary process, for children it is mandatory. Produced shoes for adults are subject to mandatory declaration. Shoes intended for wear, in addition to sports, national and orthopedic, must comply with a number of GOSTs. Only shoes without production damage, of the same size in pairs, with correctly connected parts, etc. can receive a certificate of conformity and a declaration. All shoes in Russian Federation subject to sanitary and epidemiological control.
Sales
As with many other consumer product manufacturing processes, the best option For the sale of shoes, contracts will be concluded with large Russian chains such as Ecolas, Tervolina, Aty-Bata and others. There are quite a lot of such networks now, the main thing is that you have a product worthy of the consumer’s attention.
Investments
According to expert calculations, the investments required to create a shoe factory from scratch amount to about 180 million rubles. Moreover, taking into account the internal rate of return of 48%, the payback period will be up to 4 years.
Ilkevich Daria
- portal of business plans and manuals
Shoe production: what equipment is needed + shoe manufacturing technology - 9 main stages. What is needed to organize the work of a shoe production: raw materials, premises, personnel + detailed financial calculations.
Capital investment (factory): from 150,000,000 rubles.
Payback period for footwear production: 3.5 – 4 years.
The Russian market is overflowing with goods that are produced all over the world, but the situation with domestic producers is not so good.
This is most likely due to the fact that countries like China produce a large number of products to suit every taste.
Yes, it is not of particularly high quality. However, its prices are quite low, while well-known foreign brands High Quality have a correspondingly high cost.
One of such industries is shoe production. This type of activity is also not particularly developed in the Russian Federation.
Therefore, we can assume that if you create an excellent product offer in Russia, then demand will appear.
This business is not suitable for everyone.
You need to be a person who understands all the intricacies of the tailor's profession. Also have experience in shoe sewing, repair or manufacturing.
Even if you do not plan to work yourself, but only engage in management, such experience will help determine what may be needed for production.
Which format to choose for shoe production?
To summarize, we can distinguish two formats for shoe production:
- a small point where a craftsman sews shoes to order or for retail sale;
- full-scale production, factory.
The first option is chosen when there are no funds for arrangement large enterprise with factory premises and a large staff.
In this case, you can try to open a small boutique with designer shoes.
But the option of a shoe sewing factory will allow you to discover all the possibilities, if available, for both a novice entrepreneur and an experienced businessman.
The cardinal difference is that in the case of large production, it is necessary to focus on its mass production, the speed of release of new models and accessibility to the masses.
And in the case of a private boutique, the main task is the production of exclusive models with individual design, as well as the highest quality.
Another point on which the shoe production format differs is its style. It is necessary to diametrically separate the sports and classical formats.
While there are no particularly complex differences in the technology of sewing summer sandals and winter boots, sneakers are a completely different type of product, the production of which requires different knowledge, technology and equipment.
Basic equipment for shoe production - what will you need?
Regardless of the size and purpose of a shoe factory, it is obvious that without sewing machine there's no way around it.
Already delving into the nuances of production, we can emphasize the fact that the standard model is not suitable when working with leather and other hard materials.
Detailed list |
|
|---|---|
| 1) machine for bending transitions and edges of some parts - 640,000 rubles. 2) installation for creating a form 3) special press 4) grinding equipment 5) installation that lowers the edges of the parts Total: from 1,850,000 rubles |
|
Optional equipment, | 1) special installation which will attach some parts using glue - 460,000 rubles. 2) equipment that will 3) installations that will hold together 4) production conveyor - 465,000 rubles. 5) a cutter for dividing the material into parts, Total: from 1,970,000 rubles |
For finishing | 1) tightening - 240,000 rub. 2) moisturizing - 155,000 rub. 3) drying - 550,000 rub. 4) cooling - 445,000 rub. 5) thermal activation of glue layers - 6) removing the pads - 225,000 rubles. 7) smoothing the lower leg area - 8) final cleaning and Total: from 2,125,000 rubles |
In most cases it may be necessary to optional equipment, the choice of which will be determined by the characteristics of production. This is due to the desire to introduce innovations even into such a familiar industry as shoe production.
Famous brands take advantage of this especially actively.
Vivid examples: “breathable shoes” from the Geox brand, shoes with “Easy Tone” soles from Reebok (which, according to advertising, helps keep the buttock muscles in good shape).
9 stages of shoe manufacturing technology
- Further markings are applied where and how the connecting seams will go.
- The edges of the parts are fired and ground in order to make them thinner and suitable for further stitching.
- Seamstresses start stitching, which give the blank the shape of future shoes.
- After that plates are attached, which give shoes the ability to remain in their original form without losing their shape under the influence of temperatures.
- The process of tightening ready product laces always done manually.
As with any sewing process, it all starts with a pattern.
If we consider an example in which we already have finished processed leather or other material of the color we need, then the next step will be the manufacture of parts.
These components are cut out using special cutters according to a stencil of the future product prepared in advance.
To make one shoe, on average, you need to divide a section of material into 20 or more parts. But it all depends on the complexity of the idea of this model.
The next step would be shaping shoe insoles.
This is done using special equipment - a press.
This device, using the method of strong compression, connects several layers of different materials, and gives a certain shape and bends to the shoe insole.
The last stage of production is connecting the workpiece to the sole.
The sole itself is made in a special oven, after which it is processed and all excess is cut off.
After connecting to the sole, the finished model is polished.
This is done using sheep wool and a special cart for shoes.
What raw materials may be needed for the production of shoes, and where is the best place to get them?
Since we are still talking about the production of good and high-quality shoes, the main material for its production is considered to be genuine leather.
It is not necessary to contact foreign companies for the supply of high-quality material, since half of the cost will only be delivery, plus expenses for customs, etc.
Throughout Russia there are many enterprises that offer material for making shoes. You can refer to the following:
- "Ronnon" - Moscow ( https://www.ronnontk.ru/leather)
- "Ostashkovsky plant" - Tver region ( www.okz.ru)
- "Russian Leather" - Ryazan ( https://www.leather.ru/ru)
- "Kirov Tannery Artex" - Kirov ( www.arteks.su)
And this is not a complete list of all Russian leather factories.
