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WF FOOTPRINTS
HAPPENINGS, PEOPLE AND PLACES
5
MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.footwearbiz.com
July 2010 led to the government there,
in conjunction with the five biggest
Portuguese banks, taking the firm into
state ownership.
Since Tata became involved,
production has taken place at the
company’s factory at Esmoriz in
northern Portugal and at a factory in
India. In an announcement at the end of
January, Move On said it had decided to
consolidate its Portuguese operations
and focus exclusively on using its
facility at Esmoriz to create new
designs, manufacture samples for new
collections and very small production
runs of its highest-value models. It said
it saw this as the best way to guarantee
a future for the business and to give it “a
cost-structure that is in keeping with
the present state of the market”.
LI NING TO REDUCE STAFF
TO CUT COSTS
Chinese sports brand Li Ning has
announced that it will reduce staff
numbers to rein in costs after it had
predicted its revenue for 2011 had fallen
by between 6 to 7% year-on-year.
The company said on its website on 3
February, that it will streamline the
organisational structure of various
departments, including those for human
resources, information technology and
strategic development. That will help it
increase its operational efficiency, lower
its human resources costs and channel
resources into its core business.
Li Ning plans to reduce its human
resources costs as a percentage of its
sales by 0.5% in 2012, said Demi Luo,
who is in charge of the brand’s public
relations. The company’s staffing costs
as a percentage of its sales were 8.7% in
the first half of 2011, he said.
According to
China Business News
,
4,215 employees worked for Li Ning in
2010, and the total cost of salaries and
benefits exceeded $110 million.
“The adjustment will be beneficial to
the group’s long-term development,”
said Zhang Zhiyong, CEO of Li Ning.
According to the company’s
‘Estimated Results’ for 2011 and
Outlook for 2012 issued in January, the
group’s revenue had declined by about
6 to 7% below what it was in 2010
because of flat growth in orders and the
repurchase of a portion of inventory
from distributors.
“Because the cost of resources, rent
and labour all rose last year, the
clothing industry was greatly affected,”
said Zhu Qinghua, an analyst with the
CIC Industry Research Centre. “Worse
still, the sports brand made a wrong
evaluation of the market, which caused
high growth in reserves.”
KELME CHOOSES INDIA FOR
OWN-BRAND STORES
Spanish sports footwear brand Kelme
has surprised commentators in its home
country by choosing India as the site of
its first own-brand stores.
A Kelme store opened in New Delhi
on January 24. Sources in India say the
brand will extend this to ten stores
within a year.
Local distribution partner Global
Overseas is working with Kelme to set
up its network of own-brand stores in
India. Media in India have also reported
that Kelme will begin to manufacture
some of its products there.
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