The $5-billion Taiwanese company Shoe Town Group and the Chennai-based Kothari Industrial Corporation Ltd (KICL) plan to expand their relationship by setting up two more factories in Tamil Nadu to manufacture non-leather shoes.

JR One Footwear Pvt Ltd, a joint venture company between Phoenix Kothari Footwear Ltd (of KICL) and Shoe Town Group, has invested ₹5,000 crore in a unit in Perambalur district to manufacture Crocs. The JV also plan to put up a unit in the component cluster at Perambalur, J Rafiq Ahmed, Managing Director, KICL, told businessline.

“We are looking at two backward districts where we can put up units to manufacture shoes for two major brands,” he said without naming the districts and the brands. “Both the factories will employ nearly 50,000 people,” he added.

Ron Chang, Chairman, Shoe Town Group, said the group employs nearly one lakh in 32 factories in countries like China, Taiwan. “We are looking at China plus strategy, and India is one of the best places. Within India, Tamil Nadu is the number one choice due to low labour cost and large manpower,” he said.

The company supplies technologically-upgraded products to global brands such as Nike, Adidas, Crocs, Skechers and Colombia.

Fine dining foray

Chang was in Chennai to participate in the opening ceremony of Una Villa, a bakery-cum-restaurant owned by KICL. This also marks the company’s foray into the fine dining sector.

Chang said many companies that have factories in China have set up presence in Indonesia. However, the labour cost is high there, he said. India offers good potential. However, supply chain is a major issue. This will be addressed when the component clusters come up at Perambalur.

Chang, a first-generation entrepreneur, strongly feels a robust component ecosystem is an important ingredient for the success of a footwear project. He is bringing together more than 18 partners for creating an innovative cluster in Perambalur, which will be a game changer in Indian footwear.

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