Chemical production materials will also be needed for further processing of this leather. Chemical treatment means various liquids, creams, oils etc.
To treat shoe soles you may also need liquid polyurethanes. All this can be ordered from local chemical plants. Again, there are more than enough of them on Russian territory.
Packaging material Most often it is ordered from companies that produce custom packaging. Most often, the larger the order, the cheaper the unit costs.
How to choose the right room?
Premises for small production.
If we are talking about mini-production, you can get by with a small room.
Some equipment that would be needed for conveyor production is not needed in this case, since half of the work will be done manually.
Also, as a rule, when producing this format there is no need for a large number of personnel.
Based on these data, you can determine: you will need a room with a small area.
But the general requirements for production remain unchanged, regardless of its volume:
- presence of a gas pipeline;
- water supply was installed;
- availability of telephone lines;
- the electrical wire is able to withstand the load corresponding to the characteristics of production;
- Heating and thermal insulation are also important, since storing the material for manufacturing requires a certain temperature regime.
Nowadays, it’s quite common to find workshop outlets where the store itself is located in the same building as.
This makes it possible to save on rent and sell products locally.
Premises for a shoe making factory.
In the case of a large-scale shoe manufacturing workshop, it is obvious that it is better to choose a factory premises in the industrial zone of the city.
Typically, the cost of renting or purchasing a building in this part of the city is not that high.
If you include all the necessary areas (office department, workshops for manufacturing, sewing and processing, staff premises and warehouse), you will need an area of about 7,000 square meters. m.
How to properly organize work in a shoe shop?
Selection of personnel for mini-production of shoes.
For a small retail + production point, in fact, one person is quite enough. But for greater convenience, it is better to separate administrative work and the process of creating a product itself.
Ideally, you need at least one more administration representative(for example, manager or salesman, if the production is located in the same premises as the store), designer(since we are talking about designer shoes), cutter and seamstress in one person, and also master, who will handle all installation and similar work.
Personnel for factory sewing shoes.
To operate a full-fledged shoe production, in addition to a sufficient amount of equipment, it is necessary to hire a sufficiently large staff.
In general, about 150 people are needed to work in production (assuming that they will work in two shifts). And we are only talking about workers in the sewing and other workshops!
Enough administrative personnel will also be needed, as will warehouse workers. But, again, it all depends on the characteristics of the enterprise.
Each manager determines the exact amount himself, depending on the scale of what volume he is interested in.
Sales and sales of footwear
You can sell shoes both through and with the help of various showrooms and boutiques that sell various brands.
The second option is much more profitable - there is no need to pay for rent of premises, labor, etc.
All you need is to simply provide the product to the store for sale, set a certain amount per unit, depending on the model. The markup that the store sets, its owners can take for themselves.
In fact, there are many methods for selling shoes: from a point in the market to a large gallery in mall. But the method indicated above is considered the most profitable.
Capital for organizing shoe production. Profitability.
In the case of a small production and sales point, it is difficult to calculate costs.
The only thing we can say for sure is that this business will pay off faster than factory production. Already in the first year of operation, all initial costs should be recouped, after which the enterprise will begin to make a profit.
If not, this will be a sign that you need to change your strategy.
In the case of a large workshop for the mass production of shoes, we can give approximate figures - from 150,000,000 rubles.
This amount includes costs not only for equipment for shoe production, but also rent, labor, and utilities.
| Expense item | Amount (rub.) |
|---|---|
| Total: | from 150,000,000 rubles |
| Business registration | 5 000 000 |
| Rental of premises (year) | From 25,000,000 (7,000 sq. m. in the Moscow region) |
| Utilities (year) | 10 000 000 |
| Salary (for approximately 150 employees) | From 3,000,000/month. From 36,000,000 / year |
| Equipment for the production of | From 5,945,000 |
| Raw materials (material for production) | 25,000,000 /year |
| Freight transportation | 2,000,000 /year |
| Rent of premises for selling shoes (about 5 pcs.) | 30,000,000 /year |
| Other expenses (breakdown repairs, advertising, events) | 11,000,000/year |
If we take into account the average indicators of domestic production, the profitability of such a business (on a large scale) will be about 48-50%.
It can fully pay for itself in 3.5-4 years of work.
The development of this production is impossible without knowledge of all the nuances of the industry.
How is shoe tailoring done? All manufacturing stages are shown in the video:
Conclusion on how to start shoe production and what is needed for this?
Taking into account everything written above, we conclude: shoe production large scale is not so suitable for entrepreneurs who are not ready for such huge costs, and also do not have the opportunity to wait such a long time for payback, since they do not need large scale equipment for shoe production.
However, there is always the opportunity to start with a smaller business, but in this case, success can only be expected if you have truly fresh and interesting ideas.
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Vladimir Grigoriev was the first in Russia to set up the production of sneakers according to individual measurements and sells them all over the world
IT tools used by Vladimir Grigoriev
- PayPal
- Ecwid
- Iconosquare
- 1C:UNF
Vladimir Grigoriev might not have taken up own business, if only at one time I could buy sneakers and sneakers “not like everyone else” in shoe stores. But shoe brands were offering almost the same thing, which gave rise to the idea of launching the production of custom-made sneakers. The client can choose the color, decorative elements and materials for the model he likes. The founder of the Afour brand, Vladimir Grigoriev, told the website about how to organize a fitting at a distance and why custom-made shoes can be not only classic.
Entrepreneur from St. Petersburg, founder of a shoe brand Afour. Education: St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (Department of Economics). Since 2007, he has been creating custom shoes with a friend, but due to the 2008 crisis, the partner decided to leave the project. Since that time, Vladimir has been independently developing his shoe company Afour.
There is assortment, but there is no choice
I've always loved interesting shoes. When I was 14-15 years old, I started skateboarding, and one of the important attributes of this activity is sneakers. It was considered especially cool in the area to have pro-model sneakers dedicated to some professional rider. There wasn’t much money, and we didn’t come up with anything. They even bought our Dynamo sneakers and customized them - they sewed on suede inserts and reinforced the tongue with foam rubber. Often this was a collective effort: everyone came up with something of their own. The need for invention is cunning.
