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Rupert Naffs

"There's no chance in hell that we couldever have a charity-owned shoe labelfor kids and have these poor kids intheir pyjamas making our shoes.

Manufacturingmalaise

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THAN SIX months on from his tourof Asian footwear manufacturers,there is one little individual that Ru-

pert Noffs remembers with piercing clarity. "Isaw a girl in pink pyjamas sitting next to hermum.., kids in their pyjamas with no maskson and no gloves, making these shoes."

It was an unexpected vision for Noffs, whoundertook the 12-day research trip with hisbrother Matt. Yet as the pair made their wayfrom Vietnam to China, it was a vision toooften repeated.

"The factories were falling down, the ma-chines, some of them weren't working prop-erly. No one was wearing gloves, no one waswearing masks. Matt and I actually filmed itwith our iPhones. It was just scary."

It threw a fairly large spanner in the works

because the pair were on a mission to findan ethical shoe manufacturer. It was a non-negotiable requirement: the Noffs brothersweren't sourcing a manufacturer for any oldshoe company, they were finding suppliersfor Gideon Shoes.

Founded four years ago by Gideon Sil-verman, Gideon Shoes got its start in Syd-ney's weekend markets. Rupert and Matt,full-time staff members of the Ted Noffs

SOURCING ETHICAL FOOTWEAR MANUFACTURERS CAN BE A MINEFIELD

PARTICULARLY FOR BRANDS LOOKING TO PRODUCE OFFSHORE.

EARLIER THIS YEAR, THE HIGH-PROFILE OWNERS OF GIDEON SHOES

UNDERTOOK A RESEARCH TRIP ACROSS ASIA. TODAY THEY

MANUFACTURE IN AUSTRALIA. ERIN O'LOUGHLIN DISCOVERS WHY.

Foundation and grandsons of the charity'snamesake, saw an opportunity in the fledg-ling label.

"Matt went down and met [Gideon] andtold him about the work we do at Noffs withStreet University, which is based in south-west Sydney, a space for marginalised kidsaged seven to 27," Rupert says.

"It's just a place for people to go and findout what their true potential is. Kids outthere really don't have anything but they'vegot so much to give. It's really hard findingfunds for that."

Silverman came to the table with a newfundraising idea, Noffs says.

"Gideon said, 'How about I give you fivebucks from every shoe I sell?' Matt said, 'Yep,I like the sound of it'."

The label was picked up by chainretailer General Pants and the brand'sstatement canvas shoes were onshelves throughout Australia.

Then, in late 2009, Silverman soldthe business to the Noffs charity. Itwas the start of a change of direction.

"We thought, 'well hang on, let's re-brand this whole thing and really makeit something cool'," Noffs says.

In the past few months, the broth-ers have applied for funding from the federalgovernment to help run the business, openeda head office in Sydney's Surry Hills and hiredclose to 40 young people to work in it.

"We want it to be a shoe label run by kidsfor kids, the people who are going to buy theshoes," Noffs says.

Perhaps the most important change isthat every single dollar from the sale of theshoes not just five dollars goes back into

funding the Foundation's Street University."I think we are the first Australian charity

to go into fashion," Noffs laughs. "So whenyou buy the shoes you look good and you feelgood too. I always say 'soles with souls'."

It's not just kids in Australia the Ted NoffsFoundation is thinking of, however.

"In the beginning, we were like 'wouldn'tit be awful to have our shoes made from asweat shop?" Noffs says. "Then we werethinking, 'What is a sweat shop? What doesit even look like?'

"We wanted to go over there and see firsthand. There's no chance in hell that we couldever have a charity-owned shoe label for kidsand have these poor kids in their pyjamasmaking our shoes."

So in January this year, Rupert and Mattpacked up and went to Asia. They were look-ing for an ethical shoe manufacturer that com-plied with the International Organisation forStandardisation's (ISO) 9001 certificate. Re-quirements of ISO 9001 include a commit-ment to quality, to monitoring of processesand products and adequacy of resources.

They were also after a manufacturer thatcould meet their required order of 20,000units. The Noffs commenced their searchin Vietnam.

"We looked on the internet and Googledshoe manufacturers in Vietnam and calledthem up and said, 'We're coming over. Canwe come and see your factory and come andmeet with you?" Rupert says.

"It was interesting. In Asian countries, do-ing business is completely different from do-ing business in Australia. The meeting doesn'tlast 10 minutes, it lasted two days.

"We thought, 'This is going to take a lot

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longer than we expected'. But we didn't mindbecause we wanted these shoes to be amaz-ing, look cool, and be ethical."

