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The accessories, footwear and hosiery industries have always been important complements to the apparel industry. While the demand for apparel has been studied fairly extensively, the demand for accessory items has been overlooked. To gain a better understanding of the demand for accessories, footwear, and hosiery, it is the purpose of this research to estimate expenditure equations for accessories, footwear and hosiery; and to profile the consumer characteristics of the purchasers and non‐purchasers of these items. An economic model of demand provides the theoretical framework. Expenditure equations are estimated using data from the 1990–91 Consumer Expenditure Survey. The results indicate that income, family size and education positively affect expenditures on accessories, footwear and hosiery while the results for age, occupation and region vary among the categories. The results have implications for producers and marketers of accessories, footwear and hosiery.

The case study aims to provide students with an understanding of the challenges businesses face expanding into the home market after having an international presence through exports. It also throws light on operations in an emerging market economy – both rural and urban. The key objectives are to understand the leather footwear business operation in India, understand the challenges of expanding business in India, analyse strategies adopted to sustain and compete in India and identify the possible distribution strategies for the leather footwear business in India.

The case study focuses on Tata International Limited’s (TIL) leather and leather products business in India. The leather and leather products division was present in India since 1973 (Anand, 2020) and exported to more than 35 countries across the world (Anand, 2020). TIL did not want to miss the opportunity available in India and planned to expand its leather footwear business in the country. The company opened retail outlets in major Indian cities and an experience store in Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) in 2019. It aimed for a domestic presence along with the existing export business. However, the biggest challenge that was in front of V. Muthukumaran, head of leather products division at TIL, was how to go ahead with the idea of domestic expansion (Anand, 2020). Should the company expand the market through sister companies (Westside and Tata CliQ) in India? How and in what way should TIL plan for going through Westside and Tata CLiQ? Should Muthukumaran think of either the brick-and-mortar route or the online route or both?

This case study is designed for use in undergraduate and graduate early-stage programmes. This case study is primarily designed for use in Master of Business Administration and/or Bachelor of Business Administration programmes. The case study is ideal for courses on understanding the expansion in the domestic market, strategy, retail and international marketing. The teaching note discusses theoretical frameworks such as external environment analysis and SWOT analysis to devise distribution strategies. The case study mapped the distribution channel and decision alternatives for the company.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

The main aim of this chapter is to analyze the history of entrepreneurship in the footwear cluster during the twentieth century and the dawn of the twenty-first century, around the actions of the manufacturers installed in the city of León, Guanajuato, Mexico. The methodological process was triangulated by three forms of approach to the object of study: the first consisted on the literature review; the second was a longitudinal analysis of socioeconomic and technological indicators; the third was the application of in-depth interviews to five footwear manufacturing entrepreneurs. The main finding was the collaborative model of the footwear cluster in the face of crisis cycles that has historically been facing; this allows to understand the historical challenges of entrepreneurship in the cluster, as well as public policies that have influenced its behavior pattern and the strategies that have outlined its entrepreneurship model.

This chapter aims to identify, analyse, classify and rank the sustainability indices and internationalisation challenges of the footwear industry in the emerging economy of Iran. This would provide deeper decision-making insights into Iranian footwear businesses. First, a list of sustainability indices and internationalisation challenges was obtained by reviewing the literature. Then, a combination of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approaches was implemented. The initial sustainability indices and internationalisation challenges were screened using the fuzzy Delphi method, keeping a total of 14 criteria. The best–worst method (BWM) was employed to weigh and rank the criteria. The interpretive structural modelling (ISM) technique and cross-impact matrix applied in MICMAC were employed to visualise the conceptual model based on the levels and classification of the important criteria for the internationalisation of the Iranian footwear industry. The 14 criteria were demonstrated to be important in internationalisation. The most critical sustainability indices were reducing hazardous substances in leather tanning and labour education and training. In contrast, exchange rate instability in Iran’s economy and strict chemical regulations for clothing and footwear were found to be the most important internationalisation challenges. Hence, these criteria should be considered in the internationalisation strategies of the Iranian footwear industry. A combined multilayer sustainable decision-making approach was used to analyse the Iranian footwear industry’s essential sustainability indices and internationalisation challenges. Furthermore, implications and insights are offered to footwear businesses for future decision-making.