When there was money for branded sneakers, it always became an event. Several other people traveled with the buyer to help with advice when choosing. By that time, the assortment in the stores was already large, but very monotonous. This is the minus of the stores. If a model sells well, the store buys mostly it - and pays less attention to really interesting things. The larger the store, the more difficult it is for it to experiment.
Thus, almost everywhere everything was the same. You come to the store, there are 40 pairs of sneakers. Of these, two are more or less interesting. You come to your friends - and everything is the same, because they made the same choice as you.
Work through the base
In 2007, an acquaintance called me and offered to sew sneakers together. I was surprised - how is this possible? It turned out that he wanted to launch the production of sneakers; his mother just worked as a shoe designer at a factory in St. Petersburg. All I had to do was draw a sketch of the shoes. And even though I was doing graphic design and working in advertising agency, I couldn’t draw the sneakers from scratch. The result was either garbage or copies of famous brands. A week later, I called a friend and confessed my failure.
At that time, he had a classic shoe-making studio - primarily sneakers. Things were not going well: there were no more than two or three orders a month. I realized that my friend had burned out on his idea and was close to closing the studio. But I, on the contrary, caught fire, I became interested. And the thought came to me that I needed to “work the base” a little more. This means developing ready-made models, selecting components for them, and limiting the client’s choice only to the color of the top.
Once the idea was formed, I told a friend about it. To launch a new type of atelier, we needed about 200-300 thousand rubles. In six months we made a website, opened group“VKontakte” came up with “blanks for coloring” (you could draw in Paint or with a felt-tip pen on paper). At that time, we were both busy with our main jobs and invested everything we earned into a new project.
The first clients began to appear, but in 2008 the crisis struck. He hit us hard. People then refused to buy anything at all, especially sneakers from an unknown brand. Sales fell sharply, and my partner said that he was not ready to “raise” all this for the third time. “If you want, you can take this business for yourself, but I went surfing in Vietnam,” he said.
All by myself
This time I decided to go all the way from the very beginning. First of all, this meant learning to sew, cut and do all the operations myself. At the first production, we were often told that “this cannot be done,” although we showed them successful examples from other manufacturers. To this we were told that “there is super technology abroad, but here no one will do that for you.” This approach did not suit me. And I decided to master all the sewing processes in order to clearly understand whether it is possible to do what I want or not.
Plus, the factory where we sewed everything refused to cooperate with me. I started looking for a new production and found a shoemaker who had his own workshop. He wanted to close it, but, fortunately, he did not have time to either terminate the lease agreement or sell the equipment. In fact, I leased its production. The shoemaker leased the equipment to me, I started working on it and eventually planned to buy it out.
I found and read a bunch of textbooks, sat down at the sewing machine in production and began making my first “Frankensteins”. Of course, they were crooked and slanting. It takes time to learn how to sew even the simplest pattern smoothly. From the first production there were four patterns left on which I practiced. When it became possible to sew, I began to “tighten”, that is, to mold the workpiece on the block and make the finished product.
Only after six months of “training” did I realize that I could complete the first order. They became boots for a friend's wedding
I started accepting orders in 2009. At first I did them all myself. And in his free time, as before, he was engaged in design, but now on a freelance basis. I worked right in the workshop. I spent half a day cutting, half a day solving customer problems.
This went on for a year. Then I took the shoemaker. I sewed models all week, and he came on the weekend and “tightened” the products. He did it more professionally. At that moment, I achieved my goal: I went through all the processes and understood all the nuances that need to be taken into account. This still helps me in communicating with employees. It’s easier for me to solve technical issues by understanding cause-and-effect relationships.
My company is called Afour. What I liked about this combination of sounds is that it sounds like the word “euphoria.” This is the feeling I get when we produce a new model and a satisfied customer receives his order. I remember almost all clients by sight. They are part of our big family.
Something special
Once I learned how to sew basic patterns, I realized I needed to learn how to design. It is most important. If the model is poorly designed, it will not be sewn well. I started working on this issue at the same time. After some time, I designed my first model, since then it has always been and is in our assortment in one form or another. These are classic sports style boots.
The next stage is website development. I was going to work on order and wanted to make the ordering process convenient for the client. To do this, I came up with an online shoe designer where a person can rotate the model, select any part of it and paint it in the desired color. This is a technically difficult task, and I spent a long time looking for performers. Agencies assigned million-dollar budgets. As a result, I found a programmer through my friends, and we made a website together, for very reasonable money. The first from Russian manufacturers.
Our standard for shoe manufacturing is 10 working days after approval of the layout. Many private shoe making companies are chasing our standard, but cannot achieve it. Their average production time for custom-made shoes is more than a month.
We have a lot of things in our production that you won’t find in other factories. For example, unique machines for cutting out soles. The fact is that all sports shoes produced in Russia are made with ready-made soles, which are simply glued in production. We sharpen all our soles ourselves. And for their production we use modern materials. They answer better technical features walking than the soles of much larger companies.
Of course, we lag behind major sports brands in technology, so we don’t meddle in sports. We make shoes for every day. But our technology itself is much more correct than that of most companies.
Our production is located in St. Petersburg, on the territory of one of the oldest shoe factories in the Moscow Gate area - “Victory Factory No. 2”. There used to be a whole shoe cluster in this area. Now some kind of infrastructure has been preserved there, and some of the components are sold right on the spot. Thus, we save a lot on logistics.
We rent a couple of small workshops. Compared to classic shoe production, this is a micro-business. Production is divided into several stages: cutting, sewing, making soles and connecting them with the rest of the product, packaging.
Size matters
Previously, we only sewed standard sizes. But then we realized: no one, except people who are passionate about this issue, knows what their actual shoe size is and how it should fit correctly.
Two or three years ago we decided to take a closer look at this issue. We figured out the design, and we wanted the shoes to fit perfectly. Moreover, we sew to order. And according to the law, if a person makes a mistake with the size, we cannot change his shoes. It is almost impossible to sell such a pair to anyone else.
