For over four decades, Zhejiang Huanqiu Shoes has played a pivotal role in shaping the evolution of China’s modern footwear industry. Founded in 1988 in Wenzhou, the company grew from a local manufacturing operation into one of the region’s most respected professional shoe producers, specializing in vulcanized, casual, children’s and fashion-oriented footwear. Today, Huanqiu is looking for a European outdoor shoe brand to invest in and also offering their manufacturing capabilities.
Why should an outdoor footwear company sell to or partner with Huanqiu? What are the synergies?
The core synergy is mutual channel empowerment and brand portfolio enhancement. For a European outdoor brand selling to Huanqiu, you gain immediate, deep access to the Chinese market through our turnkey operational platform, significantly accelerating growth and brand building in the region. The acquisition of an outdoor footwear manufacturer strengthens our portfolio in the outdoor segment, brings European heritage and product expertise, and allows us to leverage our entire Chinese commercial engine to maximize its value. Our existing Huanqiu retail and online channels are perfectly suited for adult outdoor footwear, while children’s lines could create synergies with our Babaya brand network.
How would business change with you as a partner?
Business would become faster, more integrated, and data-driven. Instead of managing multiple vendors (manufacturer, import agent, distributor, e-commerce agency), you would have one accountable partner. We would execute a synchronized launch: products adapted for local preferences would hit our selected top-tier stores and our flagship online stores simultaneously. Our weekly KPI review cycle (tracking GMV, sell-through, sell-out rates) ensures rapid learning and agile adjustments to strategy. We will allocate 10% to 15% of the current production volume to the new brand.
Huanqiu is looking for a footwear company with a strong brand equity
At what kind of company are you looking at? Can you provide numbers in terms of size?
We are strategically looking at complementary footwear brands with strong brand equity.
1) Financial Scope: We are interested in brands where a strategic partnership or acquisition can move the needle for both parties. While we don’t publicize specific target revenue figures, we are focused on deals that have the potential for significant scalable growth within our ecosystem.
2) Operational Synergy: The ideal partner has a product range and brand story that can be seamlessly integrated into our price pyramid strategy (hero, core, volume products) and leverages our core production capabilities. Our goal is to efficiently onboard and scale the brand, utilizing our substantial existing warehousing and logistics capacity (which handles volume at a scale of hundreds of thousands of units monthly).
To conclude: Our partnership proposition is unique because we are operators ourselves. We don’t just move products; we build and run brands and channels. Partnering with us means plugging into a live, successful commercial network with a clear growth plan.
Huanqiu as Manufacturing partner
What makes Huanqiu so unique as manufacturing partner?
As a time-honored brand, our uniqueness lies in being avertically integrated “Manufacturing & Global Trade & Domestic Sales & E-commerce” group. Unlike pure OEMs, we operate our own successful brands (Huanqiu for adults, Babaya for children) in both China and overseas markets. This means we possess end-to-end capabilities: from R&D and production using core processes (vulcanised, cemented, injection), to brand management, multi-channel distribution, and direct consumer engagement. We understand the entire value chain, which allows us to be a manufacturing partner who truly “gets” branding, market trends, and go-to-market execution. Our inventory is 60,000 pairs, with an annual stock of 3 million pairs. Among shoe brands in the 69-100 yuan price range in China, we rank second, just behind Warrior.
What are the advantages for European companies to collaborate with Huanqiu?
Collaboration with Huanqiu offers two key strategic advantages:
1) Fast-Track Market Entry into China: We provide a ready-made, full-stack launchpad. Through our Huanqiu division, we have an established network of domestic retail stores, e-commerce operations (Tmall, JD, Douyin), and logistics. Your brand can bypass years of infrastructure build-out and immediately access our channels and consumer base.
2) De-risked Supply Chain & Agile Production: With over 30 years of industry experience, we have a mature, compliant supply chain optimized for quality, cost, and speed. We master all major footwear construction methods and can swiftly adapt European BOMs to local materials without sacrificing quality or safety standards (REACH, GB). This reduces your operational complexity and time-to-market.
3. Can you provide a bit more insight on what capabilities you already have?
We have robust, operational capabilities across three pillars:
1) Production & Supply Chain: Full proficiency in vulcanised, cemented, and injection processes. We have dedicated quality control systems aligned with both European (e.g., REACH, PAHs) and Chinese GB standards (especially critical for children’s shoes like GB 30585). Our infrastructure supports scalable production.
2) Channel & Distribution: Domestically, we operate Huanqiu’s nationwide retail store network (exact figures available upon request) and a mature e-commerce engine. Internationally, we manage export and distributor relationships, with Babaya already present in 24 dedicated overseas agent stores.
3) Full-Service Brand Landing: We have a proven, 12-step road map for launching international brands in China—covering legal (trademark, customs IP), product localization (last adaptation, sizing), marketing, omni-channel distribution, and data-driven KPI management.
4. And as you want to even enhance your production capabilities, what is your goal/added-value?
Our goal is to evolve from a manufacturing partner to a true strategic growth partner for brands in the region. The added value we aim to provide is “Integrated Brand Scaling.” This means offering a single partner who can not only manufacture your product to high standards but also actively drive its commercial success in key markets through our owned channels and operational playbooks. We invest in capabilities that benefit both our brands and our partners’ brands.
Read our portrait about Huanqiu Shoes here.
Companies interested in confidential discussions regarding a potential sale or partnership are invited to contact the Zhejiang Huanqiu management team:
📩 Email: dave.yang@chinahuanqiu.cn
🌐 Website: https://www.huanqiushoes.com
