Thrissur: In a curious trend, the sales of used shoes and other footwear are rising steadily in India, registering an annual growth of 15 percent. The biggest demand is for top brands and the customers are mostly young people.
Business takes place online also and high-end shoes having an original price of Rs 75,000 are available even at Rs 10,000. Around 10 top online websites in the country engage in such sales.
Incidentally, nearly 84,000 shipments arrive in India from abroad carrying used footwear, mostly from China and Germany every year. The imports are carried out by 2500 agencies in India and distributed in the country by 3100 wholesale distributors. The ‘second-hand’ imported footwear is repaired for any defect after import before being sold in Indian markets.
Celebrities and people having big incomes do not reuse footwear that they buy for special occasions and celebrations. They, instead, sell the item immediately after use to agencies engaged in this business.
Ordinary people who wish to sell their shoes also can post the matter on online websites. The price such footwear can attract depends on factors such as the country where it was used and availability of the bill for certifying that it was purchased from an original store.
Business in used footwear peaks during wedding season and festivals, including New Year celebrations. This trend, which started with luxury footwear, now covers cheaper items also and shoes originally worth Rs 5,000 could be bought at Rs 1,000.
Tips
If you have used footwear, consider whether it could be sold, before disposing it among waste materials. You can take old shoes to dry cleaning shops to give it a fresh feel. Dry cleaning shops dealing with footwear function in Kerala too these days.