I came up with such a feature as a “size slip” - this is a fitting model of shoes. According to the classic scheme, when making shoes to order, the buyer is sent a mock-up. I decided that for our price category this story is very expensive and long. We have developed a “simplified” shoe model. It repeats the shape of the future block on which the client’s order will be placed. We started sending out these slips and asking if it was tight and if everything was okay.
We made the size slips essentially free, and everyone liked them. They cost 1000 rubles, but this amount is returned when purchasing shoes. Their production is inexpensive - delivery is more expensive. The sock is made of transparent material. The client tries on the slips and sends a photo. Our specialists study the image and decide on the right shoe size.
There is a misconception that shoes must fit very tightly because they will eventually stretch. In fact, this only applies to the width: the shoes do not stretch in length. There are rigid elements in the heel and toe that hold its shape. When we walk, the foot moves a little relative to the sole. The required distance for this movement is 0.5-1 cm in front of the fingers. If it is not there, then the toes rest against the toe, and tension arises.
The fitting system reduces the risk that the shoes will not fit to almost zero. But there were also such situations. You can try on slips in different ways, and you need to approach this process carefully. Many people are accustomed to the style of online shoe stores, when three pairs are delivered to your home and you need to try them on in 15 minutes. But in fact, 15 minutes is not enough even to try on one pair. We ask you to walk around your home or office in our slips for at least half an hour.
In the instructions for trying them on there is a questionnaire where you need to answer five or six questions. It takes a couple of minutes. But some write to us: “everything is fine for me,” or “it’s pressing from all sides.” We look at the photo and understand that everything is not at all as people wrote. But in every situation we try to be on the client’s side and take all these points into account. Even if he says that everything is fine, we still ask for answers to the points of the questionnaire.
“Standard design” shoes that do not fit can be returned. But we do not accept returns on individual orders, and therefore we do not send the order until we are firmly sure that the shoes will fit. We would rather send the customer 1-2 more pairs of size slips.
Ordering process: measure seven times
The ordering process is as follows. The client selects a model on the website. We send him detailed instructions on how to take measurements. Using it, he takes several measurements of his foot, draws an outline, scans or photographs it and sends it to us. We study the size, taking into account all possible errors, and send him size slips. The process of studying data and making slips takes two days.
Once the customer approves the size, we launch the order into production the next day. In total, the first order (including the dispatch and approval of slips) takes about 20 days. But this period depends on the client’s efficiency: how quickly he takes and sends all measurements and approves the size. For a client from Moscow, it can be done in 15 days. Of course, the farther from St. Petersburg, the longer the wait. But that doesn't stop our Australian customers.
Customers who want to get shoes “right now” have to explain that they are in the wrong place and need to go to the store. We often get calls from marketing agencies who threaten to “catch up on traffic” and “drown us in a sea of orders.” We refuse because we don't need spontaneous purchases. They are a huge disadvantage for us. Recently, a client ordered three pairs of shoes at once. Fortunately, there was a payment error when ordering. We contacted the customer and it turned out that he had not read the instructions and was not aware of any measurements! He told us: “Why take measurements, I’m size 43?”
Often people come to our showroom, try on slips, and it turns out that their actual size is smaller or larger than the one they considered “theirs” all their lives. They just have wide feet or some other individual characteristics. No one explains this in regular stores. And the legs greatly influence the overall health of the body. If the shoes are chosen incorrectly, the sole does not absorb shock - your knees and back hurt. You should never skimp on shoes, no matter how much you might want to.
Teenagers are not the target audience
Our main client is from 23 years old. Younger people don't come to us because they don't understand the value of our shoes. They want something more fashionable and cheaper. Young people also rarely pay attention to the naturalness of materials.
Our customers can already figure out what they want, and not buy what they are sold on in advertising. For example, sneakers from Kanye West cost 15,000 rubles. They're just plain black sneakers, but guys are standing in line for them because they say "Kanye West" on them. And they stand in a crowd to buy the same sneakers! And we are for shoes to be different. Do you like black? Why not try black and yellow? We try to encourage people to be themselves.
The older generation buys our shoes quite often. We have a separate classic line, and serious men buy boots from us. But there are many competitors in the “classics”. True, we are making a slightly more modern analogue. Our soles are lighter and your feet get less tired throughout the day. For the classic line, we made it larger, implying that older people will buy the classics.
Foreigners are buying more limited editions. Some of them collect unusual sneakers. And it’s cool for them to have a pair from Russia, which was probably “stitched” by a bear
Our sneakers and boots are bought in the USA, Germany, France, and Australia. Some customers bought more than two pairs. Our shoes are only available in South America and Africa.
Materials
We mix modern materials with those that have been used in shoes for a long time and have proven themselves well. Leather is a membrane material. It releases air and absorbs excess moisture, making the foot feel comfortable. We use it for the top and lining, combining it with a cotton insert in the toe area, where the most heat and moisture are released. For sneakers, we purchase “intermesh” with high breathability. Sometimes we use textile materials.
The soles are made of EVA material - ethyl vinyl acetate. It cushions and absorbs the energy of the foot very well. Under body weight, this material adapts to the foot. It is more often used in sports shoes and orthopedics. The moving part, the tread, in our shoes is made in Italy. Depending on the season, we select different types of tires. For winter shoes it is softer and more viscous, for the demi-season and summer it is tougher and better resistant to abrasion.
We buy some of the material here in Russia, and order some abroad. Most of the materials are imported, but there is also Russian leather. We select the material according to the design, its technical properties, quality and price ratio. We will not refuse good Russian leather just because it is Russian.
Of course, it is not true that nothing is produced in Russia. But we actually have a very destroyed infrastructure, and many things are really very difficult to find in Russia. Materials are most often produced by large factories - in a very specific range and in very large volumes. This is the main problem. In principle, you can find what you need in our factories. But then you will have to buy a huge volume.
