KARACHI: The story behind all those recurrent 50 per cent to 70pc off sale signs outside shoe shops these days begins at the Chinese and Pakistani shoe vendors, most of whom can be found at Empress Market and Lighthouse.

Some may think that they only sell second-hand shoes, but there is a huge variety of new shoes available as well. Sports shoes including soccer spikes, trekking boots and in-line roller skates, sandals, moccasins, pumps, ballet flats, loafers, you name it ...

“People hear ‘made in China’ and they know that the price of the product would be reasonable,” says Zahid Khan at Empress Market.

“Shoe prices begin at Rs250 and can go up to Rs4,500, depending on the type of shoe you want. There are Pakistani, Chinese and shoes made under licence from well-known brands such as Nike in Vietnam as well,” says Ziaullah, selling a variety of moccasins and sports shoes also at Empress Market.

And where do they get their supply from? All the vendors point to Lighthouse, where there are some eight shoe markets. Many sell second-hand shoes but there are brand-new shoes, too. One shoe with a dusty sole is called new by a vendor. When his attention is drawn towards its sole, he quickly explains that it has become that way while being tried by potential buyers again and again. One needs to know how to deal with the smart vendors who can take you for a ride if you’re not careful.

“I come here to buy cheap shoes but they have to be new,” says a young lady accompanied by her brother at the market. “Old shoes can carry all kinds of germs and infections such as fungus, etc. So I make it a point to examine what I’m buying very carefully.”

“It’s not just knowing the difference between new shoes and those made to look new,” says a shoe designer and wholesale supplier, Abdul Karim. “You also need to know the difference between Pakistani and Chinese shoes. Many of the shoes here that you may think are Chinese may have been made in Korangi, Orangi or Baldia. We are giving the Chinese shoe some major competition,” he says with a smile.

“This shoe market is all about finding good bargains and a Pakistani pair of shoes costs Rs50 to Rs100 less than a Chinese pair. Look here,” he shows a picture of a shoe in his cellphone. “I found this on the internet the other day and now I’m in the process of replicating it. It takes an investment of around Rs350,000 on the sole and the mould. But once we are done with all that, we get good returns.”

Still, he is not very happy with the vendors here. “They are not turning out to be a very good option for us as they keep coming up with excuses for delaying our payments. Online shopping is a far more feasible solution. Those shoes you find advertised in the margin of your Facebook, etc, are all made in Pakistan,” he says. “Our sole is hard and a little less inflexible than Chinese shoes but you can’t tell all that from your computer.”

“The rough leather and hard sole don’t make Pakistani shoes any less desirable. The price is the decider. Our customers here are all middle-class people. The shoes we sell also may not last years but they serve you well for six months to a year,” says Mohammad Zaman of Bismillah Khan English Shoes at Lighthouse.

The vendors say they order shoes from China, which arrive here in containers. Many of them also have an agent in China, as Mohammad Zaman says his elder brother, who speaks Chinese, handles the selection and dealing from there.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2015

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