Converse remains bullish on RP operations

Despite the economic constraints in the country, world-renowned shoe brand Converse is confident to grow its business and capture huge share of the market by banking on its name as it celebrates its centennial this year.

With 27 shops all over the country including five in the Visayas and Mindanao regions with three of which in Cebu, Converse is bent on growing its network and operations by establishing two new branches in Mindanao.  This is set this quarter in Cagayan de Oro and in Davao.

“We had a good inventory and fast turn over of stocks last year. Even on the first quarter of this year, we are proud that almost all our stocks from 2007 are out already,” announced regional sales manager Carmen T. Co of Filcon Manufacturing Corporation, the Philippine exclusive distributor of Converse products in an interview.

Converse, she said is already a known and trusted brand considering its 100 years of existence in the global market and this enables them to continue growing in terms of sales and market share in the country.

Due to cheaper labor cost, Converse items that are sold here in the country and in Asia Pacific regions are made in Thailand, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and some in Korea although all its materials are from the United States.

In a survey done by the country’s biggest retail conglomerate SM Supermalls, Converse’s Chuck Taylor All Star hi-cut emerged as the number one selling sportswear while its low cut ranked second beating other big international and homegrown brands.

“Because of our established brand name in the shoe manufacturing industry, the demand for our shoes is still far high and for 25 years of operation in the country we are very much doing well,” said Co.

However, with the constraints in the country’s economy these days influenced by the volatility of the global market and the downbeat retail sector, Converse just like most consumer products is also very much affected, said its account manager Shane Russell G. Chiu.

“Economically speaking we are affected too specially that with economic constraints consumers’ priorities have changed. But to most people who have extra money and have extravagant lifestyles, they still do opt to buy our shoes and as an iconic brand we will do the best that we can to maintain the position we have right now,” said Chiu.

In terms of competition, Chiu said that they managed to stay at par with other international brands such as Adidas and Nike and is very much on top of the lifestyle trend where everyone in the industry is heading specially on the manufacture of sneakers.

“Business is business and to be ahead with other competitors we innovate our products to make it fancier from the rest. Fashion dies and is short-lived in the market so we are not imitators of any fashion trend because with our history, we can play around and still be on top,” said Chiu.

Despite being affected by imitations not only of their products but as well as of their sneaker designs, Converse is still bent on moving forward especially in their operations in the Philippines by adding more outlets aside from their department store distributors nationwide.

“Nothing beats the original. People buy original because of quality and not just of image and we will always give them quality to control and protect the name of the brand.” said Chiu. — Rhea de Pablo