Our manufacturers and suppliers do not like to work with small batches. It’s easier for them to process one huge order, and then sit for the whole year and do nothing. When I came and said that I needed 100 pairs, they almost hounded me with a nasty broom, because the minimum volume everywhere is from 10,000 pairs. I tell them: “Guys, when I reach 10,000, I will simply not come to you out of principle.” And now they call and say: “Why don’t you come to us?”
And this is the general picture of Russian suppliers. Until you shake the bills in front of their noses, they won’t even move. They don't want to work for the future. And then they complain that our shoe industry is stagnating and there are no orders.
Soles
The most expensive component in our shoes is the soles. We ordered them abroad. Working with representative offices of foreign suppliers also has its own characteristics. For example, the cost of soles from one Italian company increased fivefold due to fluctuations in exchange rates. Moreover, when the exchange rate rose, the price rose. And when it fell, the price did not change. And now I hear the question from them: “Why haven’t you bought soles from us for a long time?” But I can’t buy them at that price.
The funny thing is that I was the first Russian customer of this company. I saved a large amount for the first batch because they didn't sell small quantities. And not only did they delay this delivery, but they also brought more soles than necessary. And they began to sell them to my competitors individually.
We were very badly burned by this. And at that moment I decided: we will not save another large sum to purchase a new large batch of soles from some other supplier. We will make them ourselves.
Sheet materials for soles are easier to buy than ready-made soles. This is more labor-intensive, but there are many advantages to this approach. From the same batch of material I can make a large assortment. If a certain style ceases to be in demand on the market, I can make a new style from the same material. In this situation, you can order large quantities of material.
Although our volumes have increased, some materials are still sold in very large quantities for us. Sometimes we offer our competitors to buy a batch of material together and split the costs. I would like to import materials directly from foreign manufacturers, without greedy unfriendly intermediaries, but for this the volumes must be larger. I adequately perceive intermediaries, but sometimes it’s a shame to give money simply because they do their job poorly.
Delivery
Within Russia we deliver orders by courier services. True, they often have to be changed. We never found a service that satisfied us for a long time. After some time of operation, courier services begin to “deteriorate”, and we have to look for new partners.
The main reason for this is that courier companies at some point begin to grow and recruit staff. And in pursuit of profit, they try to hire cheaper couriers. And such employees work extremely poorly.
With our previous delivery service, such incidents began in mid-November that we were shocked. To the point that the courier calls the client who ordered delivery and offers to pick up the parcel at the warehouse. We call their manager, and he says: “Well, yes, we are not doing a good job, but what can I do.” And on the website of this “dynamically developing company” they declare “super customer service”. When we wrote a complaint in November, they promised to answer us in December, but they answered only in February. And this is because we refused to pay until we received a response to the claim.
If something is wrong with delivery, clients call us and say: “And your courier...” And we call the courier service and figure out what the problem is.
For international shipments we use Russian Post. Lately she has started to work much better. In 2017, the post office introduced a rule that to send abroad you only need to issue one piece of paper. This saves a lot of time. Sending abroad by courier service is very expensive, comparable to the cost of the shoes themselves.
Economy
The cost of our shoes is very high, almost half the retail price. Both production and service require a lot of labor. Due to the individual nature of our work, we have almost no wholesale orders.
The price largely depends on the materials the client chooses, as well as whether there is embroidery, embossing, printing, etc. Some order “full mince” with several embroideries and rare leather. The price of one pair of Afour shoes is from 6,500 rubles (these are leather slip-ons). The price usually includes size slips if needed. The upper limit is around 20,000 rubles, but if the client wants, for example, python skin inserts, it will cost even more. There is a loyalty system: a cumulative discount (up to 10%) grows with each purchase.
We are often asked why we don't find investors. It is difficult to attract them because there is no clear infrastructure, and the business plan moves to the level of sensations and predictions. We don’t even have analogues to get approximate statistics. Every year we have a little growth. We then analyze which actions contributed to growth and which ones slowed it down. Based on these results, we plan further development.
Our peak sales seasons are from September to December and from March to the end of June. In other months the demand is less. On average we make about 100 pairs per month
I couldn’t get a loan from a bank, so I borrowed money to develop my business from friends and acquaintances. I am an individual entrepreneur, and for some reason banks don’t like us. Some banks asked what I do. When I answered that it was production, they refused me immediately - “We don’t finance production at all, we’re not interested in that.” The banking system does not consider manufacturing micro-businesses at all.
We plan to achieve full payback for the project by the end of 2017. Every year we try to increase sales by 20%. But since we are developing at our own expense, in the first years the growth was very small. Now 20% is an achievable result. In 2016, the growth was about 30%.
Market and competition
Despite the reign of brands, small companies are beginning to appear in Europe and Russia that are doing something interesting out of love for shoes, and not just out of a desire to sell something. Otherwise, many of our manufacturers sell outright counterfeits of well-known brands. If earlier similar manufacturers made “abibases”, now they have become insolent and sculpt their logo on the products. But this is a dead end.
The only “value” of such shoes is the price. But tomorrow someone else will come and offer the same thing for 100 rubles cheaper. This does not develop the industry; they simply buy products from China with their logo stuck on them. It’s a shame when such “manufacturers” act under the banner of a “Russian brand”.
At the same time, there are guys who have their own style. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but they are doing something individual and I believe they will evolve. When a neophyte comes to me who wants to get involved in shoes and asks for my advice, I advise him with great pleasure. I am for “Made in Russia” - it was cool.
There are not very many companies making custom shoes. We have no direct competitors, because we have chosen a niche that is difficult for individual orders: sneakers and modern materials. Classic shoes are usually made to order. There are usually standard components, there are no problems with them. And your only task is to do everything well.
But in Russia, no one produces real sneakers and no one knows how to make them. So all our competitors in the field of made-to-measure shoes work in other shoe categories: classic or avant-garde. There is no competition between us as such. We are friends, communicate and try to help each other.
Payment system as an ally
Abroad, the history of a good product and its collaborations plays a very important role. Therefore, interest in us arose there, and the emergence of PayPal accelerated this process. Before this, foreigners were wary that they had to pay for the order with a card through a Russian service. They said that the bank prohibited them from making purchases in Eastern Europe. When PayPal came to Russia, I was one of the first in the country to open an account in this system.
