Three Unexpected Learnings for Footwear Nearshoring and Reshoring
Everyone’s talking about it these days.
Talking about nearshoring and reshoring to the Americas. Mitigating transportation risk, increasing flexibility, reducing time to market. It might be the right time to set your supply chain up for the coming strategy shift.
Apparel has already seen a shift to utilizing nearshore factories, and that ecosystem is expanding.
And footwear is on the horizon for the same reasons. Are you prepared for the shift?
Shifting your Footwear supply base back to the Americas comes with challenges.
Challenges that you can mitigate if you work with the right partners for a smooth transition.
What are three unexpected supply chain learnings to consider in your nearshoring strategy?
Observation 1: The current ecosystem doesn’t reflect where the industry is going
The vast majority of footwear made nearshore is made for the domestic Americas market, where “lowest cost” is the dominant factor in design, development, and production. That domestic market isn’t willing to pay for the heightened expectations (like sustainability and traceability) expected in the United States marketplace. However, businesses are ready to invest and grow in these areas.
The key is to find the right partners who want to grow their capabilities with you and your brand to meet these increased expectations.
Observation 2: Trust and relationships are more important than size
If you’re a smaller brand, don’t think you’re at a disadvantage; factories want to build trust and relationships over time and value this more than large orders right away. They actually prefer smaller orders to build scale (from both large brands and newcomers) that allow them to build trust, partnership and capabilities over the long term.
Developing an ongoing strategy, planning, and execution communication cadence is one element to strengthening performance in the relationship for a long-term partnership.
Observation 3: Next-generation leadership and thinking
There is a shift occurring with the Americas footwear industry. The “old guard” is slower to trust newcomers and western brands, defends the status quo and resists change. But the “new guard”, the next generation of leadership, wants to learn, partner, innovate, and help raise their industry to new levels of execution and prosperity.
Brands, are you partnering with those who are excited to drive change forward, for their company and for your brand?
Are you willing to work with factory and materials groups to create long term relationships for long term benefit?
And if you’re a factory or materials group, are you working with the right brands?
Your brand can do the work to find the right partners and processes for a smooth reshoring and nearshoring shift.