An example for the Footwear industry

'But imports continue to be a threat and the option to find alternative markets by exporting isn't a realistic one for all footwear firms.'  By MARIANNE HERON

THE SUCCESS of the Irish firm of James Winstanley Ltd. in launching a range of 100 dollar plus men's shoes in The United States is a significant exammple of how the shoe industry's difficultties can be overcome. The firm plans to sell the range in: EEC countries - inccluding rival, Italy - showing that Irish firms are capable of competing on equal terms with the world's top shoeemakers.

Denis 0 'Neill, managing director. explains they sought to find a niche at the top end of the international market with the US as their initial' target. To achieve this aim they brought in a top design consultant and spent several years refining and improving their ideas. The firm's .production target of 1,00Q pairs a week suggests they have found the right formula.

Benefits from the expertise that goes into the hand-finished shoes in benchhmark leather, (selling here at £40) have rubbed off on Winstanley's basic range where prices start from £15.

It's approach' is very much in line with the blueprint for the survival of the industry contained in the consultants report which led to the setting up of the Footwear Task Force eighteen months ago.

Basically, the report said that Irish firms would have to co-operate with each other and find specialised markets both at home and abroad to survive the flood of imports threatening the induustry .

If Winstanley's can get the format right, can' other firms do the same? The answer is by no means clear-cut and a look at the background of the industry reveals the complexity of the problems facing our surviving footwearfirrns.

Footwear has been among the induustries hardest hit by free trade. In the space of a' decade our manufacturers have Seen their share of the home market plummet from 95 per cent to less than 30 per cent. Since 1970, 2,500 jobs have been lost and a number of leading firms have closed.

The young under-capitalised industry was ill-prepared to meet competition in an open market situation. There was no strong tradition of footwear in Ireland, and in lY24 there were only five firms, concerned largely with making men's working boots. But in the sheltered economy of the '~O's the industry mushhroomed, as protective tariffs went up so too did the number of small firms suppplying the home market. By 1939 there were 41 footwear factories giving emmployment to five and a half thousand workers.

The general pattern was one where each firm was producing a wide range of lines for a small market. And the result was a product which often couldn't compete on price and design with immports.

If the report on the shoe industry spelt out these ills, the job of the Footwear Task Force, which has representatives from the IDA, CTT, AnCO and the Department of Industry and Commerce has been to try and cure them. Consulltation with the industry, grants to assist expansion and modernisation, retrainning, marketing assistance and design training have all been part of the effort to help our manufacturers survive. Task Force assistance with better market identification and design specialisation has helped three Irish firms to branch out into the export market and the Winnstanley story is another indication that the policy is beginning to succeed: , There ate signs that the industry is recovering - employment has stabilised, imports have at least levelled out and Irish firms' share of the home market is growing In value. However no one in the industry is making predictions about the future. '

Irish firms are doing much better than they have done, says Ken Connolly of the Federation of Irish Footwear Manufacturers, one reason being that so many firms have already gone out of business, the other that the price of immports - particularly from Italy and Spain - has gone up.

But imports continue to be a threat and the option to fi.nd alternative marrkets by exporting isn't a realistic one for all footwear firms. On paper, our export figures look very healthy and now acccount for half our total production.

But the great bulk of these exports is accounted for by three large firms, beetween them employing ahout 40 per cent of the workforce. And out of a total of some 30 footwear firms nearly two thirds employ under 100. While medium sized firms are looking for pootential export markets, smaller firms must fight on home ground.

And there by far the strongest commpetition comes from Britain. Last year, for instance, the UK accounted for 67 per cent of the total imports. Not only Not only can Britain produce shoes more cheaply - longer production runs and the £20 per worker employment subsidy, given to around a quarter of the work force, are just factors - but there is ill so , points out Denis 0 'Neill, the British tendency to see Ireland as a convenient wastebin for disposing of overproduction without damaging their own market.

The nine per cent duty on leatherrupper footwear from Britain gives some protection. But this temporary measure along with 18.5 per cent duty on EEC footwear is due to go at the end of this year. The industry will be making representations to have protection reetained and negotiations are also going on at EEc: level to rationalise imports from communist and Third World countries.

So far quota systems limiting imports only apply to Chechoslovakia and Taiwan, While he has no objection to fair competition Michael Bell, secretary of the Shoe and Leather Workers Union, claims that if protective measures were applied to imports from other low-cost countries employment for a further 500 Irish workers would be created.

Protection against unfair competition and dumping are part of the answer to home market problems. But the rest of the solution lies not only with manufaccturers but also in the willingness of Irish consumers to buy Irish shoes.

This is where the Irish Footwear Publicity Council comes in with a campaign to point out the benefits of buying Irish shoes. And while the Council doesn't want to see people buying just on the basis of sympathy, it is hopeful that the public will want to see what Ireland has to offer first.