Foreign clients pay only through PayPal. If this payment system had not arrived, our foreign orders would have ended at the payment stage. Now they make up 10-15% of total sales, depending on the season.
Technically, working with PayPal is not at all difficult; everything here is at a very high level. They have a standard fee for each transaction, no subscription fee No. Plus, now they have very fast withdrawals of money through the system. Having received payment via PayPal today, I will receive the money in my bank account tomorrow. For small business for whom turnover is important, this is also a big advantage. Some similar services allow you to withdraw money only after two to three weeks.
This system protects both the buyer and the seller. One day we received a letter from PayPal: “Do not put the order into production, as there are suspicions that the card was used without the owner’s knowledge.” This system allows you to safely make purchases around the world. If the buyer has problems receiving the order, he can submit a claim through PayPal, and if it is justified, the payment system will return the money.
There were situations when a client submitted a claim to us via PayPal. In response, we sent all correspondence with the client confirming that we had fulfilled all our obligations. And PayPal took your side, rejecting the client's request. In fact, he is like an unbiased mediator, and we recommend him to everyone.
Team
The Afour project team consists of 10 people, including those who work outsourced. Some operations do not require the constant presence of employees, but we still try to ensure that these works are performed by the same people (fashion designers, designers, cutters). This turns out to be “permanent outsourcing”.
I myself work as a “man-steamer”; in fact, my responsibilities range from cleaner to financial director. If I hired employees for all these positions, the costs would amount to millions, and I would not be able to recoup anything soon. I model myself, I like it, but now I try to work mainly as an art director.
Promotion
We essentially have only two sales tools: a website and a production showroom. But the main driver of promotion is the product itself. We initially made it so that it should sell itself. “Word of mouth” is the most effective and reliable way of advertising for us.
We also promote our product through collaborations. For example, we made sneakers for a brand of bags and backpacks, matching their style, and promoted it all together through common channels. There were also collaborations with artists. With their help, we made “capsule collections” for stores, for example “Nevalenki”. Especially for them, we made a surreal model of women's shoes “EggyPop”. On our scale, it made a lot of noise in its time. You still sometimes see these boots in photos on social networks with comments: “A man with scrambled eggs on his shoes in the subway!” We also collaborated with St. Petersburg brands ANTEATER and Asya Malbershtein.
Of course, we periodically use both public advertising and paid advertising on Facebook. But we try to do it as organically as possible. We try not to provoke spontaneous purchases. When we ask new clients how you heard about us, they usually tell us one of two things: either “recommended by friends,” or “followed us for a long time and decided to buy.” And we know that the person came prepared, including for our fittings.
We are now preparing a new version of the online designer for the site; all our models and all the materials we use will be loaded into it. In the previous version we had only 12 colors in stock, now the range will be much wider. The designer itself will be much more functional. This is our main task.
We are also installing a new machine that will allow us to make soles faster. Thus, their cost will be slightly reduced. This will allow us to maintain prices for the third year in a row. We try to compensate for inflation by optimizing production and reducing costs, without losing quality and level of service.
We are also planning to open a showroom in the center of St. Petersburg to make it more convenient for clients to come there. We have been planning this for several years now. The business is small, we are developing at our own expense, and opening a store without preparation is very difficult. But now, finally, a concept has been formed on how best to do this, and at the same time not get lost among other shoe stores. I would like to open it by autumn 2017.
Today, high demands are placed on the shoe business. Not only should shoes be comfortable and reliable, they should correspond to the latest fashion trends and be original. Foreign manufacturers have gone far ahead in this matter, so the majority of the market is made up of imported products. However, prices are significantly higher domestic goods. Therefore, an entrepreneur who has managed to occupy a niche between cheap domestic and expensive imported products will be able to set his business on a successful course. Moreover, experts note an increase in demand for dress shoes.
Features of working in the shoe industry
For a business to be successful, it is important not only to understand it well. Only if you are constantly aware of the latest shoe fashion trends, various innovations and unusual solutions, will you be able to provide these new items to the market in a timely manner, and, therefore, improve your position in it.
But the shoe market is very vast, and it is simply impossible to be competent in all its manifestations. Therefore, it is recommended to choose a narrow specialization in shoe making and become an expert in this field. This is the only way to bring a business to a leading position in intense competition.
Competition in the market is very high. Therefore, before drawing up a business plan, you need to study the situation on the market in your region: its saturation, the specialization of competitors, the quality of the products offered, pricing policy And so on.
Case registration
For the factory to officially operate, your business must be registered. If you are planning a small production, you can choose an individual entrepreneur. This will require only five working days and a minimum of funds:
To open a large factory, it is advisable to register a legal entity. Then you will be able to trade in large quantities of goods.
It is recommended that small and medium-sized businesses choose a simplified tax system. There are two possible options here. 6% is paid from total income or 15% from net income, that is, from which expenses have been subtracted. An accountant or lawyer will advise you on which system is best to choose for your business.
During registration, you must indicate the OKVED code 19.30: shoe production. It makes it possible to manufacture any type of shoes, from any material, as well as its parts: heels, insoles, soles, etc. Please note that this code does not apply to the following types of shoes:
- orthopedic;
- from asbestos;
- for skates and rollers.
Company name
An important step in creating own production is to register the original name of your company. It should be short and memorable, and also associated with the activities of the enterprise. When choosing a name, you need to take into account some existing restrictions. For example, to use the names of states, cities, and constituent entities of the Russian Federation, special permission will be required. And these are additional costs.
IN mandatory you need to register the original name in Russian: full and abbreviated. Additionally, you can approve the full and abbreviated name in English and the language of the peoples of the Russian Federation.
Determining the assortment
Your business plan should determine what range of shoes you will work with. And first of all, establish what price category you plan to cover. Practice shows that the most profitable production is the production of shoes for middle-income people. Include shoes for all ages and genders in your production plan.
As for the specific product range, there are many types of shoes. It is divided by gender into male and female. There is also a classification by season: demi-season, spring, autumn, winter and summer.