After not being able to strike a satisfactorydeal with the Vietnamese manufacturer"wearing shorts in a business meeting in Asiais a no-go I found out," Noffs says the pairbegan a tour of factories in China.

They went to six factories over nine daysand were quoted an average of two months'production time and prices that Noffs can'tdisclose but which he concedes were "verylow compared to Australian manufacturing".

But the conditions of the factories contin-ued to be a problem.

"The factory we visited in Vietnam had okayworking conditions, and I mean just okay. Thestaff looked like they were well treated.

"In China, the factories were standingnext to their living quarters and I'm talking10 steps away. We drove through what waslike Sydney city but [was] just masses of shoefactories and housing blocks where all theworkers lived and worked.

"When we said to these people, 'Do youhave this certificate, ISO 9001?', they allsaid 'Yes! Yes! Of course we do!' But forthem, ISO 9001 good working conditionsmeans, are the machines working? Is there aroof on the factory? It didn't mean the staffare wearing gloves, wearing masks, peopleare older than the age of 12.

"We did find somewhere on the very lastday that we were about to go with but we [re-alised] we couldn't do it."

Back in Sydney, the label's operations man-ager floated a new idea why not forget aboutChina and manufacture here in Australia?

"We thought, 'yes, let's do it.

The pair found what Noffs believes is theonly remaining shoe maker in Australia,but even the manufacturer questioned thebrothers' sanity.

Gideon Shoes now uses a manufacturerbased in south-west Sydney. That companyput the label in touch with suppliers of Austra-lian-made canvas and leather which the labelnow uses in its shoes.

There is no minimum order requirementand each order rakes an average of three weeks

turnaround time."The difference between this Australian

factory is the workers are all adults," Noffssays. "They get proper pay. They don't live onthe same premises as their work. They takeoccupational health and safety seriously andlook after their staff."

The manufacturing costs are eight timeshigher than those quoted to the Noffs in Asia,but Rupert says the decision to stay onshorehas given them something more important:"peace of mind".

The label is working through sample rang-es at present with product to be available toconsumers before the end of the year. In addi-tion to its established canvas product, whichwill retail between $40 and $60, the label isalso introducing leather sneakers. The leatherproduct will retail from $160 to $200.

No longer stocked by General Pants, thereinvigorated Gideon Shoes is concentratingfor now on running its own retail operationsrather than looking for stockists.

"We're thinking at the moment, let's justconcentrate on our own space here on Chalm-ers Street [in Surry Hills] and online, see whateveryone thinks and then we'll probably con-tact some others."

I

WHY ARE BOTH INDEPENDENT AND MAJOR AUSTRALIAN FOOTWEAR

BRANDS LOOKING TO MANUFACTURE OFFSHORE? INDUSTRY

INFORMATION FIRM IBISWORLD ANALYSES THE BIG PICTURE.

The Australian footwear manufacturing industry has undergone major

consolidation since the 1990s. Total production fell from 14.4 millionpairs in 1995/96 to 8.1 million in 2000/01. According to an IBISWorldanalysis, only 3.1 million pairs were made in Australia over 2008109.

Footwear manufacturing is labour intensive as it is difficult to

automate completely. This lends itself toward small operationsand the industry is a mixture of a few large firms and many smallestablishments. Together, the industry's four largest playersincluding Pacific Brands and Blundstone account for around 31.2per cent of the industry. Many of these companies source much of

their footwear from overseas.

Local manufacturers only produce a small portion of footwear boughtin Australia with imports increasing their share of the domesticmarket. According to research by IBISWorld, imports constituted 75.3

per cent of the domestic market in 2008/09, up from 63.7 per cent in2003/04. China is the biggest footwear supplier to Australia. More than65 per cent of footwear entering Australia originated from China in

2001/08 and nearly 60 per cent of all footwear in the world wasmanufactured there.Australian footwear importers have benefited from tariff reductions in

recent times. Imports rose by 10.2 per cent in 2004105 when the

footwear tariff fell from 15 per cent to 10 per cent. Over 2009/10 thiswas reduced to five per cent.

While the brand is serious about its ethicalcredentials and has begun meetings withaccreditation body Ethical Clothing Austra-lia its owners know consumers don't wishto be preached to.

"We're not trying to change the world, we'renot standing on soap boxes and telling peopleit's all about being ethical," Noffs says.

"It's just about peace of mind, knowing thatwhat you're wearing isn't made by a 12-year-old girl who should be in school.

"You can work in the fashion industryand still have a heart, and that's what wewant to change."

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