This paper presents an empirical contribution to the literature on cluster evolution, highlighting the decline phase. The analysis focuses on the footwear sector in Rio Grande do Sul (RS) state, in southern Brazil, where an important footwear cluster is located, which was once considered one of the world's largest footwear clusters. The purpose of this study is to analyse the transformation of this footwear industrial sector since the beginning of the 2000s using several sectoral statistics.

This paper presents an empirical and longitudinal study that comprises the sourcing of 20 years of secondary data, based on official sources. The main data analysed were production, price, industrial structure, labour market and foreign market.

The main results indicated a significant reduction in production, export and employment. In addition, a precarization of the labour market was observed, with lower wage levels, even with an increase in the formal qualification of labour over time. The finding is that the RS footwear sector underwent a huge structural change and lost the status of a worldwide supercluster. This decline occurred due to two central factors: an external shock related to China's entry into the international and Brazilian domestic markets, accompanied by a slowdown in the Brazilian economy since 2015; and the difficulty of local firms responding to the new challenges.

Synthesizing the findings, it is understood that this paper contributes to registering the trajectory of decline over time of the footwear sector in RS. In this sector, the Sinos Valley cluster is located, historically known as a footwear producing and exporting supercluster. This cluster loses the characteristic of a “supercluster”, but it still remains an important footwear cluster in Brazil. Therefore, this study reinforces the existence of fragilities already pointed out by the literature in Schimtz (1999) and, more recently, in Schmidt (2020). The need to address a set of fragilities remains current, both at the micro- and meso-levels. This is key to reversing the decline trajectory of the cluster and the sector. Moreover, as recent studies on clusters point out, one still must think about the impact of another ongoing paradigmatic transformation concerning the use and development of Industry 4.0 technologies. Thus, the central challenge is to think about and implement new public and private policies. The historical, economic and social relevance of the sector and the cluster demand efforts to reverse the decline.

This study focuses to contribute to the discussion about the decline of the footwear production in the region by analysing secondary data regarding the industrial sector. This is an analysis at the meso-level (industry). The authors understand that the originality of the research lies in the longitudinal analysis for a recent period (past 20 years) that captures the greatest current crisis experienced by the region.

The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into nurses' understandings of what constitutes suitable footwear for older people in care homes.

An exploratory descriptive qualitative survey was carried out of 20 registered nurses employed in six Scottish care homes for older people. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire that included five open-ended questions. Content analysis was used to theme footwear perceptions.

Participants had several views about what encompasses safe footwear; some were erroneous. The link between inappropriate footwear and falls was recognised by 80 per cent of respondents, but some were unclear about the features that effect or inhibit safety. No UK or international standardised guidelines were identified that advise nurses about appropriate footwear for older people.

It is unknown whether respondents represent the nurse population because findings are restricted by a small sample size. Nonetheless, the group showed variable understanding of what constitutes safe footwear for older people and links with fall prevention. Improved nurse-education about what comprises safe footwear and the links with falls prevention in older people is required. Structured guidelines to direct nurse educators about what to teach student nurses about appropriate footwear for older people may work towards reducing falls.

No guidelines to direct nurses about appropriate footwear for older people in care homes have been written. Key points have been developed.

By examining the intellectual property (IP) portfolio of the largest Brazilian footwear firms, the purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of how manufacturing firms in the footwear industry in a developing country are using the IP system.

Intellectual property rights (IPRs) are widely acknowledged to be of central importance to manufacturing processes and systems. As such, manufacturing firms located in developing countries also need to use the international IP system in order to increase their competitiveness. This study examines how the Brazilian footwear industry is protecting their IPRs by assessing IP filings in recent years from this particular industry.

Here, the authors provide empirical evidence indicating a recent growth in IP filings that was accomplished by manufacturing firms in the Brazilian footwear industry. Additionally, the authors also found that the use of the IP system is highly concentrated in the two Brazilian footwear industrial clusters, which are located in the States of São Paulo (SP) and Rio Grande do Sul (RS).

