Chinese consumers have already demonstrated that they will pay more than $100 for a pair of Adidas or Nike sports shoes. Matt Rubel, chief executive of Collective Brands, the US shoe brands company, is hoping they may be prepared to spend about half as much for children’s shoes.
“We look at China as an emerging market, but an emerging market of people that have money,” Mr Rubel says of the decision to launch its Stride Rite children’s shoe brand in China.
The first Stride Rite store in China opened this month in Hong Kong, run by Li & Fung Retailing, an arm of the large trade sourcing company, under a partnership that plans to expand across to mainland China.