According to their intended purpose, shoes are classified into:
- orthopedic;
- production;
- professional;
- day off;
- everyday;
- military;
- household.
In addition, there are many different models of each type of shoe. What exactly to build a business on depends on the preferences of the entrepreneur and market requirements.
Production process
Shoe production technology is a complex and multi-stage process. Within the factory, each of them employs separate specialists using special equipment. Therefore, be prepared that the equipment purchase plan will consist of a huge list of required items. There are many equipment manufacturers operating on the market. You can find everything you need for any budget that your business plan provides.
In Russia there are representative offices of such world-famous manufacturers of shoe equipment as Volonte, Silpar, Sicomec, Selmac, Rachioni, Pfaff, Meccanica, Officina, Obe, Neve, Mec-Val, Mav, Matic Verdi, Knaoz, Iron Fox, Elettrotecnica, Ecom , Durcopp Adler, Comelz, Cerim, Camoga, Banf, Atom.
It is difficult to even name the approximate cost of such equipment, since it is produced and delivered strictly to the order of each specific factory. Therefore, you need to decide on the manufacturer and personally clarify the cost of the order with him.
Cutting
The first stage of shoe making is cutting out the necessary parts on the dressed leather. For example, to make one shoe you will need about 30 pieces. At this stage, you will need cutters or special stencils, as well as a punching press. The latest equipment can be adjusted to suit different skin types. Please note that you will need two of these presses. One is for cutting out the details of the upper part, and the other is for the lower part of the shoe.
Making insoles
This production stage can be omitted if you do not prepare the insoles yourself, but purchase ready-made ones. If you decide to set up your own production, you will need to include the purchase of the following equipment in your business plan:
- a unit that lowers the edges of the shoe bottom parts;
- a hydraulic press that will form a warm insole;
- unit for lubricating the half-insole with glue;
- unit for grinding the edges of insoles;
- press that forms the insole.
The technological production process in this case begins with cutting out the insole, pressing on a special press on both sides, and grinding the edges. After this, the insoles are glued with rubber glue and processed with another press.
Preparation of blanks
At this stage, the parts go through the marking stage - lines are drawn on them along which the seams will run. After this, the edges of the workpiece are fired, painted and polished. This is necessary so that the edges become narrower and smoother. Then it is convenient to sew them together.
For this stage of production, include in your business plan the purchase of the following machines:
- for duplicating elements of the lining, top and thermo-adhesive parts;
- for lowering the edges of elements to thin their edges;
- unit for applying identification numbers to each pair of shoes;
- machine for leveling parts of the top of a product.
Sewing shop
After preparation, the parts are sent to the sewing workshop. Here they are sewn together in the required sequence, creating shoe blanks. In the same workshop, thermoplastic inserts are inserted into them, which help maintain the shape of the shoes longer. To do this, the workpiece is laced with temporary laces, placed on a metal foot heated to 150 o C and immediately cooled to -20 o C.
For this workshop, the business plan must include the purchase of the following equipment:
- apparatus for forming a leather patch on the instep and toe;
- rear seam smoothing device;
- device for bending the edges of parts;
- toe box insertion apparatus;
- apparatus for spreading glue;
- industrial sewing machines;
- sewing conveyor.
Shoe assembly
Assembling shoes begins with processing the workpiece on a ruffler. Here the temporary sole is prepared for gluing: it is leveled and cleaned of dust. After this, it is processed in a special oven at a temperature of 60 o C, and the remains at the edges are cut off. Only after this is the sole glued or sewn to the workpiece. The finished shoes are polished with waxed sheep's wool and laced. The last stage is carried out entirely manually.
At this stage of production, you will need a special assembly line, which includes the following devices:
- for cleaning and polishing;
- for smoothing the boot;
- for removing workpieces from blocks;
- seam sizing press;
- thermal activator of adhesive films;
- marker;
- ruffler;
- blower;
- cooling tunnel;
- dried through;
- humidifier;
- for tightening;
- backdrop shaper;
- vamp shaper;
- insole nailer.
Raw materials
To produce high-quality shoes you will need high-quality raw materials. Therefore, include in your business startup plan the search for a reliable supplier of quality leather. It is not necessary to look for them abroad; there are also enough tanneries in the country. For large manufacturers, the minimum order is one ton of leather. But you can find small factories whose minimum supplies start at 300 kg. The cost of raw materials depends on the type of leather. On average, a square meter will cost:
- 100-180 rub. from cattle;
- 50-150 rub. for suede;
- 100 rub. for perforated leather.
Separately, the procurement plan must include various chemical consumables:
- paints;
- liquid polyurethanes;
- reagents for skin preparation;
- adhesives;
- means for processing seams and edges;
- oils;
- cream;
- leather finishing liquids.
Prices for these materials depend on the manufacturer.
Package
Don't forget that your shoes should be sold in special boxes. They can be ordered at any specialized factory. Packaging is prepared according to your order separately for each shoe model. As a rule, your company logo is applied to it.
Premises and staff
Based on the quantity described necessary equipment, we can imagine the required scale of production space. In addition to workshops, it is necessary to provide warehouses for storing raw materials and finished products, as well as premises for personnel. In total, at least 7 thousand square meters will be required. m. It is better to look for suitable premises in industrial areas, since production should not be located near residential buildings.
Before renting a room, it is important to check the availability and serviceability of all necessary communications: telephone line, water supply, gas pipeline, electrical network. Please note that the network must be industrial, since the electricity consumption of some machines reaches up to 50 kW.
Not all equipment operates in automatic mode. Some stages of production involve exclusively manual work. Therefore, the factory will need a lot of personnel. Almost every machine needs an operator. Accordingly, the factory will require about 250 workers to operate in two shifts.
Product certification
Absolutely all manufactured shoes must undergo sanitary and epidemiological control. Children's shoes are subject to mandatory certification, but for adults this is voluntary. But an adult must undergo declaration. Also, any product must comply with GOST standards. Each type of shoe has its own standards.
Sales
How to organize product sales depends on the scale of your production. If you produce large quantities of goods, it makes sense to enter into contracts with large chains. Alternatively, you can organize your own small showroom to sell products. But the most important condition for successful sales is quality products.