The analysis can be considered a solid reference for future studies that assess the use of IP of manufacturing organizations as a developing country context. The authors believe it is worthwhile to conduct qualitative interviews with the senior managers of the IP department of Brazilian footwear manufacturers located in the SP and RS industrial clusters, as a means of deepening our understanding on their motivations to file IP applications.

The results presented in this study demonstrate a recent growth in IP filings accomplished by firms in the Brazilian footwear industry, which is an industry subject to serious threats posed by counterfeit and pirated goods. More specifically, the authors provide empirical evidence that the use of the IP system is more intense in two industrial clusters, which are located in the states of SP and RS. In this way, the authors believe that similar patterns will appear in other technical areas, in which industrial clusters can be identified.

According to OECD/EUIPO (2016), the footwear industry has been leading the rank of the most severely affected by counterfeit and pirated goods worldwide. Highly copied goods also include clothing, electrical machinery and equipment, articles of leather, and watches. However, footwear products are more frequently illegally copied as compared to any other type of product.

Given the increased importance of IP assets in the current knowledge-based society, firms located in developing countries ought to use IP more intensively. In fact, even with growing correlation between IP and competitiveness, IP data from firms in developing countries have received limited treatment in the extant literature. In summary, the evidence base is not strong and it urgently needs strengthening. As such, to the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first contribution addressing the use of IP by footwear manufacturing firms in a developing country.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and map out consumer emotions and their triggers and coping strategies practiced when the consumer has a dissatisfactory footwear product experience.

A content analysis approach was employed to determine various types of consumer emotions and coping strategies and organize them into content categories in a systematic fashion. In-depth interviews were conducted with 13 female consumers.

The researchers propose a typology of emotional triggers in the pre- and post-purchase stages which describe consumers’ dissatisfactory purchase experiences with footwear products. Three negative emotional triggers in the pre-purchase stage were identified, including the act of shoe shopping itself, poor availability of products, and unfair return on investment. Negative emotional triggers that caused consumers’ stresses in the post-purchase stage included uncertainty in outcome and unmet expectation. Problem- and emotion-focussed coping strategies were also identified.

This study used snowball sampling for locating a hidden consumer population that was dissatisfied with footwear products. Although the number of interviewees was appropriate for a qualitative study, the size limits generalization of study findings.

Implications of this study for the footwear industry are to provide better products for the consumer to reduce her emotional stress and increase satisfaction. The industry may consider restructuring size assortments, evaluating users’ experiences, improving product quality, performance, and service, and providing customization.

Literature is lacking on the ways in which consumers manage stressful emotional experiences of footwear purchase-related situations. This research is the first to identify valuable information on the mechanism of female consumers’ negotiation process of pre- and post-purchase footwear experiences. It is of value to researchers, designers, manufacturers, and retailers.

The purpose of this paper is to establish the predictors of consumers’ annual monetary expenditures on clothing and footwear in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, a developing Latin American country.

The research followed an exploratory, sequential, mixed methods design. The first phase consisted of in-depth interviews with adult individuals. The second phase involved surveying a similar segment of the population.

The present study supports the importance of demographic and psychological factors as predictors. The study also identifies two new groups of predictors: consumers’ reception of used clothing and physical space at home and its management.

In addition to demographic variables, consumer panels that measure expenditures on clothing and footwear should include psychological measures of participants, particularly clothing involvement. Clothing manufacturers and retailers in developing countries should consider the impact of receiving used clothes by consumers. Because clothing buying and disposal behaviors are positively associated, companies should become more involved in their customers’ disposal behavior.

The contribution of the present study is twofold. First, it contributes to the understanding of clothing and footwear expenditures by considering the individual consumer as a unit of analysis. Furthermore, it provides insights into this behavior from a little-studied context.

Compares and contrasts the effects of the resale price maintenance abolition of 1964 emerging in different products and markets, with particular emphasis on the furniture and footwear trades. Finds that the furniture trade has been more significantly affected, with a higher consciousness of consumer needs among its retailers.