Investments
As practice shows, to organize the production of shoes from scratch, you will need at least 180 million rubles. investments. The profitability of such production remains at 48%. The investment will pay off in about four years.
The stereotype that domestically produced shoes are significantly inferior in design and quality to imported models developed in the minds of our citizens back in the Soviet years. However, due to well-known events that led to an increase in foreign currency exchange rates, the cost of foreign shoes increased, and the eyes of even the most seasoned fashionistas turned towards domestic manufacturers. A small private shoe factory opened in a small Russian town is a business that has excellent potential and can become quite profitable. We recommend that beginners and experienced entrepreneurs look at our business plan for the production of shoes with calculations in order to draw a conclusion for themselves about the feasibility of this undertaking in a specific region of the Russian Federation.
The initial investment in opening your own shoe factory will be 800 thousand rubles. The amount is relatively small - it can be taken on credit or from the businessman’s personal savings (if any).
Concept Summary
The first step that an entrepreneur must take to put his business on the official “rails” is registering an individual entrepreneur. The example of a business plan for organizing shoe production, which is described here, a priori implies precisely this organizational and legal form of business. As for the taxation system, the standard “simplified” tax rate of 15% of the difference between income and expenses for the reporting period will be the best choice.
To ensure that the inspection authorities do not subsequently have “unnecessary” questions, the entrepreneur needs to approach the choice of OKVED codes as carefully as possible. The following codes are suitable for registering a shoe manufacturing business:
- 15.20.1 “Production of footwear, except sports, protective and orthopedic.”
- 15.20.5 “Tailoring of shoes and various additions to shoes according to individual orders of the population.”
The shoe manufacturing process consists of several successive stages, which are relatively simple technologically, but require careful attention and well-developed skills from production workers:
- Making blanks from pork or calfskin. The number of parts in one pair of shoes can be quite large.
- Pressing blanks into the desired shape.
- Cutting insoles and making additional elements of a pair of shoes from other materials.
- Marking of workpieces, including manual drawing of seam lines.
- Stitching the finished model and firing it in a special oven so that the shoes subsequently do not lose their original shape.
An important point: the range of models of a private shoe factory largely depends on the professionalism of the craftsmen who work on the blanks. The more experienced the shoemaker, the more complex models he can make.
How much to invest in opening
The costs of starting a business to open a shoe production in a provincial Russian city are shown in the following table:
The table shows that the main expense items at the initial stage of business development will be the purchase of equipment and the purchase of the first batch of production materials. Moreover, you should not purchase a large batch of materials at once, since the demand for shoes will initially be unstable, and stale leather may lose its properties. Equipment for the production line can be purchased used from domestic manufacturers. Its cost will be significantly lower, and the quality is quite acceptable for many years of uninterrupted service.
Marketing plan
In order for the costs of opening a shoe production to be recouped in as soon as possible, an entrepreneur should conduct competent marketing policy. A template for the most successful marketing plan is presented below:
- Placement of modular advertisements in the most significant print media in the region.
- Outdoor advertising in the form of several bright banners in crowded places of the city.
- Creation of an Internet page for a shoe factory with creatively presented information about products and stores where they can be purchased.
- Development of informative presentations for wholesale and retail potential buyers.
- Establishing direct contacts with material suppliers and buyers.
It is understood that in the initial stages of development, an average of 1000 pairs of various shoes per month will be produced in the shoe production workshop. The average selling price of a pair will be 500 rubles. It is easy to calculate that in this case the monthly income from the work of the shoe shop will be 500 thousand rubles. The shoe production will bring its owner up to 6 million rubles in revenue per year.
Production plan
To locate a shoe production workshop, you will need to rent a premises with an area of 100 square meters. Most of the usable area of the workshop (about 90 square meters) will be occupied by the production line. The remaining 10 sq. meters - a warehouse of finished products and materials. The installation of a fire alarm is mandatory, since shoe production is associated with an increased fire hazard. It also wouldn't hurt to install a security alarm.
The optimal work schedule for a shoe shop is as follows:
- Monday – Friday from 08:00 to 18:00.
- Saturday from 10:00 to 15:00.
- Sunday is a day off.
This table shows a list of shoe production employees and the approximate amounts of their salaries:
| № | Job title | Number of people | Salary, rub. | Monthly payment fund, rub. | Payment per year, rub. |
| 1 | Production Director | 1 | 30 000 | 30 000 | 360 000 |
| 2 | Technologist on the production line | 2 | 20 000 | 40 000 | 480 000 |
| 3 | Equipment fitter | 1 | 15 000 | 15 000 | 180 000 |
| 4 | Shoemaker | 3 | 20 000 | 60 000 | 720 000 |
| 5 | Sales manager | 1 | 25 000 | 25 000 | 300 000 |
| 6 | Loader worker | 2 | 10 000 | 20 000 | 240 000 |
| TOTAL | 190 000 | 2 280 000 | |||
Calculations of income and expenses
The following table shows the running costs of a private shoe factory:
Profitability of a private shoe factory opened in small town with a population of up to 300 thousand people, calculated in the following table:
The above calculations show that the net profit of the shoe manufacturing business, after tax, will be 1.5 million rubles. The monthly net profit will be at the level of 125 thousand rubles. Accordingly, the profitability of a private shoe factory will be 25%, and this is a relatively average figure. The full return on investment in shoe production will occur in just six months.
Possible risks
Establishing a private shoe factory in a small town is a rather risky undertaking, and when starting to implement it, a businessman must first carefully weigh all the pros and cons. The most likely risk factors in this business the following:
- Interruptions in the supply of materials for making shoes (leather, rubber, fabric).
- The emergence of competitors, including those importing shoes from the CIS countries.
- A drop in demand for Russian-made shoes due to an increase in the supply of imported shoes from Europe.
- Increasing purchase prices for materials used in shoe production.
The above risk factors can have a very adverse impact on the stability of shoe production. However, if an entrepreneur develops a set of measures to counter these risks in advance, he will significantly mitigate their negative aspects.
